Canada


Accenture acquires fintech consulting firm Verax

Accenture has acquired Verax Solutions, a Toronto-based technology and systems-integration consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. Verax is a privately-owned company founded in 2003 that employs around 180 people at offices in Toronto and Halifax. Its service areas include IT strategy, enterprise architecture consulting, project and programme management, financial risk and compliance solutions, as […]

CIBC goes it alone with new Simplii Financial banking brand

Canada’s banking group CIBC has unveiled Simplii Financial, its new direct banking brand, signalling the end of its President’s Choice (PC) Financial consumer banking business with retailer Loblaw. Mike Boluch, EVP, direct banking, innovation and payments, CIBC, says Simplii will deliver “straightforward, no-fee everyday banking” and offer services by telephone, online, or through mobile and […]

Prospera CU is Open Anywhere to omnichannel onboarding

Prospera CU, a 63,000-member credit union in British Columbia, Canada, has launched Open Anywhere, a real-time application processing across all of its digital and physical channels. The solution is provided by Central 1 Credit Union in partnership with Canadian tech heavyweight CGI.

Digital asset start-up NextBlock out of the blocks with $20m funding

Toronto-based NextBlock Global, a new digital asset investment company, has got itself off to a good start with the closing of an “oversubscribed” $20 million financing round. Like many other start-ups, NextBlock says it’s “disruptive” – and is setting its targets on the new digital asset economy. It says these assets, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, […]

Flybits raises $6.5m to help banks put data to work

Consumer data contextualisation company Flybits pulled in $6.5 million this week, bringing the Toronto-based firm’s total funds to $14 million, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The Series B funding was led by Information Venture Partners. New investor Portag3 Ventures LP also participated along with existing investors Robert Bosch Venture and Trellis Capital. As a part […]

Commcise and RBC team up for MiFID II research payment solution

With MiFID II in mind, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has teamed with Commcise for a service that lets research funds be held in a segregated research payment account (RPA) established in the name of a buy-side client. Commcise’s technology will provide a broker-neutral, independent and un-conflicted platform to help management of the research payment […]

CIBC launches free mobile credit scores in Canada

Canada’s banking group CIBC, fintech firm Borrowell and Equifax Canada have unveiled a free credit score for mobile banking users – a “first for a major Canadian Bank”. The credit score is accessed through the CIBC mobile banking app, and clients can get their Equifax credit score which will be updated quarterly, allowing them to […]

DLT not yet delightful for Canada’s payment system plan

The results from phase two of Canada’s plan for a blockchain-powered interbank payment system reveal that it still faces many obstacles. The Bank of Canada, Payments Canada, R3 and seven commercial banks, have disclosed their report from Project Jasper, an experimental wholesale interbank payment system. First launched in 2015, the results so far show that, […]

Android Pay to launch in Canada

Android Pay is set to launch in Canada on 31 May, according to sources that gave news site MobileSyrup internal documents. MobileSyrup says there are still a number of questions that need to be answered regarding the payment service, “including specific bank partners and how setting up the payment platform with a Canadian debit and […]

Payments Canada welcomes ten start-ups to its Dragons’ Den

Payments Canada has revealed the ten paytech, artificial intelligence (AI) and regtech start-ups who will compete at its “Dragons’ Den-style competition” in Toronto. Called the FinTech Cup, a collaboration between Payments Canada, 500 Startups, and the Digital Finance Institute, it wants to help innovation, find talent, and drive funding for the finalists. Money on offer […]

Crosstown Civic Credit Union in digital banking tech revamp

Crosstown Civic Credit Union, a 31,000-member institution in Winnipeg, Canada, is modernising its digital banking delivery channels with Central 1 Credit Union. Crosstown Civic CU is implementing Central 1’s MemberDirect platform, provided on a hosted basis.

Trio tussle to win Payments Canada’s tech revamp contract

CGI, SIA and VocaLink are fighting it out to win the contract for Payments Canada’s new core clearing and settlement system. Payments Canada has invited the three suppliers to participate in a competitive procurement process for the country’s new system, called Lynx. Jan Pilbauer, executive director of modernisation and CIO at Payments Canada, says this […]

Humour the consumer with KPMG and ATB Financial innovation challenge

ATB Financial has joined forces with KPMG in Canada and fintech matchmaking firm Matchi to run a “Customer Onboarding Innovation Challenge”. The challenge is free to enter and open to any firm that has developed and built a solution in one of the four categories: Know your customer (KYC) – ideally the solution will be […]

RBC’s video MyAdvisor makes banking clients wiser

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has launched a live video service to let its clients connect in real time with its advisors. Called MyAdvisor, it uses an online advice platform to digitally connect a client to an advisor, where both can view and adjust a dashboard showing the client’s savings and investment goals and establish […]

Payments Canada picks Accenture for revamp plan

Payments Canada, an organisation that operates the country’s payment clearing and settlement system, has selected consulting firm Accenture to help it lead “Modernization” – its initiative to improve Canada’s payments ecosystem. Jan Pilbauer, executive director of Modernization and CIO at Payments Canada, calls Accenture a “strong consulting partner”. In December, Payments Canada released its plans […]

IBM unveils blockchain-based digital identity network

IBM and SecureKey Technologies are working together to enable a new digital identity and attribute sharing network based on IBM Blockchain. When launched later this year, consumers can use the network to verify their identity for services such as new bank accounts, driver’s licences or utilities. IBM’s Blockchain service is built on top of the […]

UK and Canada buddy up for fintech businesses

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) have signed a new co-operation agreement to help fintech firms. The deal will enable fintech businesses in both countries to seek support from the financial regulators in each other’s market. It will also help reduce regulatory uncertainty and time to market for firms. Christopher […]

Mogo’s new prepaid product taps into growing Canadian market

Mogo, a Canada-based fintech firm, has launched what it describes as the country’s first prepaid digital spending account managed through a mobile app, reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. The debut of the Mogo Spending Account and the Mogo Platinum Prepaid Visa comes amid robust growth in prepaid transactions in Canada. The full-service GPR card […]

Mogo’s New Prepaid Product Taps into Growing Canadian Market

Mogo, a Canada-based fintech firm, has launched what it describes as the country’s first prepaid digital spending account managed through a mobile app. The debut of the Mogo Spending Account and the Mogo Platinum Prepaid Visa comes amid robust growth in prepaid transactions in Canada.

Prepaid gains more love from Canadians

Reloadable prepaid cards are a hit with Canadian consumers, with 95% of them saying they are satisfied with the products in 2016, reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. The figure represents an increase of 22 percentage points from 2015, and stands as the highest satisfaction rate for all payment tools, according to the second annual […]

Prepaid Gains More Love from Canadians, but Bank Execs Might Have Worries

Reloadable prepaid cards are a hit with Canadian consumers, with 95 percent of them saying they are satisfied with the products in 2016. That represents an increase of 22 percentage points from 2015, and stands as the highest satisfaction rate for all payment tools, according to the second annual survey from the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization.

Scotiabank opens new fintech-focused development centre

Canada’s Scotiabank has opened its new 70,000 square-feet “digital factory” in Toronto for fintech innovation. It is designed to be an innovation hub and incubator for the 23 million Scotiabank customers across the world, and is one among five centres in a network of such fintech-focused innovation centres. Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia will be […]

Equifax Canada unveils new financial data platform

Equifax Canada has launched the first phase of a new multi-million dollar technology platform to provide financial data. The company organises, assimilates and analyses data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses across the globe. The first phase of its new platform is designed to provide predictive insights about consumer […]

Walmart and Visa make peace in Canadian payments dispute

A major payments battle has come to an end: Walmart Canada and Visa said they have reached a deal that enables consumers to use Visa-branded payment cards at retail locations in that country, reports Paybefore. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal, which stems from a disagreement in 2016 involving interchange. Walmart said […]

Mobey Day Toronto: Machines of loving grace

Don’t rage against the machine, just embrace its potential and look at the real world applications. The world of machine learning (ML) came under the spotlight on day two of Mobey Day in the great city of Toronto. At yesterday’s (8 December) sessions at the Four Seasons Hotel, about 300 delegates enjoyed panels and presentations […]

Mobey Day Toronto: The disruption paradox

Teamwork triumphs in Toronto. The theme of collaboration between start-ups and the big players dominated day one of Mobey Day. While some in the fintech industry say they’re disruptive, it seems that’s no longer true as they all look to work together. At yesterday’s (7 December) sessions at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, […]

Fintech tour Toronto: Ontario calls for venture capital

Ontario in Canada is calling for more venture capital to come to the region as it looks to boost its fintech industry. This is the main message from a tour of Toronto, given to the international media by the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth (MEDG).

Vancity CU goes live on Temenos T24 core banking system

Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity), the largest credit union in Canada, has gone live on Temenos’ T24 core banking system. Vancity chose Temenos back in 2010. Consultancy firm VenuxSoft, which provides support for Temenos T24 in North America, assisted with the implementation. This included requirements analysis, software development, quality assurance, support and training. Vancity […]