Wealthsimple unveils new family and business products as it broadens banking push

First it disrupted investing. Then it disrupted banking. Now, Wealthsimple wants to take over your financial life. 

As part of its third Wealthsimple Presents, the Toronto-based FinTech announced on Thursday a new suite of banking products it says will allow Canadians to better manage the various aspects of their finances.

“For small businesses in particular, I think they are especially underserved by the big banks in Canada.”

That includes products for families, like the ability to manage household finances across multiple accounts, and a chequing account and spend card for kids that allows visibility, customization, and parental control. Parents will be able to top up the interest kids receive in their account, to teach them about the power of compound growth and reward them for saving money—a feature that’s new to the Canadian market. Wealthsimple will also introduce an authorized trading option, where you can trade on behalf of a family member, like a parent or partner.

For small business owners, there is now a business chequing account that offers up to 2.25 percent interest on deposits, a prepaid business card option, a USD account, and a line of credit.

“For small businesses in particular, I think they are especially underserved by the big banks in Canada, and we believe the solution we are ready to market is sorely needed,” said Danish Ajmeri, senior director of product at Wealthsimple. 

“It allows them to focus on their business, not on their banking. And then, similarly, with our new kids and teen accounts, we know how important it is for helping young kids understand the value of money, build good habits around money, and they just haven’t had the right tools to be able to do that.”

The first two Wealthsimple Presents saw the launch of the company’s first credit card and an expanded chequing account, along with a line of credit. Expanding into products for families and businesses was a natural progression of sorts, said Ajmeri. 

“People work multiple jobs, they have side incomes, they have kids or parents whose money they might be managing,” he said. “And so we believe these will apply to the vast majority of Canadians.”

The first two Wealthsimple Presents were held at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto; bringing Thursday’s event west to the Bella Concert Hall in Calgary, dubbed Wealthsimple Takes Over Your Life, was an intentional choice. 

“Alberta is home to over 500,000 Wealthsimple clients, and as a platform trying to serve Canadians, it’s really important for us to make our presence felt and known across the country,” Ajmeri explained.

The event, which was also livestreamed online, had more than 300,000 people registered, Weathsimple CEO Mike Katchen said during his opening address. Being in Calgary meant more to Katchen than just appealing to Canadians. He told a story about his great-grandparents arriving in the city in 1909 “with nothing.” 

They had three children, including his grandfather, who started selling cowhides when he was young, eventually saving enough to buy a cow. That led to more cows, and eventually a meat packing business, Katchen Bros.

The plant is still standing at Crossroads Market.

“To me, it represents something deeply Canadian: it’s a story about trying to build a better life, a future for your family, and I think that’s what most of us are after,” he said. “We’re all building toward something important, but too often, the financial system makes that harder than it should be.”

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Thursday’s product launch comes at a time when Canadian couples with children and solo parents are feeling increasing financial pressure. A survey of 1,700 Wealthsimple clients during the month of April found most couples with kids and solo parents share their finances, but that doesn’t always make things easier. 

Among couples with kids, cost-of-living pressures have led just over half to make financial trade-offs, while 39 percent say they struggle to plan ahead due to rising costs. Solo parents feel it even more, as 58 percent say they’ve made financial trade-offs and 43 percent say it’s been harder to plan ahead.

Trade-offs include pausing or lowering contributions to retirement savings.

“We really try to understand how [families are] being served today,” said Ajmeri. “Where they’re underserved, and this in particular was really informative in helping us dig deeper into what money problems couples and families really have.”

The family and household products were led by Emily Luk Allen, who joined Wealthsimple alongside her husband last year after their couple-focused wealth management platform Plenty was acquired by the company.

This was the third major product announcement in under a year for Wealthsimple, which was founded in 2014. The company now serves more than four million Canadians and holds over $125 billion in assets under administration.

BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.

Disclosure: Wealthsimple vice-president of payments strategy and chief compliance officer, Hanna Zaidi, sits on BetaKit’s board of directors.

Feature image courtesy Wealthsimple.