Banking for the way businesses actually work.
2018 — present. Hamilton, Ontario. Six employees became a team that manages $340M+ in commercial deposits across Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba.
How One Consultant Stopped Consulting
Nadia Okafor spent eleven months embedded inside a national bank, redesigning commercial deposit infrastructure for mid-market clients. She arrived at a conclusion that ended her consulting career: the system was broken beyond consultant-grade repair. The infrastructure wasn't just outdated — it was designed for a different type of client entirely, then stretched to fit businesses it was never meant to serve.
Banks designed products for multinationals. They handed watered-down versions to businesses doing $2M in revenue. Owners waited three weeks for a merchant account. Working capital facilities required eight layers of internal sign-off. A manufacturer in Hamilton with $8M in receivables from investment-grade customers couldn't get a revolving facility approved faster than a business with half its revenue and worse counterparties — because the underwriting model didn't differentiate. It evaluated balance sheets, not cash conversion cycles.
Okafor had spent six years at CIBC's commercial division, then two more at Deloitte's financial services practice. She saw the gap from both sides — from inside the bank where product decisions were made, and from inside the consulting firm where those decisions were audited and found wanting. In early 2018, she incorporated Saltic Inc. in Hamilton — the city where she'd grown up watching her father navigate opaque banking relationships while running a small logistics company. She'd watched him wait six weeks for a line of credit decision that should have taken five days, and sign personal guarantees on facilities that his receivables alone should have secured.
The thesis was specific. Businesses generating between $500K and $50M needed a banking partner that understood their cash conversion cycle, could underwrite based on actual receivables, and could deploy digital payment infrastructure without a six-month implementation timeline. Not a fintech overlay on top of broken infrastructure. Not a neobank with no credit capability. A real banking operation built from scratch around how mid-market businesses actually move money.
Saltic launched with four employees, a single deposit product, and a handful of clients Okafor had met during her consulting years — mostly small manufacturers and distributors in the Hamilton-Niagara corridor. By end of 2019: $42M in commercial deposits under management. The business banking model was proving out.
How Your First 30 Days Look
Every client relationship starts the same way — with a conversation, not a product pitch. Here's the sequence from first call to fully operational accounts.
Day 1–2: Discovery Call
You call (343) 348-7225. A real person answers — likely Thomas Grzelak or Derek Fong, depending on the day. You describe how your business moves money — payroll cycles, receivable timing, vendor terms, seasonal fluctuations, pain points with your current bank. We listen. No product pitch during this call. We're mapping your cash flow architecture, not selling you a package.
Day 3–5: Account Architecture
We design your banking structure based on what we learned. Operating accounts, sub-accounts, sweep rules, signatory controls, accounting software integration points. If you need multi-location segregation or project-level fund tracking, we configure that now — not six months in as an add-on. You see every detail before signing anything, including a complete breakdown of fees and pricing specific to your configuration.
Day 5–7: Underwriting (if applicable)
Need working capital? Marcus Belayneh and the credit team review your receivables, contract backlog, and cash conversion cycle. Not your personal credit score. They evaluate the creditworthiness of your customers — an invoice from a government health authority carries different weight than one from a two-year-old startup. Decision within 5 business days for facilities under $500K. The rationale is explained in writing, whether we approve or not.
Day 7–14: Migration
We handle the mechanical work — account activation, payment routing, payroll setup, QuickBooks/Xero/Sage bank feed configuration, PAD origination setup, and merchant terminal provisioning if applicable. Your named contact manages the process end to end. If you're switching from another bank, we coordinate the transition timing so there's no gap in payment processing or payroll capability. No change orders without a conversation.
Day 14–30: Optimization
First month of live operations. Weekly check-in calls with your named contact. We review transaction patterns, catch configuration issues, adjust sweep thresholds, and verify that your accounting integration is syncing cleanly. If your receivables facility is active, we review the first draw cycle to ensure advance rates and timing align with your actual cash needs. By day 30, you're running — and you know exactly who to call if anything needs adjusting.
How We Got Here
Eight years. Six employees. One thesis that hasn't changed.
Incorporated in Hamilton. Four employees. One deposit product — a commercial operating account with 500 included transactions and same-day domestic availability. First clients: small manufacturers and distributors Nadia knew from her consulting years in the Hamilton-Niagara corridor.
$42M in commercial deposits by year end. Derek Fong joins as employee number six, bringing nine years of Manulife Bank deposit operations experience. His first project: building the compliance workflow that would let Saltic onboard accounts in 48 hours instead of the industry-standard 10–15 business days.
Marcus Belayneh and Thomas Grzelak join. The receivables-based underwriting model is built from scratch — designed to evaluate counterparty credit quality rather than personal guarantees. COVID-19 hits. Saltic processes emergency working capital facilities for 34 clients in 60 days, keeping payroll running for manufacturers and staffing agencies across Ontario.
Priya Sandhu joins from Shopify to lead digital platform buildout. API-first banking infrastructure goes live — RESTful endpoints for account data, transaction initiation, and reporting. First Quebec client onboarded: QuébecTech Industriel, a $27M industrial automation company in Drummondville that consolidated seven accounts down to a two-tier treasury structure.
Lianne Arsenault joins from Nuvei Canada. Real-time payment reconciliation system deployed — settlement discrepancies drop 73% across the entire client portfolio. Cross-border FX services launched with spot rates 30–60 basis points tighter than big-bank posted rates. Forward contracts available up to 12 months in USD, EUR, GBP, and CNY corridors.
$340M+ in commercial deposits. 92% primary banking relationship rate — meaning nine out of ten clients use Saltic as their main bank, not a secondary account. ISO 20022 payment messaging integration completed. FedNow-ready instant payment rails preparation underway. Personal banking services launched for existing business clients and sole proprietors.
Expanded service into Manitoba. Monthly working capital workshops hosted by Marcus Belayneh draw 30–40 Hamilton-area business owners. The team remains six people — the same six who built the operation. No layers added. No departments created. Every client still gets a named contact who manages the relationship end to end.
How Six People Run a $340M Operation
You'll work with the same person throughout the relationship. Not a department. A person. Here's who might pick up when you call (343) 348-7225.
Nadia Okafor
Founder & CEOMBA, Ivey Business School. CFA charterholder. Former CIBC Associate Director, Commercial Banking. Former Deloitte Senior Consultant, Financial Services Practice. Sits on Hamilton Chamber of Commerce SME advisory council. Reviews every client escalation personally at 6:15 AM Fridays. The person who signs off on every new facility and every material exception to standard process.
Derek Fong
Chief Operating OfficerBComm, McMaster. PMP certified. Nine years at Manulife Bank in deposit operations — the person who knows how clearing and settlement actually works at the infrastructure level. Joined 2019 as employee six. Oversees account operations, compliance workflows, client onboarding, and the 48-hour activation process he designed. Coaches hockey in Dundas on weekends.
Lianne Arsenault
VP, Payments & TreasuryFormer merchant acquiring lead at Nuvei Canada. Graduate Diploma in Payments, Canadian Payments Association. Designed the reconciliation system that cut settlement discrepancies 73% across the client portfolio. Fluently bilingual — instrumental in Quebec expansion, including the QuébecTech Industriel engagement. Manages FX, cross-border payments, and treasury infrastructure for the firm's highest-volume clients.
Marcus Belayneh
Director, Credit & Working CapitalCPA, CGA. Seven years as credit analyst at BDC, specializing in manufacturing and distribution lending. Built the receivables-based underwriting model from the ground up — the system that evaluates counterparty credit quality instead of defaulting to personal guarantees. Hosts monthly working capital workshops at the Hamilton office, drawing 30 to 40 business owners each session. The person who reviews your facility application and explains the decision in plain language.
Priya Sandhu
Head of Digital Banking & ProductCS degree, University of Waterloo. Five years at Shopify building merchant financial products before joining Saltic in 2021. Leads API-first infrastructure, mobile deposit capture, and platform integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and ERP systems. ISO 20022 compliance and FedNow preparation fall under her remit. Mentors Waterloo co-op students and keeps the API documentation public and current.
Thomas Grzelak
Senior Manager, Client RelationsPolitical Science, Brock University — unusual path into banking, but ten years in commercial relationship management at TD taught him what clients actually need versus what banks typically offer. Manages Saltic's largest 40 accounts personally. Encyclopedic memory for client details — he'll remember your busiest revenue month, the name of your warehouse manager, and when your annual lease renewal falls. The person most clients speak with first when they call.
How You Find Out If This Fits
Call. Email. Fill out a form. We respond within one business day — and the person who responds is the person who'll manage your account. No intake queue. No handoff to a different department. You can reach us at (343) 348-7225 or contact@salticservs.com.
Want to see pricing before you call? It's published. Want to understand the full service suite? That's published too. We don't gate information behind a sales conversation.