In celebration of 50 years of providing banking services at Bay and College, the CIBC branch at 790 Bay Street is showed its appreciation by hosting an open house on Oct. 1 for clients and the general public.  

To mark the 50th anniversary, CIBC donated $3,500 this morning to support a local after-school program for children. The funds were presented at today’s branch anniversary celebrations to Downtown Care-Ring, a humanitarian organization located at 365 Bloor Street East.

“We are very pleased to receive CIBC’s generous gift that will help support the after-school program used by kids from one of Canada’s most densely populated neighbourhoods,” said Ken Bhagan, Executive Director of Downtown Care-Ring. “Every day after school, 30 to 40 kids come to the St. James Town Youth Centre at 375 Bleecker Street where they get a snack and assistance with their homework. We also provide mentoring for those who need extra help. This donation from CIBC means we can increase the number of part-time tutors in the after–school program from six to eight for this school year. These college and university students help the kids primarily with reading and math, areas that parents asked us to focus on. Thank you, CIBC for helping us help the kids.”

“CIBC believes in giving back to the communities where we live and work,” said Bill Whyte, CIBC’s Vice-President of Retail Markets for GTA Central. “We are pleased to make this donation today to Downtown Care Ring’s after school program that will help vulnerable youth be more successful in school on the way to achieving their full potential.”

Clients of the Bay & College branch can now do their banking in English, Filipino, Hindi, Urdu and Portuguese from Monday to Saturday.

It was on October 1, 1959, that The Canadian Bank of Commerce opened its branch at the corner of Bay and College Streets. This was one of five Toronto branches opened by The Commerce that year. In June 1961, it was re-branded to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). In May 1997, this branch took over the business of the nearby Bay & Gerrard branch which was subsequently closed.