9 Spokes (ASX: 9SP or “the Company”), the business insights dashboard for SMEs, is pleased to announce it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to provide a white-label version of the 9 Spokes platform to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). RBC is the market-leading retail bank in Canada, with broad leadership in financial services, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalisation. RBC was recently ranked ‘Best Global Retail Bank of the Year’ by RBI, and ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among the Big Five Retail Banks’ by JD Power.

The progression of the partnership with RBC has been rapid, demonstrating RBC’s innovative approach in the banking sector and its commitment to business customers. 9 Spokes is commencing commercial negotiations and detailed workshops with RBC and the project will evolve in stages to ensure rapid deployment.  A shorter implementation time than previous channel partners is expected, as the platform is already live and there is now a significant resource base, built up over the past 12 months.  9 Spokes expects to formalise the contract with RBC within the next three months.

First North American milestone

This LOI is tangible evidence of the Company’s continued business development progress. The progress with RBC is in addition to other large banks that are entering the latter stages of sales cycles. The LOI is significant as it represents 9 Spokes’ first major business development milestone in the North American region, where the Company has indicated it has been in discussions with several banks. This includes continued detailed discussions with one of the largest banks in the US.

Mark Estall, Co-Founder and CEO of 9 Spokes said: “We are delighted to announce the signing of this letter of intent. This is our most significant business development milestone since IPO. The partnership has evolved quickly, since the first meeting in Toronto in February, demonstrating the agility and pace of RBC’s team and a shared vision for SME customers.”