In 2021, the number of new smartphone banking users in Canada will plummet to a third of the previous year’s level, which will considerably increase competition among financial institutions (FIs), including Scotiabank. As the battle for new mobile users heats up, FIs’ mobile banking app features will be crucial. This report identifies which key growth opportunities Scotiabank might focus on to gain and retain customers.

Scotiabank. SonicWall. TD Canada. TechCrunch.

TD Bank, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), CIBC, Scotiabank, and BMO collectively channeled $88.8 billion into the top 30 tar sands producers and six tar sands pipeline companies between 2016 and 2021, upping their financing by almost $9 billion last year.

We expect the top five—BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, RBC, and TD—to spend $1.48 billion each on average in 2022, which includes the $0.74 billion spent in aggregate by smaller Canadian FIs. Meanwhile, venture capitalists are investing heavily in fintech competition. Canadian fintechs raised over $6 billion in 2020, per a January 2022 KPMG report.

For example, Scotiabank repurposed the Scotiabank Arena first as a kitchen to provide meals for healthcare workers and shelters during the early months of the pandemic, and later used it as a vaccination center. Marketers also helped customers access pandemic relief through their banks during a time of crisis. “Client relief was significant,” DePaoli said.

The requirement to cut business ties with people linked to anti-vaccine-mandate protests will be a lot easier for companies with better-established compliance arms.

The two leading digital-only banks, Simplii and Tangerine, each have over two million users and are owned by incumbent banks CIBC and Scotiabank. UK-based Revolut pulled away from its strategy in Canada in 2021 as it failed to reach meaningful penetration in the market. Additionally, 99% of the Canadian population is banked.

“Set future-dated payments in e-Transfer”: RBC and Scotiabank. “Set alerts for international debit or credit transactions”: CIBC. “Authenticate through the mobile app when calling customer service”: Desjardins. “Automatically move money to savings based on a calculation of what you can afford”: Scotiabank. “View a financial wellness score”: TD.

Laura Curtis Ferrera, global CMO of Scotiabank, said, “It’s essential that I build a marketing strategy that ladders up to the bank strategy. It’s the No. 1 thing that I have to do. There can be no misunderstanding about what we’re doing.”. Establishing a strong working relationship with the CEO and CFO ensures alignment on objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Adam Swinemar, vice president of digital channels at Scotiabank, noted that the influx was a key challenge presented by the pandemic: “Banks have had to shift just as our customers have had to shift.”. Consumers will continue to realize the benefits of smartphone banking beyond lockdown.

Just five big banks dominate Canada’s banking sector: BMO, TD Bank, RBC, CIBC, and Scotiabank. Digital banking is on the rise—the proportion of adults who use a digital channel at least monthly is projected to reach 72.0% in 2021—but the digital-only space is controlled by two incumbent-backed players: Simplii and Tangerine.

The bigger picture: CIBC is following the lead of Scotiabank, which provides prospective customers with a similar digital ID verification process. Both banks are capitalizing on the trend of more customers opening their accounts digitally in Canada.

Meanwhile, RBC came in second at 836 and Scotiabank rounded out the podium at 830. CIBC, which reported 11% year-over-year growth for active mobile users, touted the app’s slew of recent or new features, including digital replacement cards, smart balance alerts, and an AI-based virtual assistant.

The Canadian banking sector is highly concentrated and is dominated by just five big players: BMO, RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, and CIBC. Digital banking usage in Canada is expected to be pervasive—the proportion of adults who use a digital channel at least once a month is projected to reach 72.0% in 2021—but the online-only space is dominated by incumbent-owned players Simplii and Tangerine.

Canada’s incumbent banks lose ground in customer satisfaction: The Big 5 Canadian banks saw lower overall satisfaction as a group in J.D. Power’s annual survey—but this poses little risk to their market positions, given the strong satisfaction with their direct bank units and their hard-to-replace legacy offerings.

Canada’s Scotiabank just debuted a BNPL installment offering that lets credit cardholders convert payments into BNPL plans. These offerings could chip away at Klarna’s growth and make it harder for the provider to keep its impressive market share.

The country’s five largest banks—Scotiabank, CIBC, TD Bank, BMO, and RBC—dominate the sector. Digital banking penetration in Canada is forecast to spike from 69.7% in 2019 to 76.5% by the end of 2021, but most digital-only account holders are concentrated between two incumbent-owned digital banks, Tangerine and Simplii.