Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Digital, NEO, Open Banking, Open Finance
TD Bank enters data access agreement with Envestnet Yodlee
Open Banking Expo | Ellie Duncan | Sep 22, 2021
Toronto-headquartered TD Bank and California-based Envestnet|Yodlee have signed a North American data access agreement that means the bank’s customers will be able to connect their financial information to the more than 1,400 third-party applications powered by the Envestnet|Yodlee financial data aggregation platform.
Under the agreement, should a customer request it, TD Bank will transfer the individual’s financial data to Envestnet | Yodlee through APIs, removing the need to share their banking login ID or password.
See: Lack of open banking framework forcing Canadian consumers to choose between convenience and security, TD exec says
“We know that our customers are interacting with us through digital channels more than ever before and we are focused on helping meet their needs however they choose to bank,” Franklin Garrigues, VP, digital channels at TD added.
TD Bank has become the 13th US bank to sign such a data access agreement with Envestnet|Yodlee.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Canada’s Library of Parliament Report: A Comparison of Open Banking Recommendations
Senator Colin Deacon | Sep 27, 2021
On June 19th, 2019, the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce (Senate Banking Committee) released the report, Open Banking: What it Means for You, Following the release of this report, Senators Colin Deacon and Howard Wetston continued to invest a considerable amount of time advancing the issue of open banking. Their ongoing efforts reflect the Senate Banking Committee’s unanimous view that Canada should urgently develop and implement an open banking framework.
More than two years later, on August 4th, 2021, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, released the Advisory Committee on Open Banking (Advisory Committee)’s April 2021 Final Report.
See: FFCON21 On-Demand with Seanator Colin Deacon: Inclusive Banking and Affordable Credit
Following a request from Senator Wetston, recent chair of the Senate Banking Committee, the Library of Parliament completed a side-by-side comparison between the 10 recommendations made by the Senate Banking Committee and the 34 recommendations made by the Advisory Committee.
The comparison identified that the Advisory Committee’s report contains additional, more detailed recommendations than those outlined in the Senate Banking Committee’s report, but that they did not differ in terms of direction or intent. It is reasonable to conclude that additional insight was garnered due to the Advisory Committee’s second round of consultations, the rapidly accelerating global experience in open banking, and the increasing attention to the topic in Canada.
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Download the 9 page PDF report: 'A Comparison of Open Banking Recommendations' --> Here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Securing Invoice Factoring As A Small-Business Owner, Expectations vs Reality
Forbes | | Sep 10, 2021
Payson Johnston is the CEO and Co-Founder of invoice finance marketplace Crowdz, helping SMEs get paid faster and access working capital.
For most enterprising Americans, running a small business isn’t a walk in the park, especially during a pandemic. With the fundamentals of how we conduct business changing seemingly every week, hardworking SMEs have adapted with new strategies to stay afloat, from bodegas and family restaurants introducing online shopping to dance studios offering remote classes.
With banks tightening lending criteria and government stimulus incentives requiring mountains of paperwork, SME owners have looked to alternative financing methods to fuel their most critical growth cycles and reach new milestones, from expanding product lines to growing their team.
See: ASC and FCAA adopt new prospectus exemption to support small business capital raising
Alternative financing options like invoice finance (or receivables finance) have emerged as a boon throughout the pandemic, despite existing in various forms, similar to factoring, for decades. Lower barriers to entry and reduced overheads have led to the proliferation of easy-access options and platforms, meaning private funding for communities is increasing as more investors and organizations realize their bottom line can support communities and drive returns.
As a leader in this space, I’ve witnessed some common misconceptions, or expectations, that make it unclear how invoice financing offers an alternative option to secure financing. Invoice financing isn’t new, but it has become more popular, particularly during the pandemic, because this method generally allows businesses to exchange unpaid invoices for instant cash, which is then repaid when the original invoice is settled by the customer.
Expectation: I need a high credit score or an established business to access finance.
Reality: So what happens if your business is young, hasn’t previously needed credit, or is deemed “riskier” by discriminatory lenders? Though there are many plausible reasons a responsible business may have a credit score in its infancy, it automatically rules out their lending options, right?
Read: The Intersection of Small Business, Tech and Our Financial Ecosystem is More Important Than Ever
Not quite. Invoice financing fast-tracks money you’re already owed, so the risk factor is reduced for the funder and makes highly leveraged credit lines redundant.
Some providers are also developing new risk assessment models to improve equitable access to finance. Businesses with timely repayment habits or creating positive impacts in their communities are incentivized with better rates. Further, initiatives like the Facebook Invoice Fast Track program specifically focus on improving access to finance for diverse and minority-owned businesses with the commitment of buying $100 million in outstanding invoices.
Expectation: Invoice finance is the last resort for failing companies.
Reality: Alternative finance providers have historically been seen as the final hope for businesses with nowhere else to turn other than high-interest, non-bank providers to bail them out. But the tables have turned. With the proliferation of fintech disruptors and the contracting risk appetite of banks, alternative finance options have become a tool for companies who need access to instant and reliable sources of working capital.
Within five years, 45% of businesses shutter, and for startups, this rate is worse, with over 90 percent eventually biting the dust. A study from U.S. Bank revealed for 82%, the biggest reason for failure is cash flow mismanagement.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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On the Brink Podcast: George Selgin of the Cato Institute on Stablecoins, Bitcoin and Free Banking
On the Brink Podcast | Aug 2, 2021
George Selgin, director of the Center of Monetary Alternatives at the Cato Institute joins the show to discuss Bitcoin, Free Banking, and stablecoins. In this episode:
- Why George refers to Bitcoin as a synthetic commodity money
- Why George was excited by the possibility for synthetic commodity money
- What conditions would have to hold for Bitcoin to be considered money
- Why money is a spectrum rather than binary
- Are stablecoins prone to bank runs?
- Is Tether’s melange of underlying collateral sufficient?
- How should stablecoins be regulated?
- Why are regulators looking into stablecoins today?
See:
FCA Chair Charles Randall Discusses Crypto, Stablecoins and Digital Asset Regulation
More regulation coming: SEC Chairman signals stablecoins and other tokens could fall under its rules on security-based swaps
Minister Freeland releases final report with 34 recommendations on Open Banking from the Advisory committee
- Comparing stablecoins to Money Market Mutual Funds
- Why money market funds broke the buck in 08
- Are stablecoins as systemic as money market funds?
- George’s objections to Gorton and Zhang’s paper on free banking and stablecoins
- George’s definition of free banking
- Was the 1830s-60s period in the U.S. a period of genuine free banking?
- The actual causes of bank failures in the pre-Civil War period
- Why ‘unit banking’ was so fragile
- What lessons can be taken from Canada’s experience with free banking in that era
- Why the history of Free Banking is a red herring in the stablecoin debate
- George’s recommendations for a primer on free banking
- George’s reflections on Hal Finney’s reference to his work
- Why bank failures are often the consequence of regulation
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Where the UK is heading with Smart Data and why Fintechs want a cross-sectoral access
Innovate Finance | Rolf Merchant | Sep 7, 2021
Data is a hugely valuable currency in the financial services world. In sufficient quantities and with the knowhow to analyse and interpret it, data provides a tremendous amount of knowledge for financial services companies. The old tenet “knowledge is power” could justifiably be updated to “data is power” for 21st century finance.
What is Smart Data?
Smart Data is the secure sharing of customer data with authorised third-party providers upon the customer’s request.
These providers then use this data to provide innovative services for the consumer or business user, such as automatic switching or better account management.
Data sharing could unlock a huge number of benefits for consumers and businesses alike.
Read: Kalifa review of UK Fintech report
We might see the creation of an entire “data economy”, where consumers are more informed and empowered because of the data they can access, and where businesses can make use of shared data to create and improve products and services that target real needs and desires. This is why FinTech companies are so interested in the Smart Data initiative.
Next steps for Smart Data
We were particularly interested to read the report in June from the UK government’s Smart Data working group, Next steps for Smart Data. It was encouraging to see a reaffirmation of the value of financial services-specific initiatives such as Open Banking and Open Finance.
The report detailed a number of the brilliant uses of Open Banking by FinTech companies – including by some of our own members like Yapily, Yolt and Monzo – showing the power of shared data in action.
It was even more promising to read practical proposals for cross-sector coordination. It’s worth referring to the Kalifa Review, which listed taking a “cross-sectoral approach” as the number one recommendation for Smart Data.
See: Will the Law Keep Up with Smart Contracts in 2021?
Innovate Finance agrees with the working group’s four key principles to inform the design of cross-sector coordination and collaboration, as detailed in the Next steps for Smart Data report. These four principles are:
- Sectors working together – bringing together all bodies leading sectoral delivery of Smart Data with industry and government to enable coordination.
- Develop the Smart Data ecosystem – sharing information and drawing on shared expertise to tackle common challenges and support cross-sector innovation.
- Enable interoperability – to address barriers to competition and realise Smart Data benefits for consumers and businesses.
- Inform the ongoing development of the Smart Data framework – ensuring the ecosystem remains responsive to changing user attitudes and technological developments will be important. Pooling research and findings to develop a cross-sector picture of adoption, attitudes and capabilities will provide an opportunity to identify and consider emerging opportunities and challenges.
What does FinTech want from a cross-sectoral approach?
The Kalifa Review listed specific concerns of the FinTech community relating to Smart Data, including smaller firms not having sufficient access to data to develop innovative products and to compete with established firms with large customer bases and data sets. There is a real need for any cross-sectoral approach to take into account the interests of FinTech startups and scaleups.
Read: FCA Speech: Levelling the playing field – innovation in the service of consumers and the market
The Kalifa Review stressed the need for the government to facilitate (or, where appropriate, mandate) the sharing of data not just within sectors (such as Open Banking), but also between sectors. It added that a cross-sector approach must bring firms that hold very significant amounts of data, such as large technology companies, into the fold.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Gen Z: the end of status quo banking?
WALO | Rim Charkani | Aug 31, 2021
Canadians are notoriously loyal to their financial institution (FI). Only 3% of them jump ship every year because switching costs act as a silent yet strong deterrent in banking. Imagine having to transfer all your recurring payments and deposits to a new chequing account. Fears of complications set in, and you resign yourself to the status quo.
While family and friends are still determining factors when choosing a lifelong financial service provider, relying on a history of apathy simply will not cut it nowadays. Establishing a meaningful relationship based on true added value is thus critical for FIs to capture and retain Generation Z's attention.
SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT
In some ways, Gen Z is no different than previous cohorts. They want their money to be safe and make better financial decisions. Surprisingly, they also value things like branch proximity and greater trust levels associated with well-established FIs.
Yet, Gen Z members are a different breed evolving in new technological times. Word of mouth defines brand adoption for products that need to be social, digital, educational, and offer value over time. If a relevant added value is not there, this tech-savvy, mobile-first generation will go somewhere else.
A GAP TO BE FILLED
Current technological shifts have created a void - some Gen Zers get cell phones before 10 years old and are active on social media by the time they are 12. Yet, a lot of them do not have payment cards or bank accounts until they are 18.
See: Fintech Startup WALO Goes Live With A Gamified Financial Literacy App for Kids and Parents
That does not mean that teens will abstain from mobile banking during those years. It just means that, in an era where hard cash is no longer king and online shopping is a must, traditional banking methods have failed them.
CONNECT EARLY
Financial habits are set as early as seven years old, which often coincides when parents start giving an allowance. Remarkably, a lot of big banks have overlooked the impact Gen Z will have on their line of business. If FIs do not connect during this current window of opportunity, someone else will.
“As fintech and big tech players expand their payment functionality, banks will need to be invested in teen banking — or risk being left behind.” Morgan Stanley Research
In Canada, we can just look to Europe for a glimpse into the future. Open banking, neobanks, consumer-friendly legislation and services like the UK's Current Account Switch Service will eventually come to Canada.
And if there is one lesson to be learned, it is that embracing those changes is crucial. FIs who were adequately prepared are thriving in this new environment. By doing nothing, Canada is at risk of becoming a net importer of financial technology for teens.
BE RELEVANT
In the end, it all comes down to being relevant for tomorrow’s mass customers, Generation Z, right NOW.
Gen Z’s appetite for new payment products and experiences is a no-brainer. There are clear signs that their demands for alternative cashless, context-relevant and rewarding mobile experiences are unmet.
This technologically savvy cohort represents a massive opportunity for FIs willing to provide products tailored to their needs. Those FIs looking for ways to drive meaningful mobile engagement for Gen Z can rely on Fintechs such as WALO.
An early value-added relationship between the youth and FIs will pave the way for loyal and lucrative lifelong relationships.
Learn more about Rim and the WALO mission on NCFA's Fintech Fridays podcast:
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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National Bank acquires majority stake in fintech startup Flinks in $103M deal
The Logic | Jon Victor | Aug 25, 2021
National Bank of Canada will take a majority stake in Montreal-based financial-data platform Flinks, a sign that the bank is looking to increase its exposure to tech-focused products at a time of rapid change in the financial-services industry.
See: In the Future, Home Will be Wherever Consumers Choose to be
Canada’s sixth-largest bank disclosed in its quarterly earnings report Wednesday morning that it agreed to pay $103 million to increase its share of the company from 28 per cent to 80 per cent, with $30 million of the investment going toward new capital for Flinks. The deal, dated July 9, is expected to close in September, according to National Bank.
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