This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news from Canada.
Wealthsimple launches AI agent
Toronto-based fintech Wealthsimple unveiled a suite of new solutions this week, including an AI-powered assistant. Named Penny, the AI assistant is able to send e-transfers, pay invoices, flag duplicate credit card charges, and help self-directed investors buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—all within the Wealthsimple platform. Explicit client approval will be required before any transaction is completed.
“People don’t expect something good to happen at their bank, or with their money,” Wealthsimple Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Brett Huneycutt said. “We want to change that. Everything we introduced today, from our AI assistant to advanced trading tools, helps take friction and fear out of money.”
Operating entirely within the Wealthsimple environment—with no client data leaving the platform—Penny can interpret broader financial goals and plot out next steps rather than simply respond to direct commands. Wealthsimple is planning new integrations by early 2027 that will allow customers to connect their accounts to external AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude. The company noted that client approval would need to be secured before setup and again in advance of any sensitive actions.
Wealthsimple’s AI agent arrives at a time when Canada’s biggest banks are restricting the ability of third-party AI agents to access their systems and pointing to cybersecurity concerns as the reason. By keeping all of its interactions within its own ecosystem while still providing AI-powered automation, Wealthsimple is addressing similar concerns in its own way.
In addition to Penny, Wealthsimple also previewed Wealthsimple Pro, a consolidated trading platform that combines positions, watchlists, and Level 2 market data in a single view. The platform is expected in late November 2026. Wealthsimple also announced the launch of a new Canadian-dollar-backed stablecoin, CADD, also slated for late November. CADD will track the Canadian dollar on a one-to-one basis and offer a 3.25% annual “reward” on holdings kept at Wealthsimple. Another highlight of the company’s announcement was the introduction of the Wealthsimple Business credit card with no FX fees and 1% cashback.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Wealthsimple serves more than four million Canadians and has approximately $169 billion in assets under administration as of September 2026. The company offers a range of financial products across checking and spending, managed investing, self-directed trading, and tax filing. Co-founder Michael Katchen is CEO.
RemitBee and TerraPay team up on digital wallets
International money movement company TerraPay has partnered with Canadian cross-border payments platform RemitBee. The collaboration is designed to bolster the international remittance and business payout capabilities across key outbound corridors throughout the US, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The partnership will enable faster, more reliable, and cost-efficient international transactions by bringing enterprise-grade cross-border payment capabilities to small businesses. Many of these businesses do not have the same high transaction volumes as the larger entities and, as such, often rely on slower, less efficient channels to move money. From remittances and supplier payments to freelancer compensation, remote payroll, and business settlements, the alliance between TerraPay and RemitBee will expand access to global payment infrastructure traditionally available only to larger enterprises.
“Canada is a high-potential cross-border payments market, but many smaller-value international transactions still move through expensive, fragmented, and slower channels,” TerraPay Head of Europe and Americas Ralph Koker said. “That’s what makes this partnership with RemitBee so relevant. By combining RemitBee’s strong local reach with TerraPay’s global payment network and digital wallet infrastructure, we are bridging the gap between domestic payment capabilities and international connectivity. This is interoperability solving a real market need, enabling businesses and individuals to access a more connected, transparent, and reliable global payments ecosystem.”
London-based TerraPay is an international money movement company with a payment network that connects mobile wallets, bank accounts, and cards worldwide. TerraPay connects its partners—including banks, MTOs, corporates, and fintech platforms—to more than 7.5 billion bank accounts in more than 156 countries. The company’s Xend wallet interoperability network enables secure, real-time cross-border payments to and from 3.7 billion wallets via a single, unified connection. TerraPay was launched in 2015. Ambar Sur is co-founder and CEO.
“Canadian small and medium-sized businesses often lack the transaction volumes to negotiate favorable exchange rates and face delays in cross-border payments,” RemitBee COO Manos Yoganathan said. “By partnering with TerraPay, we’re advancing our vision of making enterprise-grade payment infrastructure accessible to these businesses, expanding their reach across key global corridors and enabling seamless payments into digital wallets.”
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, RemitBee offers an all-in-one platform for money transfers, currency exchange, tax filing, billpay, mobile top-ups, and more. The company enables secure fund transfers from Canada to more than 150 countries around the world and provides seamless currency exchange between Canadian and US dollars. RemitBee offers both personal and business accounts, the latter featuring increased transaction limits, enhanced security, compliance, and dedicated business support.
Canada and EU agree to link real-time payment systems
The European Union and the Government of Canada have made a joint commitment to advance work in support of connecting Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR) with Europe’s instant payment systems. The agreement commits to “support work toward connecting instant payment systems to facilitate faster, lower-cost, and more seamless cross-border transactions, making it easier for Canadians and Europeans to conduct business, invest, and transfer funds across the two economies.”
As part of this initiative, Payments Canada announced that, along with its partners, members, and regulators, it will soon launch Canada’s real-time payment system, the Real-Time Rail. The payments infrastructure will serve as a “high-speed, information-rich digital highway” with Payments Canada noting that the “generational, critical national infrastructure” was made locally in Canada. The RTR has been designed to meet international standards and is purpose-built to leverage the global ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, an essential feature to support interlinking with instant payment systems in other markets around the world.
The payments partnership between Canada and the EU is part of a larger Alliance for the Future framework, announced at the end of October. Alliance for the Future, launched at the Canada-EU Summit, represents a new partnership of nations that “will leverage the strategic capabilities of Canada, the EU, and a variable geometry of like-minded nations to address common issues.” These issues include enhancing affordability for Canadians, more choice in banking and insurance services, and improving access to high-performance technology for Canadian scientists, in addition to promoting “faster payment systems.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- ACI Worldwide and Circle teamed up to bring USDC settlement to Colombia.
- Trading and investing platform eToro acquired all-in-one financial app LB Finanzas as part of its expansion into Argentina.
- Thunes announced the addition of Venezuela to its global real-time payment network.
Asia-Pacific
- AML solution provider ThirdEye partnered with ID-Pal to bring its KYC/KYB technology to Australia and New Zealand.
- Thai virtual bank CLICX inked a strategic partnership with Thought Machine for its core banking technology Vault Core.
- Pine Labs teamed up with Stripe to bring unified commerce to Singaporean retailers.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Nigerian bank Rex Africa launched an AI-native bank, powered by Rex Microfinance Bank, with an AI agent called Rex Atlas.
- Financial services provider Mukuru partnered with paytech Flash to add 170,000 cash pay-in points across South Africa.
- Paymentology teamed up with South African tech firm Byte Orbit to power its intelligent spend management platform for SMEs, Paystashio.
Central and Eastern Europe
- German fintech Pliant, which specializes in B2B payments, secured $80 million in funding in a round co-led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest.
- Lithuanian bank Mano Bank turned to regtech AMLYZE to combine customer risk assessment, transaction monitoring, customer and payment screening, and the management of related investigations.
- ING Bank Romania announced plans to deploy Cambrist’s payments acquiring data analytics platform.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- Israel fintech Capitolis acquired securities lending company eSecLending for $200 million in cash.
- Enza, an Egyptian payments infrastructure provider for banks and fintechs in Africa raised $6 million in Seed+ funding.
- Thiqa Intelligence co-founder and data analyst Wesam Karaker looked at the potential for finanical reform in Syria.
Central and Southern Asia
- Pakistan’s AdalFi, which offers Islamic and small business loans, announced plans for an IPO later this year.
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has established a tech and innovation division focused on AI and the blockchain.
- MENA Fintech Association announced an expansion to Pakistan.