The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Oct. 27, edition that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has joined with a small on-line lender, Borrowell, offering an example of an established financial institution choosing to work with a rival rather than compete against it. The Globe's David Berman writes that the deal will allow consumers to apply for loans up to $35,000 from CIBC's website, giving the bank access to Borrowell's cutting-edge personal loan adjudication technology and giving Borrowell access to CIBC's 11 million clients. The partnership appears to challenge the idea that established banks and new financial-technology firms, or fintechs, are in a battle that will eventually disrupt traditional finance. CIBC retail banking head David Williamson says: "We see fintechs as a good thing if they can accelerate our rate of change. It's a simple, practical decision: speed and cost. Is it better, in terms of speed and cost, for us to build something ourselves or is there a fintech out there that has something that is faster, easier and cheaper?" While a number of fintechs have emerged with fast, user-friendly services, they do not have the millions of clients and decades of trust of the big banks.