25 Minutes — That's the Average Scoping Call. No Charge.

We'll tell you whether a full banking audit is likely to uncover meaningful savings. If the numbers don't justify an engagement, we'll say so — and you'll have lost nothing but a quarter hour. Over 340+ engagements since 2005, our median first-year client benefit has been $14,200. That conversation starts here.

Request a Scoping Conversation

We respond to every inquiry within 1 business day. Average response time in 2025: 4.7 hours. Jordan Whitfield reviews every submission personally and will confirm receipt before scheduling your call with Darren.

Direct Contact

Phone (236) 832-8381

Email contact@onlinebusinessplusvan.com

Office 606 West 30th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 0C9

Hours Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Walking In?

We're in Riley Park, just off Cambie. Canada Line to King Edward, then a 10-minute walk west along 30th Avenue. Street parking on 30th is usually available — it's a residential block, not downtown. The building is a modest two-storey on a tree-lined street. Unpretentious on purpose — the craft happens inside. See our full locations & service areas page for details on downtown meeting options and BC-wide coverage.

Time-Sensitive Matter?

For urgent trust compliance or banking migration issues, call directly at (236) 832-8381 — we prioritize time-sensitive regulatory matters. Darren Fong or Priya Chandrasekaran will typically respond same-day for compliance deadlines, including Law Society of BC trust audit timelines, CICC regulatory reviews, and BCFSA filing dates.

Prefer a Downtown Meeting?

We maintain a bookable meeting suite at Regus Business Centre, 1055 West Georgia Street — available Tuesdays and Thursdays. Convenient for law firms, accounting practices, and financial services firms in the downtown core. SkyTrain at Burrard Station, underground parking available. Learn more about our meeting locations.

From Form Submission to Clear-Eyed Assessment in 4 Steps

Step 1

You Submit the Form

We receive your details and Jordan Whitfield — our Client Engagement Coordinator & Research Associate — reviews the intake within hours, not days. He'll confirm receipt via email and, if needed, ask a clarifying question or two before scheduling. Jordan may pull preliminary background on your industry to ensure Darren's scoping call is productive from the first minute. If you've selected a specific topic of interest — trust compliance, merchant processing, credit facility renegotiation — Jordan flags the relevant team member for the call.

Step 2

Scoping Call with Darren Fong, CFA

A 25-minute conversation — typically by phone, sometimes video if you prefer. Darren asks about your current banking setup: which institutions, how many accounts, transaction volumes, credit facilities, online banking configuration, and what's prompting the inquiry. He listens more than he talks. If your situation involves trust compliance or credit facility structuring, Priya Chandrasekaran may join the call. For digital banking platform questions, Marcus Tremblay weighs in. You're talking to the people who do the actual work — not a sales team.

Step 3

Written Preliminary Assessment

Within 3 business days of the scoping call, you receive a written preliminary assessment. This document answers one question directly: is a full engagement likely to produce savings that justify the fee? Elena Vasquez, CPA, CMA runs a preliminary screen of your fee structure against our proprietary benchmarking database — anonymized data from 23 Canadian financial institutions, updated quarterly. If the answer is no — if we don't see enough opportunity to warrant a $5,500+ engagement — we'll say so plainly, and you owe nothing. About 27% of scoping conversations end this way. We'd rather turn away work than deliver a report that doesn't pay for itself.

Step 4

Detailed Scope & Fixed-Fee Estimate

If the preliminary numbers look promising, we deliver a detailed scope document with timeline, specific deliverables, team assignments, and a fixed-fee estimate. No hourly billing surprises. Standard banking relationship audits: $5,500–$9,500. Complex engagements — multi-entity structures, full banking RFPs, trust compliance restructuring: $12,000–$25,000. Personal banking advisory sessions for business owners: $950 flat. You review the scope, ask questions, and decide. No pressure, no expiration date on the proposal.

Frequently Asked Before the First Call

What should I bring to the scoping call?

Nothing. The scoping call is a conversation, not a document review. Darren will ask questions about your banking setup — number of accounts, approximate transaction volumes, how long you've been with your current institution, any pain points. If we move to a formal engagement, Jordan will send you a specific document checklist. Most clients gather everything in under 30 minutes.

Can the scoping call happen virtually?

Absolutely. Most scoping calls happen by phone. Video is available if you prefer. For in-person conversations, we meet at our Riley Park office or our downtown meeting suite on West Georgia Street. We serve clients across all of British Columbia — from the North Shore to Vancouver Island — so virtual is the norm, not the exception.

Is there really no charge for the scoping conversation?

Correct. The 25-minute scoping call and the written preliminary assessment are both provided at no charge. Fees begin only when you sign an engagement letter for a specific scope of work. Our founding philosophy is arithmetic over instinct — if the numbers don't support an engagement, we say so. We've been doing this since 2005 and have never charged for a scoping conversation.

How is this different from what our accountant does?

Your accountant records and reports on banking transactions after they happen. We work upstream — on the structure, pricing, and configuration of the banking relationship itself. Most CPA firms don't specialize in commercial banking product structures, fee benchmarking across 23 institutions, or platform configuration. We work alongside your accountant; we don't replace them. Many of our referrals come from accountants who recognize that banking optimization sits outside their scope. Explore our full commercial banking services for details.

Who You'll Work With — The Team Behind Every Engagement

Every engagement at Vancouver Online Business Plus is led by principals, not juniors. Darren Fong, CFA — our Founder & Principal Consultant — personally leads every banking relationship audit. He spent 7 years at TD Commercial Banking before founding this firm in 2005, and he still does his own financial modeling rather than delegating it. Priya Chandrasekaran, MBA — Senior Banking Consultant — handles operating credit facility structuring and loan covenant negotiation, drawing on 9 years managing a $180M commercial lending portfolio at RBC Royal Bank.

Elena Vasquez, CPA, CMA — our Banking Fee & Cost Analysis Lead — runs every fee benchmark through our proprietary database of 23 Canadian financial institutions, a system she's built and maintained since joining from KPMG Vancouver in 2015. Marcus Tremblay — Digital Banking & Treasury Systems Analyst — configures every online banking platform, writes the 60-page configuration guides, and handles API integration assessments. And Jordan Whitfield — Client Engagement Coordinator & Research Associate — is the first person you'll hear from after submitting the form above. Meet the full team.

Your Bank Statements Tell a Story — We Read Between the Lines

73% of the professional firms we audit are overpaying for commercial banking at the time of first engagement. The median first-year benefit — $14,200 — covers the cost of the engagement and then some. From Waverly Hart Architecture's $6,329 in fee savings to Northshore Veterinary Group's $34,800 in total first-year impact, the arithmetic consistently favours action over inertia. Start before Q4 and apply the findings to your upcoming budget cycle. Browse our free guides and tools if you'd like to do preliminary research first.

(236) 832-8381 contact@onlinebusinessplusvan.com