Wealthsimple launches credit card, new line of credit to challenge big banks
CBC
Wealthsimple Inc. announced its first credit card and a line of credit Wednesday as it ramps up efforts to challenge the dominance of Canada's big banks.
The expansion also includes the additions of mobile cheque deposits, wire transfers and bank drafts to the chequing account it launched in 2020 when it started pushing toward the full financial suite offered by banks.
Wealthsimple, which started more than a decade ago with a focus on automated investment management, has long emphasized that it doesn't want to become an actual bank, and chief commercial officer Paul Teshima says it still has no plans to become one.
"What we want to do is continue to lean into the fact that because we don't have a banking licence, we can do interesting and different use cases," he said.
He pointed to Wealthsimple's arrangement with 10 banks to hold its clients' deposits, giving them Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage of up to $1 million, as one of those benefits.
Wealthsimple's new offerings Wednesday include its credit card with two per cent cash back, while it says its line of credit will have rates as low as 4.45 per cent when it launches by the end of the year. (The current prime rate is 4.95 per cent.)
New credit card customers will not be charged additional conversion or FX fees when spending money in foreign currencies.
Wealthsimple also plans to offer its clients the ability to use their investment account balances as collateral for lines of credit.
Not everything is purely digital. Clients will also be able to have bank drafts shipped at no cost to recipients.
It's also working on a feature where users can still write traditional paper cheques using the app, with the financial institution printing and delivering the cheque to the recipient.
"There are some people who still use cheques," Teshima said in an interview with CBC News. "What we don't wanna do is obviously expect clients to not do those things that they do today."
Wealthsimple is also hinting at a pilot project being launched in the Toronto area where actual cash will be delivered to a client's door.
"For those urgent moments, we're going to send cash right to your doorstep, similar to Uber Eats," explained Teshima, noting the pilot may eventually include U.S. dollar delivery.
But even as Wealthsimple adds features, its unclear how much market share the company will be able to take from the Big Six banks that include RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and National Bank.
