Okta Secures the Identities of Banks, Accelerating Digital Transformation in Financial Services

Financial services organizations deploy a single platform, the Okta Identity Cloud, to secure their workforces and customers

Okta, Inc., the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise, announced significant momentum in the financial services industry with new and expanded deployments for Canadian Western Bank, First National of Nebraska, and Nota, powered by M&T Bank. Okta also announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter of FY21, as well as new global customers and expanded partnerships including Fortune 500 IT services company DXC Technology, Finance of America, OFX, Renault, State of Iowa, Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, and Zoom.

“Every organization is becoming a technology company as they digitally transform to adapt to changes in consumer expectations and evolving workforce needs. As a result, companies of all sizes and across industries — including financial services — are investing in the technologies to streamline processes, reduce costs, secure their people and information, and improve customer experiences to drive business growth,” said Todd McKinnon, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Okta. “At Okta, we’re committed to supporting financial services organizations of all sizes to make this shift, while ensuring trust across the board — the experience needs to be seamless, and critical financial information needs to remain secure.”

For many financial services organizations, trust is essential to attracting and retaining customers. According to recent research, more than 55% of customers that opened an account with a financial institution did so because they trust that organization.

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Canadian Western Bank

Canadian Western Bank is the seventh largest publicly traded bank in Canada with 43 branch locations and over 2,500 employees, serving tens of thousands of clients with a special focus on business owners. On a mission to digitally transform, the organization deployed Okta’s Workforce Identity products including Okta Universal Directory, Lifecycle Management, Single Sign-on, and Multi Factor Authentication, to protect its employees, improve user experience, and drive growth across branch locations. The bank also has plans to roll out Okta Access Gateway in support of its ongoing hybrid strategy.

Following a successful rollout of the Okta Identity Cloud across its workforce, Canadian Western Bank decided to expand its deployment to include Okta Customer Identity and to support its goal of creating a consistent customer experience across all lines of business. With Okta as the single entry point to Canadian Western Bank’s digital experience, the organization will be able to ensure each customer has a highly personalized and simple experience.

“At Canadian Western Bank, we take a personalized and proactive approach to banking so we can provide customers with the right financial solutions,” said Cory Gould, Chief Information Security Officer, Canadian Western Bank. “In order to be successful in this approach, it’s critical that we have the right technologies in place. This is the driving force for our digital transformation. Okta has been a critical component of this transformation and we’re excited about the quality of employee experiences we’re able to deliver with Okta at the core.”

First National of Nebraska

First National of Nebraska is one of the largest privately owned banks in the U.S. with 6 million customers and 5,000 employees. The bank originally deployed the Okta Identity Cloud to secure its workforce in 2018, leveraging Okta Lifecycle Management, Single Sign-on, and Multi Factor Authentication to redefine its security posture and reduce IT friction. With the Okta Identity Cloud, First National of Nebraska can seamlessly manage the identities of its employees across various stages of employment.

After this initial success, the First National of Nebraska team decided to expand its use of the Okta Identity Cloud to replace its legacy customer identity solution and power identity for its new customer-facing application and website, providing the bank’s customers with smooth, secure online access to their banking information. With Okta, First National of Nebraska can take a granular approach to providing access to customers based on various criteria across its family of banks.

As Okta continues to launch new products, First National of Nebraska has plans to expand its use of the Okta Identity Cloud, including the deployment of Okta Advanced Server Access to manage and automate identity and access controls for servers across the cloud and on-premises.

“Since the beginning, our customers have remained our priority as we’ve expanded from a local bank serving the Omaha area to a larger network of banks across multiple states,” said Jeff Weeks, SVP and Chief Information Security Officer, First National of Nebraska. “As we’ve evolved, Okta has been critical to providing a seamless user experience for our workforce and customers alike. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Okta as they continue to innovate to meet our needs.”

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Nota

Powered by M&T Bank, a Fortune 500 company, Nota provides digital banking services to help lawyers track and manage client funds. Nota has been cloud-first from its start and recognized the need for a customer identity solution to meet its client’s high standards for security and ease of use, while also being simple for the Nota team to implement. After an exhaustive review, Nota selected the Okta Identity Cloud to power the login experience for its clients, primarily due to its robust SDKs, ease of adoption, and industry standard encryption. In one week, Nota was up and running with Okta Customer Identity, providing a trusted entrypoint for its clients to all of their banking needs.

“We serve a clientele that requires the highest level of security. With the Okta Identity Cloud at the core of our products and services, our clients have confidence that their financial information is secure, and they can easily take care of their financial needs from anywhere, allowing them to focus on what they do best –– practicing law,” said Paul Garibian, President, Nota. “As we continue to grow, we’re thrilled to have Okta as our partner to ensure we provide the most seamless and secure experience for our clients.”

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