Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: P2P, Lending, Digital Bonds, BNPL, Private Credit
Wealthsimple Expands Banking Stack At Live Event
May 22, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Banking And Credit Infrastructure, Payments And Market Infrastructure, Lending Consumer Credit And BNPL, Artificial Intelligence And Data
Wealthsimple Expands From Investing Into Daily Money Management
On May 21, 2026, Wealthsimple unveiled a major expansion of its financial services platform during its live product event, “Wealthsimple Takes Over Your Life”. The announcements included family accounts, business chequing, USD accounts, portfolio backed credit, spend insights, overdraft protection, and a monthly $1M client rewards program. The company said more than 4 million Canadians now use Wealthsimple and hold $150B in assets on the platform.
Wealthsimple isn't a Schedule I bank, but it delivers banking style services through regulated Wealthsimple entities, infrastructure access, and partner financial institutions. Wealthsimple says chequing balances are held in trust with CDIC member institutions, while Wealthsimple Payments Inc. and Wealthsimple Investments Inc. are not CDIC member institutions. Power Corporation disclosed a controlling interest in Wealthsimple through Power Financial, Great-West Lifeco, and IGM. In Q1 2026 results, Power valued its Wealthsimple ownership at $3.8B as of March 31, 2026.
NCFA also covered Wealthsimple’s $750M financing and $10B valuation, which gave Canadian fintech markets one of the rarest and strongest scaleup stories.
Wealthsimple Expands Everyday Money Tools
The event hit home how far Wealthsimple has moved beyond investing and trading. The company now wants a larger share of daily financial activity across deposits, payments, borrowing, business banking, and household finance.
This builds on earlier product expansion when Wealthsimple added credit and loan tools in 2025, including a cash back credit card and low interest credit line. The latest event pushes that same strategy further into operating accounts, secured borrowing, and household controls.
Business Banking Targets SME Pain Points
The business banking launch carried the clearest fintech impact. Wealthsimple introduced business chequing with online setup in less than 20 minutes, virtual cards, automated CRA payments, recurring transfers, interest bearing balances, and higher e transfer limits.
- Business clients can send up to $25,000 per e transfer with a $50,000 daily limit
- The account pays up to 2.25% interest with no balance cap
- Its average business chequing balance is $40,000
- Announced USD business accounts for firms with US suppliers or customers. The accounts will include no account fees, no cross border transfer fees, interest on balances, and access to US payment rails
See: Wealthsimple Taps X To Capture Trade Intent At Source
Those features target familiar problems for Canadian SMEs. Many owners still deal with low transfer limits, little or no yield on operating balances, manual tax payments, and weak cash management tools.
Portfolio Credit Adds Secured Borrowing
The Portfolio Line Of Credit may become one of the company’s most important financial products. Wealthsimple said eligible clients can borrow against portfolios at rates as low as prime minus 0.5%, or about 3.95% at the time of the event.
Clients can borrow up to 35% of portfolio value. A client with $200,000 on the platform could access up to $70,000 in credit, subject to eligibility and risk controls.
The product gives clients a way to fund business expenses, inventory purchases, major purchases, or debt refinancing without selling investments. This type of secured liquidity has historically been more common in private banking and wealth management.
For Wealthsimple, portfolio credit also deepens the customer relationship. The more assets clients keep on the platform, the more useful the credit product becomes.
Family Accounts Add Household Controls
Wealthsimple introduced three family finance products. Kids and teens accounts give parents card controls, alerts, limits, instant transfers, and parent paid interest. Households lets partners choose what they share, track accounts inside and outside Wealthsimple, and view family finances in one place.
See: Prediction Markets Tighten As Wealthsimple Enters
Authorized traders lets a trusted family member make trades on another person’s behalf without password sharing. That addresses a practical issue. Many Canadians already help spouses, parents, or relatives manage investments informally. Wealthsimple is formalizing that process with permission based account access.
Payment Access Supports New Services
Wealthsimple also pointed to deeper access across Canadian payment systems. The company linked that access to cheaper wire transfers, free incoming wires, faster payroll deposits, lower FX costs, instant virtual card issuance, cash deposits through Canada Post, and ATM fee reimbursements.
Wealthsimple gained direct Swift access, becoming the first Canadian fintech to do so. It supports the company’s push into wires, cross border money movement, and lower cost global payments.
The Canada Post cash deposit feature gives clients access to more than 5,000 deposit locations. Wealthsimple said it processed cash deposit transactions in more than 900 communities during the first two months after launch.
Infrastructure access increasingly matters for large fintech platforms. It can improve speed, pricing, product flexibility, and customer experience while reducing dependence on older branch based banking workflows.
Monthly Millionaire Targets Deposits
Wealthsimple’s Monthly Millionaire program will award $1M each month to one client. Every dollar deposited or saved creates an entry, while direct deposit doubles entries. Move over 'roll up the rim to win'!
See: Wealthsimple Earns CIX Innovator Of The Year
The structure encourages clients to move payroll deposits and savings activity onto the platform. For Wealthsimple, that supports higher deposits, stronger engagement, and more primary account usage.
Takeaway
Canadian fintech competition is increasingly focused on who controls the broader financial relationship, not just a single product category. Wealthsimple now spans deposits, payments, investing, borrowing, family finance, business banking, and cross border accounts.
That puts the company into more direct competition with incumbent financial institutions across several revenue areas at once. The company's expansion shows how quickly a Canadian fintech can move when scale, capital, trust, and distribution come together.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Relay Secures $50M To Grow SMB Finance Platform
May 19, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | SME Finance And Business Banking, Capital Markets And Funding
Cash Flow Control Drives Small Business Banking
On May 19, 2026, Toronto founded fintech scaleup Relay secured $50 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. Relay serves U.S. small businesses with banking and money management tools. The financing is meant to accelerate customer acquisition while Relay keeps existing investment focused on product development.
Relay now supports more than 150,000 small business customers and oversees more than $1.3 billion in managed customer deposits through Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Since its $32.2 million Series B in May 2024, Relay says it is on track to grow revenue by 3.2x by the end of 2026.
The funding isn't a traditional equity round, since the General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund gives Relay capital for customer acquisition. That lets the company spend on growth without pulling the same dollars away from product, compliance, support, and reliability.
Yoseph West, Co Founder and CEO, Relay:
“Every dollar invested in Relay supports passionate folks who work hard to build their businesses and realize their ambitions. This investment is a vote of confidence in the true value we deliver to those self-made entrepreneurs, so they can put every dollar to work,”
Growth Capital Without Product Drift
Relay already has customer scale, deposit traction, and a clear revenue growth target. The investor question is whether paid acquisition can keep working as Relay expands its brand footprint in the U.S. small business market?
See: Float Secures $100M to Expand SME Finance in Canada
Growth can damage a financial product if the operating base isn't ready. Small businesses need stable banking access, clear cash flow views, reliable support, and simple money movement. If acquisition gets ahead of service quality, trust can break quickly.
Andrew Ziperski, Partner, General Catalyst, Customer Value Fund:
“Relay has proven its deep understanding of what small business owners actually need to succeed, with a product that clearly resonates based on the strength of its customer acquisition machine.”
Cash Flow Control Is The Product
Relay is trying to own more of the small business finance workflow, not just the bank account. Its platform brings together accounts, cards, bills, invoices, capital, and other money tools. That gives owners a clearer view of cash coming in, cash going out, and what they can safely spend.
Recent product activity supports that strategy. Relay’s site now highlights receivables tools for invoices and payments, while its support pages show invoice tracking, accepted payment options, automatic reminders, and recurring invoices. Relay has also added Relay Capital term loans, offering small business lending alongside the same platform where owners already manage money.
That's where SMB banking is heading. Cash flow clarity helps them decide when to pay bills, hire, buy inventory, chase receivables, or seek financing. Relay’s strategy is to turn that daily operating pressure into the product.
See: Canada’s SMBs Deserve Better Banking. Lessons from US Fintechs
Important caveat is that Relay's a financial technology company, not an FDIC insured bank. Banking services not related to Relay Capital term loans are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
Relay Capital term loans are provided through Fundbox, with business loans originated by Lead Bank. That partner model is common in U.S. fintech, but it puts pressure on compliance, disclosures, customer experience, and operational control.
Talking Point
SMB finance remains a large market, but the winning product is no longer just an account. It's the operating system that helps owners see cash, move money, access capital, and make faster decisions when conditions get messy.
If customer acquisition can be funded separately from core product investment, do stronger platforms gain an edge by scaling distribution without weakening banking reliability, support, and product depth?
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Bitcoin as the Missing Denominator for Private Credit
May 19, 2026 | NCFA OpEd | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Lending Consumer Credit And BNPL, Capital Markets And Funding
How sound money can improve pricing across borders, strengthen long term yields, and lower customer operator costs through asset backed settlement.
By Hudhaifah Zahid (Kode), Founder and CEO, Grynvault
Private credit has become one of the most important financial markets in the world because banks serve fewer borrowers, operators, and asset classes with the speed and flexibility the market now requires. That opening created room for faster capital, more specialized underwriting, and structures closer to the underlying cashflow.
Yet private credit still inherits the old problem: it prices long term real world risk through fiat benchmarks. A five year operating asset is often judged through short term rates, credit spreads, inflation assumptions, and currency movements that have little to do with the asset itself. The structure may be private, but the denominator is still public market money.
That is the part worth questioning. Private credit solved access to capital. The next step is better pricing of capital.
The Hidden Risk Is The Denominator
Every credit contract begins with a simple question: what is the correct cost of capital? In fiat finance, the answer usually comes from central bank policy, government bond yields, credit spreads, and lender appetite. Those inputs are useful, but they also shift constantly. A borrower can look good in one rate regime and weak in another. A yield can look attractive in one currency and ordinary in another. A nominal return can look safe while purchasing power quietly leaks away.
Private credit feels closer to reality because it touches actual businesses, equipment, vehicles, receivables, inventory, and property. But the moment every outcome is measured only in dollars, the same distortion returns. Did the investor earn a real return, or just more nominal units? Did the operator create value, or repay in cheaper currency? Did the asset perform, or did inflation cover the mistake?
This becomes sharper when capital crosses borders. A Canadian operator, a U.S. investor, and a global capital pool experience inflation through different currencies, costs, and policy cycles. Currency adds another layer of noise. The market can price the loan, the lease, or the receivable, but it still needs a cleaner way to compare performance across time and jurisdiction.
Short Term Yield Is A Poor Anchor For Long Term Productive Risk
The usual benchmark global markets usually look at to help with pricing are U.S. Treasury bills (T Bills). They give investors a simple way to park cash, and earn what we call a “risk free” rate from which to calculate all new additional risks. However, that function is failing.
For a long time, U.S. government debt gave global markets a simple mental anchor. Investors could park capital, earn a nominal return, and treat that yield as the baseline for additional risk. But the more capital hides in short duration instruments, the less useful that baseline becomes for pricing long term productive assets. T bills may be useful for liquidity, collateral, and cash management. They do not answer whether a five year vehicle facility, equipment contract, or operating business receivable preserved purchasing power after inflation, currency movement, and settlement risk.
See: How Fintechs Are Unlocking Value in Private Markets
A short duration instrument is a weak mental anchor for five year plus productive finance. A vehicle facility, equipment contract, or operating business receivable carries usage risk, collateral risk, performance risk, inflation risk, and settlement risk. Those risks unfold over time. Pricing them against rolling short term yield can make the contract look rational while the purchasing power result remains unclear.
Private credit should earn a premium for doing hard work in the real economy. It sources, underwrites, monitors, services, and resolves. That premium becomes more durable when the market measures performance against a harder monetary benchmark instead of an unpredictable and inefficient baseline. So, what’s the alternative?
Bitcoin Gives Private Credit A Harder Measuring Stick
Bitcoin is a strong contender, as we lay out how a truer long term cost of capital can be derived from its use as a reserve asset in business. Its monetary and digital nature makes it easy to introduce into global deals, as just by having it in the portfolio, you are forced to ask: did our use of capital justify giving up Bitcoin exposure over the same period?
That question disciplines the contract. It forces the investor and operator to compare productive asset performance against scarce money. If the asset produces enough utility, cashflow, and settlement value, the deal deserves to exist. If it trails the monetary asset it displaced, the structure reveals weakness that fiat inflation and refinancing can otherwise conceal.
In practice, private credit often behaves like an arbitrage business. Capital is sourced at one cost, deployed at a higher expected return, and judged by the spread. That model works until the denominator weakens faster than the spread can compensate.
The Grynvault Application
Let’s walk through an example of how we do this at Grynvault. Bitcoin changes the cost of capital function and can be used to more accurately price risks. Say that we are financing a $10,000 car. The operator brings $2,500 as a contribution, what would have been the down payment. A $625 is retained upfront as a program fee and $1,875 is placed into a Bitcoin linked reserve and we start collecting a fixed amount of roughly $212.50 per month for 60 months. At a Bitcoin price of $100,000, that reserve equals 0.01875 BTC.
At the end of the contract, the reserve helps discover the final cost of capital. If Bitcoin is flat or down, the operator receives the value of the original Bitcoin linked reserve based on the settlement price, and their effective cost reflects that outcome. If Bitcoin rises by 1.5x, the $1,875 reserve becomes $2,812.50. Based on a Bitcoin denominated rebate formula and full operator performance, roughly $1,997 could be rebated to the operator, with the remaining upside strengthening investor returns.
See: Blockchain Private Credit Grew 55%
The rebate remains performance based and discretionary within the structure. The operator earns it by making payments on time, preserving the asset, and completing the contract properly. This keeps the fixed payment asset use experience intact while allowing the final settlement to behave like a variable cost of capital priced against Bitcoin’s monetary performance instead of central bank rates.
For investors, the base case remains asset backed cashflow. The Bitcoin reserve adds a long term settlement layer that can improve outcomes while keeping volatility out of monthly payments. Where permitted, return of capital mechanics can also make the cashflow profile more tax aware, with final economics recognized at settlement according to the applicable structure and jurisdiction.
Why The Structure Improves Alignment
Traditional financing often places the operator and investor on opposite sides of the same rate. If the investor earns more, the operator usually pays more. If the operator pays less, the investor usually earns less. A Bitcoin linked reserve changes that relationship because part of the outcome comes from the monetary layer rather than only extracting more from the user of the asset.
The operator keeps a fixed monthly payment and can earn a lower final cost through performance. The investor keeps access to real asset cashflow and can earn additional upside through the reserve. Weak performance limits the operator’s benefit. Strong performance creates room for a better settlement. The contract becomes a score the operator can improve instead of a price frozen forever at origination.
That is the deeper private credit implication. Bitcoin allows a facility to separate operating affordability from final cost discovery. Monthly payments can stay boring while the settlement layer captures the truth of time, performance, collateral quality, and monetary appreciation. This alone exemplifies good pricing and long term thinking.
Inflation Protection Belongs Inside The Structure
Private credit investors are usually paid for taking illiquidity, complexity, and credit risk. Over long horizons, they also need protection from monetary erosion. A portfolio can show a healthy nominal yield and still fail to preserve purchasing power if the denominator weakens faster than expected.
A Bitcoin linked reserve gives private credit a way to hold part of the economics in scarce money while the operating asset continues to produce local currency cashflow. That combination is the bridge. Fiat remains useful for monthly payments, taxes, insurance, servicing, and regulatory compliance. Bitcoin strengthens the long term settlement value.
See: Tokenized Infrastructure Is Changing How Markets Operate
This is especially relevant for cross border capital. Investors can fund productive assets in one jurisdiction while monitoring part of the performance against a global monetary benchmark. Operators can keep paying in the currency they earn. The facility can report both views. The local economy gets capital, while investors receive a cleaner purchasing power lens.
Canada’s Opening
Canada is a strong place to build this category because the need is practical. Small businesses, dealers, operators, and asset owners need flexible capital. Investors need yield that survives inflation. Fintech platforms need structures that are transparent, compliant, and grounded in real cashflow.
The opportunity is to bring Bitcoin into private credit as pricing infrastructure. That means disciplined underwriting, real collateral, conservative servicing, clear reporting, careful custody, and settlement rules that align incentives. The market needs productive finance measured against better money, built with real collateral and transparent settlement rather than synthetic yield.
Grynvault is one attempt to build that bridge. Start with a real asset. Pay the seller cleanly. Give the operator fixed payments. Hold a Bitcoin linked reserve beside the contract. Reward performance at settlement. Use the remaining upside to strengthen investor returns. Report the economics in both local currency and Bitcoin terms.
The old private credit premium was illiquidity. The next premium may be monetary discipline. The platforms that win will price risk across borders more clearly, protect long term purchasing power more intelligently, and turn sound money into a practical advantage for productive finance.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Credit Unions Build Shared Digital Banking Scale
May 12, 2026 | NCFA Feature | Digital Banking And Credit Union Infrastructure
Coordinated Modernization After Central 1’s Platform Transition
On May 12 2026, Intellect Design Arena announced that 37 Canadian financial institutions participating in the National Digital Banking Working Group (NDBWG) selected its eMACH.ai Digital Engagement Platform as part of a broader digital banking modernization effort.
This is more than a software contract. It's one of the clearest examples of smaller Canadian financial institutions coordinating technology execution to manage platform risk, modernization costs, and rising digital banking expectations.
Catalyst: Forced Platform Transition
Back in October 2024, Canadian credit union infrastructure provider Central 1 announced plans to wind down digital banking over a three to four year transition period. That created immediate pressure for many Canadian credit unions that relied on Central 1’s Forge and MemberDirect platforms.
In March 2025, Central 1 and Intellect finalized an operating partnership that transferred operation of Forge, MemberDirect, public website, and mobile app products to Intellect, along with digital banking engineering and service personnel.
The latest announcement now evolves beyond transition support into long term modernization.
NDBWG Turns Replacement Risk Into Shared Execution
The National Digital Banking Working Group formed after the Central 1 announcement to help participating institutions coordinate vendor evaluation, migration planning, procurement, implementation support, and governance.
According to NDBWG's website, the initiative was designed to help financial institutions navigate a system wide platform transition together instead of individually carrying the cost, risk, and operational complexity of replacing digital banking infrastructure. It's a coordinated modernization program.
NDBWG’s public member page lists 59 participating institutions across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The specific 37 institutions that formally signed with Intellect is likely a subset. Intellect states the participating institutions represent more than $11.7B CAD in combined assets and serve over 262,000 members.
Greg Sol, Board Chair, Credit Unions Future Committee:
“Building on the NDBWG’s rigorous process from vendor evaluation to a fully negotiated agreement, we’re confident that Intellect is the right long-term partner for Canada’s financial institutions.”
Shared Infrastructure Advantage
Canada’s banking competition debate often focuses on large banks and fintech challengers. Less attention goes to the infrastructure pressure facing smaller regional and community based financial institutions.
Members compare their credit union app with all other digital services they use daily. They expect simple onboarding, quick support, fewer branch visits, and secure ways to handle routine requests. Behind that experience, smaller institutions also face heavier compliance work, sharper fraud risk, and technology costs that keep climbing. For many smaller institutions, maintaining those capabilities independently becomes harder every year.
NDBWG’s model attempts to create digital scale without forcing consolidation. Participating institutions keep their local brands, governance, and member relationships while coordinating around infrastructure, migration planning, and platform execution.
The stronger advantage of a shared approach isn't the software itself, but rather the emerging operating model around it.
Canada already has one of the most concentrated banking systems in the world. If smaller institutions cannot modernize efficiently, the competitive gap widens further. Shared infrastructure and coordinated execution may become one of the few realistic ways for regional financial institutions to stay competitive without dramatically increasing operating costs.
Canada continues preparing for consumer driven banking, stronger fraud controls, and real time payments modernization. Those changes place additional pressure on legacy systems and fragmented operating models.
Steve Kingan, CEO, Frontline Credit Union:
“The NDBWG process gave our credit union the expertise and collective strength to navigate this transition in a way we couldn’t have managed alone.”
For fintech companies, this may also create opportunity. Smaller institutions need practical tools that reduce daily friction, protect members, and improve service without adding complexity. That creates room for focused partners in fraud prevention, digital identity, payments, workflow automation, AI assisted service, and embedded financial services tailored for smaller institutions.
It also explains why more vendors are building Canada ready digital banking platforms for credit unions rather than treating them as small versions of large banks.
Strategic Takeaway
Canada’s smaller financial institutions are starting to treat digital infrastructure as a shared strategic capability instead of a fully independent function.
See: Meridian CEO says Open banking is ‘an opportunity’ for credit unions
NDBWG represents one of the clearest Canadian examples so far of institutions coordinating modernization to support local financial competition while reducing migration risk and operational cost. If implementation succeeds, it could become a practical model for how smaller financial institutions modernize in other parts of Canada.
Talking Point
Can smaller Canadian financial institutions can build enough shared digital scale to remain competitive while preserving regional and community based banking choice?
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, artificial intelligence, 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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FIS Launches Lyriq Platform For Bank Issued Digital Money
Apr 29, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
FIS Launches Lyriq Platform For Bank Issued Digital Money
On Apr 29, 2026, FIS launched Lyriq, a platform that allows banks to issue and manage tokenized deposits and digital money while keeping funds on balance sheet.
Lyriq connects with core banking systems and supports continuous settlement. Transactions are designed to either complete fully or fail, which reduces reconciliation work and gives banks clearer control over how payments move across systems. The platform enters limited availability after seven financial institution proofs of concept and multiple CBDC program engagements, including one moving toward pre-production.
See: Adyen Expands Control Across Enterprise Money Flow
The design focuses on production use. Identity, access control, compliance, and audit functions are built into the platform, allowing banks to run digital money flows within existing regulatory and operational frameworks rather than layering controls afterward.
Jim Johnson, Co-President of Banking Solutions, FIS:
“Lyriq is production-ready infrastructure that, combined with our deep expertise integrating bank technology, puts banks in control of money in motion. Lyriq is a platform proven with financial institutions - one that meets banks and regulators where they are.”
Lyriq is part of a broader set of tools FIS is building around digital assets. The company already supports stablecoin payments through its Money Movement Hub and loan tokenization through its Digital Liquidity Gateway. Together, these tools cover payments, deposits, and capital markets in one place.
For banks, the appeal is simple. They can offer faster and more flexible transactions while keeping deposits on their own balance sheets. Stablecoins already offer speed and programmability, but they sit outside the banking system. Lyriq gives banks a way to offer similar capabilities without sending funds elsewhere.
See: Tokenization Finds Scale In Collateral And Cash
The hard part has been getting these systems into real use. Many tokenization projects stay stuck in pilots because they don’t connect to core banking systems. Lyriq focuses on that gap by working with infrastructure that banks already use, which makes it easier to handle real transaction volume.
If banks can’t offer a similar experience, deposits and payment activity can move to platforms that already do. That’s the pressure pushing banks to act.
Talking Point
Which platforms become the operating layer for bank issued digital money, and which banks can move fast enough to keep deposits and payment flows inside their own systems?
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, artificial intelligence, 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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VersaBank Tests Real Time Funding For POS Lending
Apr 29, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Lending Consumer Credit And BNPL, Capital Markets And Funding
Pilot Brings Loan Funding Closer To Origination
On Apr 29, 2026, VersaBank and FinanceIt Canada announce breakthrough in Real Time Structured Receivable Program pilot, an AI enabled funding model for point of sale finance receivables.
The change is in timing. Many point of sale lenders originate loans and then hold those receivables for 5 to 30+ days before financing them. VersaBank aims to fund individual receivables within hours. That shortens the gap between origination and funding and reduces the need for warehouse lines.
See: VersaBank USA Launches Tokenized Deposits Pilot
The program already operates at scale. VersaBank’s Structured Receivable Program portfolio exceeded CAD $4.4 billion as of Jan 31, 2026 and has grown at a 33% compound annual rate over the past five years. In the U.S., it completed more than US $310 million in fundings in its first year, above a US $290 million target.
The pilot with FinanceIt focuses on funding at or near the point of sale. FinanceIt originates consumer loans across home improvement, retail, and other merchant channels. If funding happens closer to origination, partners can reduce how long loans sit on balance sheet and lower the cost of carrying receivables.
This approach also changes how lending platforms access capital. Many point of sale and BNPL providers rely on warehouse facilities and forward flow agreements before selling loans into securitization or institutional channels. Shortening the time between origination and funding improves capital turnover and reduces reliance on those structures.
It's AI's decision support layer that's supporting faster decisions. VersaBank positions the program as using AI to assess and structure receivables in real time, allowing funding decisions without batch processing or manual review cycles.
David Taylor, President and CEO, VersaBank:
“This represents a breakthrough innovation in point-of-sale financing.”
It's the combination of faster decisioning and immediate access to capital. Funding can move closer to continuous, loan level decisions rather than batch processing. That allows capital to be deployed when a loan is approved instead of after it sits waiting in a pool. Over time, this leads to more precise pricing and better use of balance sheet capacity.
Talking Point
What happens when capital is deployed at the moment a loan is approved instead of days later, and which lenders are set up to operate at that speed?
See: Canada’s Fintech and AI Firms Lead Deloitte’s 2025 Fast 50
Funding speed is becoming a core driver of economics in point of sale lending. When capital is deployed at origination, lenders can reduce costs and improve returns without taking on more credit risk.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Customers Bank Uses 500 AI Agents To Rebuild Operations
Apr 28, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Banking And Credit Infrastructure
Building One Of The First AI Enabled Regional Banks
On Apr 27, 2026, Customers Bank announced a multiyear collaboration with OpenAI to deploy AI across commercial banking operations. The bank has nearly $26 billion in assets and already has 75% of team members using OpenAI powered tools. Customers Bank even used an AI voice clone on its last earnings call. The bigger change is how the bank is deploying AI agents across lending, onboarding, and payments.
On its Q1 call, Customers reported more than 500 internal agents and custom GPTs, over 28,000 hours saved through AI enabled workflows, and productivity gains equal to almost 15 full time employees. Q1 results also show $69.7 million in net income available to common shareholders, total deposits up $813.9 million from Q4, and total loans up $609.0 million from Q4.
See: Smart Data Infrastructure Redefines Financial Competition
Sam Sidhu, President and CEO, Customers Bancorp
“We expect a fundamental re-engineering of how Customers Bank operates. We have spent the last year building the operational and governance infrastructure to deploy AI at scale. This strategic collaboration with OpenAI gives us the frontier models, engineering expertise, and ability to co-create a roadmap toward becoming an AI-native bank."
Customers Bank wants AI inside its operating model, with OpenAI engineers working directly with the bank to automate commercial lending, deposit onboarding, and payments. The bank’s cubiX platform already processes about $2 trillion in annual payments volume, giving the collaboration a live operating base, not a pilot or lab only environment.
AI Clone Handles Investor Communication
During Q1 2026 earnings call, Sidhu disclosed that his prepared remarks had been delivered by an AI clone, not read by him. While it was sure to be a memorable call at that point, it's important if AI can represent management's voice in a public market setting, boards need rules for disclosure, script approval, recordkeeping, and accountability before the next experiment becomes normalized.
AI banking use cases aren't just theatre. Customers Bank wants to reduce its commercial loan closing from 30-45 days to about 7 days. It also wants complex commercial account opening to fall from more than a day to under 20 minutes. They are targeting the slowest, most expensive parts of commercial banking.
See: OpenAI Releases GPT-5.5 For Workflows, Coding And Agents
This is where smaller banks and fintechs should pay attention. AI in banking won’t be won by buying a model and asking staff to use it. The value comes from redesigning workflows around agents, then keeping humans on approvals, exceptions, and risk judgement. That requires clean data, mapped processes, audit trails, escalation rules, and ownership of each AI output.
There's a regulatory approach too. Investor relations, lending decisions, onboarding, and payments all require accountable systems. If an agent drafts, routes, ranks, or speaks, the bank's still on the hook for the result. The lesson is not “let AI run the bank.” It's use AI to remove friction, but keep governance strong enough to prove who approved what and why.
Talking Point
Can Customers Bank turn AI from a productivity tool into an AI enabled engine powering lending, deposits, and payments?
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