As the federal government moves to instil more competition in Canada’s banking sector, no company is poised to benefit more than Wealthsimple Inc. 

The upstart, digital-only financial firm had what founder and chief executive Michael Katchen called a 
“pivotal year” in 2025,
opening a new
Toronto 
headquarters, hitting lofty milestones for deposits and securing a 
$10-billion valuation as a result of its latest funding round. 

“There’s no rest when trying to redefine the way Canadians build wealth and the relationship they have
with their financial partners,” he said.

Here, 
Katchen speaks about the year that was, how he plans to compete with the Big Six and the possibility of going public.
 

Financial Post: What were your highlights in 2025?

Michael Katchen

: The big message on 2025 is just that the incredible momentum we are seeing in our business proves that Canadians want change. The fact that we grew from $50 billion to over $100 billion in assets in one year is pretty remarkable for any Canadian institution and is really a reflection of the 10 years of work behind that to innovate, to create a trusted brand, to deliver an amazing experience that Canadians are flocking to. And so that to me is what my main message of 2025 is. The momentum shows that Canadians are excited and ready for a change in financial services.

FP: Looking ahead to 2026, what can we expect?

MK

: There’s lots. We won’t settle at all for how far we have come. We just raised a fresh round of capital and the big message behind that is it’s giving us the firepower to accelerate our product roadmap across investing, spending and credit, and really expand the ways we serve our clients and Canadians. We announced a whole slew of new products this year … (and we) should expect even more next year and expand the way that we serve them.

One of the things that’s really exciting is, for the first time, we saw people move their entire financial relationship to Wealthsimple this year. We are going to make that easier and easier next year as we continue to complement the products and services we have with even more depth and breadth in what we offer.

FP: There’s been a lot of talk about increasing competition in the sector from the government and also the Bank of Canada recently. How do you think these changes and announcements might influence Wealthsimple’s future?

MK

: We are huge believers in competition as benefiting consumers in Canada. Our view is that the pieces are now in place to create the most competitive financial products Canadians have seen in decades. We were very pleased with the budget announcement on transfers, where the government is going to ban the fees to enable account transfers in the investment industry for the first time.

But 2026 is when those rules actually have to be implemented, so we’ll be looking to keep partnering with various stakeholders, the government and regulators, on what that implementation looks like to make sure that we now get back to execution, which is really where the competition mandate will come in.

FP: Do you think those changes are enough to instil competition?

MK

: I don’t think it’s on the government to create the challengers. It is about creating the conditions that give Canadians more choice. The transfer fee news was so welcome, because that fee added friction that got in the way of choice. It was a tax on choice, and so by making it easier for Canadians to make choices about who they want to manage their money, they’re inviting more competition. But it’s on firms like us, like Wealthsimple, to come in and push the industry forward.

We now have a history of doing that. We were the first to launch commission-free trading in Canada when we started our discount brokerage business back in 2019. At the end of this year, there are now four other brokerages, including some of the big banks, that offer commission-free platforms for the first time. We launched fractional trading in 2021. We were the first to do it in Canada. Now, several other firms have followed suit.

It’s not for the government to innovate, but we think that the government can play a really important supporting role in fostering competition by helping Canadians with more choice. We think that comes across in the transfer fee bans, in implementing open banking and real-time rail. We are optimistic about the future of financial services competition in Canada and we thought that the budget was a great signal about where the government wants to go.

FP: Do you think 2026 could mark the beginning of the end of the Big Six oligopoly?

MK

: The big banks do an important job in Canada and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. However, Wealthsimple is now among the top five institutions in the country for net deposits. Last year, we did about $20 billion or so in net deposits. This year, we’ll do about $40 billion. That probably puts us in the top three. When you think about the share of flows that Wealthsimple is capturing in terms of new money being invested, new investment accounts being opened, we’ve opened 35 per cent of all (First Home Savings Accounts) since the investment account was introduced a couple years ago.

It takes time to bring change, but if you look at where Canadians are choosing to open their next investment account or place their next investment dollar, they are overwhelmingly choosing Wealthsimple and so it’s going to take us some time, but we’re pretty excited about the scale. We’ve already managed to achieve $100 billion. It is no small feat, but we’re just getting started.

FP: Wealthsimple has this philosophy of charging no fees and being more accessible. How difficult will it be to sustain this model as you continue to expand?

MK

: That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to challenge the status quo and prove that there’s a different way to do business in financial services. To me, it’s actually super validating to see other banks copy Wealthsimple by launching zero-commission trading or fractional shares. It shows that there is a business model that is sustainable there and works.

Our business has been profitable now for a number of years. We built a very diversified business mix in the way that we’ve expanded our services. What we’ve proven to the market is there is a different way and a better way, and when you do that and you deliver lower fees and a delightful experience to Canadians, Canadians respond. That is the engine that is driving our momentum.

FP: We have seen financial services that have done well in the past taken over by the big banks in the past. Does that ever run through your mind?

MK

: Are any banks for sale? (laughs)

FP: I guess the answer to that is no then.

MK

: Our intention is to build a lasting, iconic Canadian business. And I’ve been public about our intention to someday go public so that we can welcome our clients as shareholders in building the future. Being a leader in financial services in Canada, that is our intention.

FP: Is there anything else you want to add?

MK

: We’re super excited about the future of financial services in Canada, and we think we’re just getting started. While 2025 was this incredibly big and successful year, we doubled the assets we serve, we expanded the ways we’re helping clients, we saved clients over a billion dollars in fees that they would have otherwise been paying. We’re just getting started.

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