In 2024, Fintech.ca editor-in-chief Robert Lewis sat down with Brigit Carroll, the North American Policy Lead at Wise, a global technology company with 16 million customers.
During the exclusive interview, Carroll spoke about Canada’s big shift from a concentration of incumbents to a more open playing field with a rising number of viable competitors.
“The payments landscape in Canada is primarily shaped by the significant presence of the Big Six Banks,” she commented at the time, “collectively holding around 90% of the country’s banking assets.”
But, despite these banks’ historical domination of money movement in Canada, “the financial ecosystem is becoming increasingly more diverse through the inclusion of neobanks, fintechs, and other financial service providers.”
In 2025, Wise grew its active customer base grew by more than 30%, reflecting this shift.
Then, in 2026, Payments Canada admitted five new payment service provider members, including Wise.
“Expanding membership diversity and advancing payment system modernization, including the forthcoming Real-Time Rail, is crucial to strengthening Canada’s global competitiveness and supporting innovation that benefits Canadian consumers and businesses,” Susan Hawkins, CEO of Payments Canada, stated in January.
This month, announced the launch of a new Interest feature for consumers and businesses in Canada.
The fintech, promising to offer “one account for all the money in the world” claims to be the first provider in Canada to enable customers to earn a return on balances held across multiple currencies within one consolidated account.
Millions of Canadians send international payments each year, according to public data from Payments Canada, but options for holding and growing money across multiple currencies have historically required opening separate accounts for each currency—and such accounts often come with minimum balance thresholds and fluctuating rates that get more expensive over time.
Wise Interest removes these barriers for Canadians, suggests Vinay Nilakantan, Head of Product for North America.
“Earning a return on your money across currencies shouldn’t require opening and managing multiple accounts or giving up access to your funds,” argues Nilakantan, “but that’s the reality many Canadians have grown accustomed to.”
“With Wise’s Interest feature, we’re changing that,” Nilakantan says. “We’re offering a more flexible way for our customers to make their money work harder across currencies, combining market-leading returns with the ability to use funds instantly, all in one convenient account.”
Current rates from Wise are 2.22% in CAD, 3.14% in USD, 0.8% in EUR, and 2.21% in GBP.
Wise launched in 2011, supporting 15 million customers across $185B worth of transactions processed.
The company recently partnered with Wealthsimple.
