NCFA Fintech Confidential October 2021 (Issue 4)
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and partners are excited to present Vol. 1 Issue 4, FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL, a digital pop-up of the 7th annual 2021 Fintech & Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON21) held virtually from May 11-13 and co-hosted by NCFA and Toronto Finance International (TFI). As global economies strive to contain the latest Covid outbreak and recover fragile sectors, fintech innovators continue to ‘BREAK BARRIERS’, the main theme of this year’s conference, and the second year in partnership with TFI, reflecting the growth and emerging challenges that the Canadian Fintech industry must navigate to achieve mass adoption and scale. It’s been another unprecedented year with covid accelerating trends such as bitcoin’s institutionalization, the growing power of retail investors, the 2nd round of Open Banking consultations and the advisory committee’s recommendations to the federal government, payment modernization efforts, adoption of harmonized Crowdfunding regulation, AI roadmap, emergence of digital identity as a ‘right’ and core data infrastructure (ie., vaccine passports), growing support for Purpose (not just shareholder profit), green finance solutions tackling shared global problems such as SDGs and climate change, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), and regulatory push back and a firm ‘line in the sand’ for Big Tech. FFCON21 was a successful event attracting over 100+ thought leaders, 75 partners, 500+ attendees, an NFT charity fundraiser in partnership with CanadaHelps for front line workers, and our second annual 2021 Fintech Draft competition -- a pitching event inspired by sports league drafts and designed to identity emerging high growth fintech ventures. A hearty congratulations to the winners: Agryo (Overall) and Copia Wealth Studios (People’s Choice)! Thank you to all the partners, speakers, attendees, volunteers, and the entire organizing team for making ‘Breaking Barriers’ an impactful and amazing online experience and for being part of Canada’s fintech and funding community. We hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Fintech Confidential.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and partners are excited to present Vol. 1 Issue 4, FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL, a digital pop-up of the 7th annual 2021 Fintech & Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON21) held virtually from May 11-13 and co-hosted by NCFA and Toronto Finance International (TFI).
As global economies strive to contain the latest Covid outbreak and recover fragile sectors, fintech innovators continue to ‘BREAK BARRIERS’, the main theme of this year’s conference, and the second year in partnership with TFI, reflecting the growth and emerging challenges that the Canadian Fintech industry must navigate to achieve mass adoption and scale.
It’s been another unprecedented year with covid accelerating trends such as bitcoin’s institutionalization, the growing power of retail investors, the 2nd round of Open Banking consultations and the advisory committee’s recommendations to the federal government, payment modernization efforts, adoption of harmonized Crowdfunding regulation, AI roadmap, emergence of digital identity as a ‘right’ and core data infrastructure (ie., vaccine passports), growing support for Purpose (not just shareholder profit), green finance solutions tackling shared global problems such as SDGs and climate change, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), and regulatory push back and a firm ‘line in the sand’ for Big Tech.
FFCON21 was a successful event attracting over 100+ thought leaders, 75 partners, 500+ attendees, an NFT charity fundraiser in partnership with CanadaHelps for front line workers, and our second annual 2021 Fintech Draft competition -- a pitching event inspired by sports league drafts and designed to identity emerging high growth fintech ventures. A hearty congratulations to the winners: Agryo (Overall) and Copia Wealth Studios (People’s Choice)!
Thank you to all the partners, speakers, attendees, volunteers, and the entire organizing team for making ‘Breaking Barriers’ an impactful and amazing online experience and for being part of Canada’s fintech and funding community. We hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Fintech Confidential.
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Challenger Banks are the players that offer<br />
digital-only alternatives to traditional financial<br />
institutions’ banking products and services. As<br />
per FGS database, there are 40 such players<br />
in Canada, and we categorize them into the<br />
following 4 categories based on the status of<br />
their banking license. Top players under each<br />
category include:<br />
• Beta (using parent FI’s banking licence)<br />
- EQ Bank, Simplli, Tangerine, Brightside<br />
by ATB<br />
• New (secured a new banking licence) -<br />
PC Financial, Motusbank, Canadian Tire<br />
Bank, Rogers Bank<br />
• Neo (don’t have their own banking licence<br />
but have a partner who does) - Neo<br />
• Financial, Koho, STACK, Mogo<br />
• Non (don’t have a traditional banking<br />
license but meet the conditions to offer<br />
financial products in non-traditional<br />
ways, like getting a e-money license) -<br />
Brim<br />
Over the years, these players have seen<br />
tremendous growth in their adoption through<br />
launch of innovative value propositions for<br />
Canadian consumers. Following are some of<br />
the recent trends seen in space:<br />
SME Challenger Banks finally enter the<br />
picture<br />
While challenger bank for small and medium<br />
businesses was a white space for a very long<br />
time in Canada, this year we have seen four<br />
players enter the space - Carry, Float, Benji,<br />
Jeeves. While most of these solutions are in<br />
beta stage right now, they have amazing value<br />
propositions for Canadian SMEs like no fee, no<br />
personal guarantee corporate cards, unlimited<br />
one-time use virtual cards, one-click accounting<br />
sync and spend management. While these<br />
are the solutions for small businesses, Moves<br />
is a player that has recently launched Moves<br />
Spending Account, a banking solution for gig<br />
workers. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have also<br />
partnered with Payfare to offer instant payments<br />
to their gig workers through a prepaid card. Apart<br />
from these, there are expected launches of<br />
SME banking solutions in Canada from Shopify<br />
(Shopify Balance) and Quickbooks (Quickbooks<br />
Cash), which are live south of the border.<br />
Kids/Teen banking gaining traction in<br />
Canada<br />
In the past couple of years, we have seen a<br />
new niche of challenger banks appear on the<br />
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