diff --git a/packages/grpc-native-core/package.json b/packages/grpc-native-core/package.json
index 5d2a82d5..3e1e647c 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-native-core/package.json
+++ b/packages/grpc-native-core/package.json
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
     "istanbul": "^0.4.4",
     "lodash": "^4.17.4",
     "minimist": "^1.1.0",
+    "node-forge": "^0.7.5",
     "poisson-process": "^0.2.1"
   },
   "engines": {
diff --git a/packages/grpc-native-core/src/credentials.js b/packages/grpc-native-core/src/credentials.js
index 0fde6185..28b668b1 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-native-core/src/credentials.js
+++ b/packages/grpc-native-core/src/credentials.js
@@ -76,6 +76,31 @@ var _ = require('lodash');
  * @see https://github.com/google/google-auth-library-nodejs
  */
 
+const PEM_CERT_HEADER = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----";
+const PEM_CERT_FOOTER = "-----END CERTIFICATE-----";
+
+function wrapCheckServerIdentityCallback(callback) {
+  return function(hostname, cert) {
+    // Parse cert from pem to a version that matches the tls.checkServerIdentity
+    // format.
+    // https://nodejs.org/api/tls.html#tls_tls_checkserveridentity_hostname_cert
+
+    var pemHeaderIndex = cert.indexOf(PEM_CERT_HEADER);
+    if (pemHeaderIndex === -1) {
+      return new Error("Unable to parse certificate PEM.");
+    }
+    cert = cert.substring(pemHeaderIndex);
+    var pemFooterIndex = cert.indexOf(PEM_CERT_FOOTER);
+    if (pemFooterIndex === -1) {
+      return new Error("Unable to parse certificate PEM.");
+    }
+    cert = cert.substring(PEM_CERT_HEADER.length, pemFooterIndex);
+    var rawBuffer = new Buffer(cert.replace("\n", "").replace(" ", ""), "base64");
+
+    return callback(hostname, { raw: rawBuffer });
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Create an SSL Credentials object. If using a client-side certificate, both
  * the second and third arguments must be passed. Additional peer verification
@@ -93,7 +118,24 @@ var _ = require('lodash');
  *     fails and otherwise return undefined.
  * @return {grpc.credentials~ChannelCredentials} The SSL Credentials object
  */
-exports.createSsl = ChannelCredentials.createSsl;
+exports.createSsl = function(root_certs, private_key, cert_chain, verify_options) {
+  // The checkServerIdentity callback from gRPC core will receive the cert as a PEM.
+  // To better match the checkServerIdentity callback of Node, we wrap the callback
+  // to decode the PEM and populate a cert object.
+  if (verify_options && verify_options.checkServerIdentity) {
+    if (typeof verify_options.checkServerIdentity !== 'function') {
+      throw new TypeError("Value of checkServerIdentity must be a function.");
+    }
+    // Make a shallow clone of verify_options so our modification of the callback
+    // isn't reflected to the caller
+    var updated_verify_options = Object.assign({}, verify_options);
+    updated_verify_options.checkServerIdentity = wrapCheckServerIdentityCallback(
+        verify_options.checkServerIdentity);
+    arguments[3] = updated_verify_options;
+  }
+  return ChannelCredentials.createSsl.apply(this, arguments);
+}
+
 
 /**
  * @callback grpc.credentials~metadataCallback
diff --git a/packages/grpc-native-core/test/credentials_test.js b/packages/grpc-native-core/test/credentials_test.js
index f3fc082f..74d3edc1 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-native-core/test/credentials_test.js
+++ b/packages/grpc-native-core/test/credentials_test.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 var assert = require('assert');
 var fs = require('fs');
 var path = require('path');
+var forge = require('node-forge');
 
 var grpc = require('..');
 
@@ -292,7 +293,16 @@ describe('client credentials', function() {
     client.unary({}, function(err, data) {
       assert.ifError(err);
       assert.equal(callback_host, 'foo.test.google.fr');
-      assert.equal(callback_cert, pem_data);
+
+      // The roundabout forge APIs for converting PEM to a node DER Buffer
+      var expected_der = new Buffer(forge.asn1.toDer(
+          forge.pki.certificateToAsn1(forge.pki.certificateFromPem(pem_data)))
+          .getBytes(), 'binary');
+
+      // Assert the buffers are equal by converting them to hex strings
+      assert.equal(callback_cert.raw.toString('hex'), expected_der.toString('hex'));
+      // Documented behavior of callback cert is that raw should be its only property
+      assert.equal(Object.keys(callback_cert).length, 1);
       done();
     });
   });