AI & Lending

If you're running a challenger bank, neobank, or fintech in Canada and you're not popping champagne right now, you haven't been paying attention.

Canada has just announced a Financial Crimes Agency that will centralize enforcement, coordinate with U.S. regulators, and make cross-border compliance a full-time, mandatory job. If your AML infrastructure still runs on spreadsheets and hope, this is your final warning.

The Bank of Canada just handed out hall passes to 300 fintech companies. And unlike the bureaucratic paper-pushing exercises we’ve become numb to, this one actually matters.

November's federal budget is supposed to include the next legislative phase for open banking. If you're a Canadian fintech executive, you've heard this song before. The difference this time? Multiple sources, speaking to industry media under the condition of anonymity, say that government officials and lobby groups are telling them it's real. Phase 2 legislation (covering common rules and accreditation frameworks) is apparently ready for its debut on Nov. 4.

There's a moment in every poker game when someone pushes all their chips to the center of the table. Last week, RBC and TD did exactly that; except instead of chips, it was billion-dollar AI commitments with their names attached.