A Banking Firm That Started with a Question
What would happen if a bank actually learned how your business worked before deciding what you needed?
Why Professional Firms Deserve Better Than "Small Business" Banking
The Tuesday afternoon was unremarkable in every way except one. Marcus Van der Berg sat in a glass-walled conference room on the forty-third floor of a tower he'd worked in for fourteen years, and he watched his division decline a $400,000 operating line of credit for a twenty-two-person architecture firm. The firm's financials were clean, its receivables were strong, and it had grown steadily for seven consecutive years. The reason for the decline had nothing to do with credit risk — the account simply fell below the bank's minimum threshold for "relationship profitability." The firm was too small to matter.
That pattern — professional firms generating between one and twenty-five million dollars in annual revenue, trapped in a dead zone between small business products and dedicated commercial relationship managers — had been repeating for over a decade. Law offices, engineering consultancies, marketing agencies, dental practices: sophisticated businesses with complex cash flow patterns, run by intelligent people who deserved better than a rotating cast of junior bankers and standardized products designed for someone else entirely. These firms needed real commercial banking infrastructure — operating lines structured around billing cycles, lending decisions based on actual business performance rather than algorithmic scoring, and a treasury team that understood how project-based revenue differs from monthly recurring income.
The gap was not just a service gap — it was a structural one. Big Five banks optimized their commercial divisions for clients above $25 million in revenue, where relationship profitability justified dedicated coverage. Below that line, professional firms were routed into small business channels staffed by generalists with high turnover and limited credit authority. The result was predictable: slow approvals, rigid products, and a sense among business owners that their bank didn't understand — or particularly care about — what they actually did for a living.
The architecture firm's file went back in the drawer. Marcus started writing a business plan that evening.
Banking Infrastructure Built Around How Firms Actually Operate
VAN Online Business Plus opened at 1078 Howe Street in Vancouver's financial district in 2016 with three staff, eleven clients, and a thesis simple enough to write on a napkin: learn how a business actually operates before structuring its banking. That meant studying billing cycles tied to project milestones, seasonal revenue fluctuations, partner compensation structures, and the commercial real estate needs that grow alongside a practice — and then building banking infrastructure around those realities rather than forcing them into a generic template.
The onboarding process alone set VAN Online Business Plus apart from day one. Before opening an account, the team conducts what they call a "cash flow diagnostic" — a detailed review of a firm's revenue timing, expense cadence, debt service obligations, and growth trajectory. This diagnostic typically takes two to three meetings and produces a written cash flow profile that informs every product recommendation, credit structure, and treasury configuration that follows. No standardized packages. No upselling. Just infrastructure that matches the way the business actually moves money.
The methodology hasn't changed in a decade, though the scale has. The firm now serves more than 340 business clients across British Columbia, from the Lower Mainland to Victoria to the Okanagan, with particular depth in professional services, healthcare practices, property management, architecture, and engineering. Every credit decision is made locally, on Howe Street, by people who understand BC markets and BC business conditions firsthand. The average loan approval takes twenty-three days — compared to the eight-to-twelve-week timelines clients routinely report from their previous banks.
The emotional turning point came early — a handwritten note from one of those first eleven clients that read, simply, "you changed my business." It still hangs framed above the front desk at the Vancouver head office, a quiet reminder of why the firm exists.
Five Commitments That Shape Every Client Relationship
These aren't aspirational statements on a wall — they're the measurable standards every team member is evaluated against quarterly.
Local Credit Authority
Every lending decision — from a $50,000 equipment loan to a $15 million commercial mortgage — is made by underwriters on Howe Street who know BC markets firsthand. No files sent to Toronto. No anonymous credit committees in another time zone. When Priya Ranganathan reviews a commercial real estate deal, she's driven past the property.
Plain-English Communication
Covenant ratios, amortization schedules, interest rate structures, fee triggers — every term in every agreement is explained in language that doesn't require a finance degree. If a client can't articulate the terms of their own loan, we haven't done our job. Our resource library extends this principle with guides and videos on topics like DSCR and cash flow forecasting.
Relationship Continuity
The average client tenure at VAN Online Business Plus is 6.2 years. Clients work with the same relationship manager year after year — someone who knows their partner structure, their lease renewal timeline, and whether their revenue dips every August. No more re-explaining your business to a new banker every eighteen months.
Transparent Fee Structures
Every fee associated with every product is documented in a single Schedule of Fees, published on our website and available at any branch location. No bundled pricing that obscures individual charges. No penalty fees hidden in paragraph forty-seven of an appendix. When David Fong builds a cash management platform for a client, the cost is clear before the first transaction processes.
Growth-Aligned Banking
Banking structures are reviewed annually — not just when a client calls to complain. If a firm's revenue has grown 30% since last year, its operating line and treasury configuration should reflect that. We proactively recommend restructuring when the numbers warrant it, because a banking relationship that falls behind a business's growth becomes a constraint rather than an enabler.
Six Specialists Who Know Your Industry Before You Walk In
A distributed, remote-first team of specialists across British Columbia — connected by async collaboration and a shared fluency in the cash flow patterns of service-based businesses. Combined, they bring over sixty years of experience in commercial lending, treasury operations, payroll compliance, and regulatory affairs.
Marcus Van der Berg
Founder & PresidentBComm (Finance), University of British Columbia. CFA Charterholder. Fourteen years in commercial lending at TD Bank, rising to SVP of Commercial Lending for Western Canada. Marcus personally oversees every credit facility above $5 million and conducts the initial cash flow diagnostic for all new clients in the professional services sector. He built VAN Online Business Plus on the principle that a bank should understand a client's business before structuring a single product. Sits on the board of the BC chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. Coaches his daughter's under-14 soccer team and is a reliable presence at the Grouse Grind on Wednesday mornings.
Priya Ranganathan
Vice President, Commercial LendingMBA, Simon Fraser University. Nine years in commercial underwriting at HSBC Canada and Vancity. Oversees all commercial real estate lending and term loan structures, with particular expertise in mixed-use properties and medical office buildings. Priya personally underwrites every CRE facility, reviewing rent rolls, environmental assessments, and cap rate analyses before structuring terms. Her portfolio currently includes over $180 million in active commercial real estate commitments across the Lower Mainland, Victoria, and the Okanagan. Known for reading a rent roll faster than anyone in the office.
David Fong
Director, Cash Management & Treasury ServicesBBA (Accounting), Kwantlen Polytechnic University. CPA, CMA. Twelve years in treasury operations including five years at a Fraser Valley credit union. Built the cash management platform from scratch and personally onboards every client exceeding $500,000 in monthly transactions. David's configurations typically consolidate three to five separate banking relationships into a single integrated dashboard — a process that saves multi-location firms an average of $1,800 to $3,000 per month in redundant fees and administrative overhead. Competitive dragon boat racer training out of False Creek.
Sarah Thiessen
Senior Manager, Payroll & Disbursement ServicesPayroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) through the National Payroll Institute. Previously managed payroll operations for a 600-employee hospitality group in Whistler. Encyclopedic knowledge of BC Employment Standards Act edge cases — including the overtime averaging agreements and statutory holiday pay calculations that trip up professional firms with salaried-plus-bonus compensation structures. Sarah manages payroll processing for over 120 client firms with a combined headcount exceeding 2,800 employees, and she hasn't missed a CRA remittance deadline since joining in 2018. Originally from Kelowna; brings Okanagan peaches to the office every August.
James Okafor
Relationship Manager, Professional Services SectorBCom (Finance), University of Victoria. Seven years in business development at a national accounting firm. Primary contact for legal, accounting, and consulting firm clients across the province. James conducts ongoing annual reviews for each client in his portfolio, proactively identifying when operating lines, credit facilities, or treasury configurations need restructuring to match business growth. Speaks Igbo and French. His referral network generates roughly 30% of new client inquiries annually — a reflection of the trust he builds with existing clients. Completed the Whistler Alpine Meadows 50K trail run in 2024.
Lina Chen
Operations Manager & Compliance LeadLLB, University of Alberta. Previously in regulatory compliance at a Toronto fintech lender. Manages internal compliance, AML protocols, and regulatory filing schedules for the entire firm. Joined in 2020 when the client base crossed 200 accounts and the compliance workload demanded dedicated senior oversight. Lina ensures every loan document, KYC file, and reporting obligation is airtight — a responsibility that encompasses over 340 active client relationships and the associated BCFSA, FINTRAC, and CDIC reporting requirements. She also oversees the firm's privacy and data protection protocols under PIPEDA. Collects vintage Hong Kong cinema posters.
Growing Alongside the Firms That Trust Us
The firm's lending capacity currently supports commercial real estate loans up to fifteen million dollars and operating facilities up to five million. In a decade of operation, exactly two clients have outgrown that capacity — both businesses that grew from under ten million in revenue to over fifty million. Those are success stories, not problems, and they point toward the next chapter: expanding capacity alongside the clients who've trusted VAN Online Business Plus with their growth.
The roadmap includes deeper integration with remote deposit capture technology, expanded multi-provincial payroll capabilities for firms with offices outside British Columbia, and continued investment in the commercial relationship management that makes the firm's twenty-three-day average loan approval possible. The personal banking division — launched to serve the partners, founders, and principals behind client firms — continues to deepen, with residential mortgage, succession planning, and consolidated reporting services now available to business owners who want their personal and professional banking under one relationship.
The firm also expanded its physical footprint to four office locations across BC — Vancouver (head office), Victoria, Surrey, and Kelowna — ensuring that clients in every major market have access to in-person relationship management when they need it. Each office is staffed by team members who live and work in those communities, not commuters dispatched from headquarters.
But the core won't shift: banking infrastructure built around how professional firms and service businesses actually operate, explained in plain English by people who stay long enough to know you by name. The educational resources we publish, the lending structures we design, the cash management platforms we build — all of it flows from the same premise Marcus wrote down in 2016: learn the business first.
VAN Online Business Plus by the Numbers
What Our Clients Say About Working With Us
Real feedback from professional firm owners across British Columbia — including the specific team members and services that made the difference.
"We moved to VAN Online Business Plus in 2021 after our previous bank took 11 weeks to approve a straightforward refinancing on our office building. Marcus and Priya had us funded in 22 days. But what actually changed our business was the cash management setup David built for us — we can now see exactly where every dollar is across all four of our clinic locations on a single dashboard. Our bookkeeper says it's saved her about 15 hours a month."
— Dr. Naveen Grewal, Managing Partner, Pacific Rim Dental Group, Surrey, BC
"Naveen's team had been managing four separate bank relationships with four separate fee schedules. The consolidation alone saved them $2,550 a month — and that was before we touched the cash flow." — David Fong
"I'd been personally guaranteeing our firm's line of credit for nine years. Every time I asked our old bank about removing the guarantee, I got a vague answer about 'policy.' James sat down with me, reviewed our financials, and within six weeks we had a restructured facility with no personal guarantee. I didn't know that was actually possible. Nobody at a bank had ever taken the time to explain the mechanics of how guarantees work and when they can come off."
— Rachel Fenton, Founder & Creative Director, Mosaic Communications Group, Vancouver, BC
"Rachel's firm had the financial strength to support an unsecured facility for years — she just hadn't been told. That's the kind of conversation that should be initiated by the bank, not the client." — James Okafor
"The CRA penalty issue was embarrassing. We're a law firm — compliance is literally our business — and our payroll provider had been filing our remittances late for months without telling us. Sarah Thiessen migrated our payroll in under three weeks and walked our office manager through the entire remittance calendar so she could independently verify everything was on schedule. That kind of transparency is rare. We've had zero issues since."
— Graham Aldridge, Managing Partner, Westbrook Legal LLP, Vancouver, BC
"Law firms often assume payroll is simple because most of their staff are salaried. But between partner draws, associate bonuses, articling student stipends, and benefits administration, the remittance calculations get complex fast. We built Graham's team a custom remittance calendar with automated verification checkpoints." — Sarah Thiessen
"When we bought our Victoria office, Priya found $140,000 in our deal that we didn't know was there — by restructuring the LTV, she preserved operating cash we would have sunk into the down payment. She also flagged an issue in the environmental assessment that our own lawyer had missed. I've recommended VAN Online Business Plus to three other engineering firms since then. Two of them have moved their banking."
— Kartar Singh Dhaliwal, P.Eng., CEO, Salish Coast Engineering Inc., Victoria, BC
"Engineering firms buying their own office space is one of the smartest capital allocation decisions they can make — but only if the financing structure preserves enough working capital to keep the business operating comfortably during the transition. That's where the diagnostic matters." — Priya Ranganathan