MOOSE JAW - City hall will continue to the Scotia Bank for another year because the latter’s services appear to be the only compatible banking service available that integrates well with the municipality’s financial systems.
During its Sept. 23 executive committee meeting, city council approved a recommendation to extend the banking services agreement with Scotia Bank until Nov. 30, 2025; it first signed an agreement in December 2018.
The agreement is a revenue-generating contract for the City of Moose Jaw since it creates roughly $1.8 million annually in interest from the municipality’s bank account balances.
The recommendation will be official once council approves it at a future regular meeting.
“… Scotia Bank services are the only compatible banking services available that currently integrates with our financial systems,” a council report said.
“Other banks could provide this service, but it would take a significant effort to migrate over to their systems; hence, at this time, only one vendor, Scotia Bank, can provide the compatible service without a significant effort on the city’s part.”
The agreement with Scotia Bank had expired on Dec. 21, 2023, and while the city could have started the tender process in early or mid-year, the treasury branch was dealing with the smart water meter upgrade project and the property tax module within the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software program, the report said.
Three important treasury employees have been assigned new roles since December 2023, so deferring the bank services tender provided the branch with time to gain more stability and knowledge before “issuing a complex tender,” the document continued. Specifically, the tender’s outcome could have led to the city having to migrate its system to a new bank.
Furthermore, the city says some final system developments with the ERP project remain that require the treasury branch to be focused and prioritize that initiative. That is why city administration wanted council to extend the banking agreement to next November.
City officials will issue a tender before the expiration date in 2025, while it has received assurances from Scotia Bank that it would extend the contract and honour the existing terms and conditions but not provide free bank supplies — the city can acquire them elsewhere — like coin rollers, boxes and deposit slips, the report said.
“It should be noted that the banking services agreement and its extension will have no impact on any direction the city may wish to pursue in terms of investment of the city’s reserve funds,” the document added. “The city’s investment of its reserve funds does not form part of the banking services agreement.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Oct. 7.
