First West Credit Union | Building the Future of Digital Banking in Canada with VeriPark

Q: To begin, could you briefly describe First West Credit Union and your role within the organization? 

I’m the Chief Transformation Officer at First West Credit Union. First West is the fifth-largest credit union in Canada and the third-largest in British Columbia. We operate a unique model within the Canadian credit union system, one shared services organization supporting multiple regional brands across the province.

Our brands include Envision Financial in the Lower Mainland, Island Savings on Vancouver Island, Valley First in the interior of British Columbia, and Enderby & District Credit Union. Shared services —HR, finance, IT, and others— operate centrally with standardized back-end processes, while our regional brands differentiate through locally tailored member experiences and regional lending decisions. This combination lets us remain “one” credit union while still honoring the unique identities and needs of our communities.

Q: When you began working with VeriPark, what challenges and opportunities were you aiming to address?

For many years we were part of Forge, a digital banking platform co-created by Canadian credit unions. As that platform aged, we increasingly lacked competitive features and functionality. We needed a modern digital banking solution, one that not only caught up with market expectations but exceeded them.

Equally important, our digital transformation spans multiple domains: core banking, CRM, contact center and digital banking. All of it aligns with our Microsoft-centric technology strategy. We develop banking systems in-house on Microsoft, and we wanted a digital banking platform that fit seamlessly into that ecosystem.

Our needs also spanned retail, small business, and commercial banking. First West has a strong retail base about 280,000 members but small business is a strategic sweet spot, and commercial banking has been growing rapidly. These areas, particularly small business and commercial, have been underserved by technology in Canada for years.

VeriPark stood out because they offered strong capabilities across all segments, and their solutions aligned with our Microsoft-based transformation strategy. While our current focus is on VeriChannel, we are also exploring VeriBranch, lending solutions, and VeriPark’s work in agentic AI. We see VeriPark as a partner that can help us meet today’s needs and explore new possibilities in the future.

Q: What makes VeriPark the right long-term digital partner?

What we saw and felt right away was a great cultural alignment between our organizations. Not only did VeriPark present itself as a very capable technology company, but one that thought like us, was engaged, creative, thoughtful and looking for mutual benefit in working together. Compared to other vendors we’ve worked with, the partnership feels far more compatible and collaborative. One of the most important things in a long term relationship around a digital solution or technology solutions is being able to trust and feel good about the partners you are working with. And we very much feel that way with VeriPark today.

Another major benefit is the ability to control our own destiny. With VeriPark’s global codebase, continuous innovation, and understanding of Canadian regulatory requirements, we can both adopt their enhancements and develop our own through a shared developer ecosystem. For example, we created our own UI/UX layer for the platform because we wanted an experience tailored to our members. That flexibility is something we didn’t have before, and it will help us move faster and differentiate in meaningful ways.

Q: What advice would you give to credit unions or financial institutions aiming to use digital to create member value?

The most important starting point is being very clear about what you’re trying to achieve. Understand your members’ needs and, in our case, regional differences. Solve for the short-term requirements, but always design with the long-term in mind.

Look at digital transformation holistically. Digital banking doesn’t stand alone; it must integrate deeply with core banking, CRM, contact center systems, and your data infrastructure. For us, alignment to Microsoft across all layers including new generative AI capabilities like Copilot is a winning strategy. These components have traditionally been difficult to integrate, but now they can come together in ways that enable remarkable future possibilities.

Another essential factor is member adoption. Technology without adoption is just technology. We need to get new feature functionality into members’ hands, help them understand it, and ensure they see the value. Change management isn’t optional, it’s foundational.

Q: Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of this project?

We’re creating the leading digital banking product for Canadian credit unions, VeriChannel 8.2. Being on the leading edge is exciting in itself, but doing so collaboratively with other like-minded credit unions makes it even more meaningful. While we may compete in some ways, credit unions in Canada are deeply cooperative behind the scenes. The real winners are Canadian credit union members, who will benefit from modern, advanced digital experiences.

I’m also energized by what’s coming next. Generative AI is transforming how people work. We were the first financial institution in Canada to fully adopt Microsoft Copilot across our staff, and the impact has been eye-opening. Bringing that same level of intelligence into digital banking and into our members’ hands will be remarkable. VeriPark is thinking about this future, and so are we, and I’m excited about what we can create together.

Q: If you had to describe VeriPark in three words, which would you choose?

Capable, innovative, and nice.
And by “nice,” I mean culturally aligned, warm, collaborative, and people-focused. Our interactions with everyone have been excellent. The relationship feels far from confrontational or transactional; it feels connected. “Connection” might actually be the perfect word.