When financial technology startups first began to disrupt Canada’s stodgy and conservative banking sector years ago, initial air between disruptors and incumbents felt thick and heavy.
Friend, the question begged, or foe?
But as Canada inches toward a universal open banking framework, fintechs and traditional banking institutions have slowly been learning to play nicely together.
Today, collaboration appears to be the name of the game, with partnerships of all variety blossoming throughout Canada’s financial sector, spurring an array of innovation and advancements in and around how Canadians manage their money.
Below, we highlight some of the notable partnerships established thus far in the Canadian fintech realm in 2024.
Pine and Wealthsimple
An all-Toronto fintech collaboration sees one of Canada’s possible future banks working with neighbour Pine to deliver online mortgages.
In Canada, upward of 90% of mortgages are tied to a major bank. Pine, founded in 2021, wants to buck this trend.
Founders Justin Herlick and Jonathan Shih believe that by eliminating unnecessary costs and lengthy processes that come with in-person applications, Pine can offer Canadians lower rates and a more efficient process than traditional banks do with their “outdated” methods.
Wealthsimple, vying to become Canada’s next major banking institution, this month unveiled mortgages as the latest in a long line of product offerings.
Partnering with Pine, Wealthsimple promises “low rates, exclusive rebates, and incentives for having your investments in one place.”
Wealthsimple opted to collaborate with Pine, the company says, because “Pine is the triple threat of mortgage lenders: digital, direct, and regulated.”
“Determined to save you time and money, they create efficiencies by automating tasks like underwriting and removing go-betweens like brokers,” Wealthsimple says of Pine. “They’re changing the way Canadians do mortgages—kind of like what we did with money.”
En route Wealthsimple’s stated growth target of $100 billion within five years, the fintech continues to pump out upgrades, enhancements, and enticements in 2024.
VoPay and Mastercard
In April, Vancouver-headquartered VoPay and Mastercard announced a strategic partnership to simplify both domestic and cross-border money movement for businesses and consumers in Canada.
Leveraging Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s newly combined portfolio of domestic and international money transfer solutions, the companies offer a choice of payment rails and capabilities for reliable, fast, and secure fund transfers to their customers.
“There is a growing demand for interoperable technology that allows consumers and businesses to move money seamlessly across networks domestically and internationally,” stated Ramesh Jayakrishnan, Vice President of New Payment Platforms for Mastercard Canada, at the time.
By leveraging Mastercard Move, VoPay, “with its focus on providing a globally interoperable platform with embedded finance capabilities, will deliver significant value to Canadian consumers, businesses and government entities.”
“This partnership delivers on both companies’ commitment to provide more choice and greater transparency for people who need to send money,” added amed Arbabi, CEO of VoPay, who believes the platform will “transform the way businesses and consumers transfer money internationally.”
“Be it personal remittances, small business payments or commercial disbursements, with Mastercard Move, VoPay will enable businesses, financial institutions and consumers to send money to bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards and cash-payout locations in over 100 countries,” the Canadian entrepreneur said.
Floating into Silicon Valley
Financial technology startup Float was established by Griffin Keglevich and Ruslan Nikolaev, two graduates of Waterloo’s computer science and business programs, in 2019.
And since raising capital in 2021, Float has been growing rapidly.
Last year, for example, the Toronto-based fintech quadrupled revenue.
Earlier this year, Float unveiled the backing of a $50 million credit facility in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank.
The company thus has access to significant capital to expand its Charge Card program, which saw tremendous payment volume growth in 2023, according to chief executive Rob Khazzam.
“At a time when other financial institutions are pulling back on serving Canadian SMBs, our partnership with SVB is a powerful reflection of the strength of Float’s vision, strategic direction and hyper-growth in 2023,” he stated in February.
Brian Foley, Market Manager for Silicon Valley Bank’s Warehouse and Fintech group, believes that Float is “challenging the status quo when it comes to providing payment solutions for Canadian companies and teams.”
“Our strong partnership demonstrates SVB’s commitment in helping fintech companies succeed and scale,” he continued. “We’re thrilled to be a part of Float’s growth and bolster its expansion across the country.”
Float’s solution is a smart corporate card linked to spend-management software that automates manual processes involved in managing card-linked spending, such as issuing cards for employees, tracking down receipts, and reconciling expenses at the end of the month.
The fintech’s automations and enhancements “save thousands of hours in manual accounting tasks.”
Nuvei and Co.
Montreal’s Nuvei partnered in February with San Francisco’s Cash App.
Cash App Pay enables US customers to make online payments either by scanning a QR code or tapping Cash App Pay during a checkout process.
“Cash App Pay is being rapidly adopted as a payment method in the U.S.,” says Philip Fayer, chief executive of Nuvei, “especially with younger consumer demographics.”
“This partnership enables businesses to integrate Cash App Pay into their online payments experience effortlessly,” the fintech CEO continued, “attracting new customers and accelerating revenue growth in the process.”
Other recent collaborations involving Nuvei include Plaid, Microsoft, and Adobe.
“Our mission is to support our partners to engage with their customers,” Fayer stated.
Following ample speculation, the Ryan Reynolds-backed Nuvei recently went private.
“This transaction marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Nuvei,” stated Phillip Fayer, founder and CEO of Nuvei. “Bringing in a partner with such extensive experience in the payments sector will continue to support our development.”
Founded in 2003, Nuvei’s fintech platform spans 150 currencies and 680 alternative payment methods.
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