Canada’s big banks exceeded expectations for the 2025 fiscal year as capital markets and wealth management carried results. But economic uncertainty loomed over results. Adverse trade policy and a cooling labor market were hot topics, and there are risks of consumer credit stress. Threats to Canada’s economic wellbeing abound, which will trickle down to banks’ businesses. In the meantime, restructuring will likely distract management teams, slowing response to changing business conditions.

The news: Despite lingering uncertainty from tariff wars, five of Canada’s Big Six Banks beat analyst expectations in Q3 2025, per Bloomberg. Our take: Strong Q3 results provide a critical opportunity for Canadian banks to proactively fortify their balance sheets against known future risks. While lower loan loss provisions signal a better credit environment, the lingering threat of rising unemployment means this may not last. Banks should use this period of outperformance to conservatively build reserves, tighten lending standards for higher-risk clients, and prioritize stability and risk management over short-term loan growth.

Our fifth annual study ranks Canada’s top seven banks on mobile app innovation, based on an exclusive survey about what features consumers value most.

As their clients await the impacts of tariffs, banks set aside money for losses.

Our fourth annual study reveals which of the seven largest Canadian banks lead in mobile app innovation, based on an exclusive survey around which features consumers value most.​

Consumers’ adoption of AI banking chatbots varies by country. Though the US and UK promote their tech-friendly banking environments, the geographically concentrated, Big-Six-focused Canadian market has taken the lead in embracing this much-hyped tech.

Mobile P2P payments are struggling to capture users in Canada. But banks and digital wallet providers can lean into their respective strengths to create a rosier outlook for growth.

This third annual study ranks the seven largest Canadian banks (by domestic asset size) based on their support for 42 emerging mobile banking features, weighted by consumer demand for each feature.

We break down consumer demand for emerging mobile banking features and bank performance by category to identify the most important tools Canadian banks should prioritize.

Technology decision-makers within the banking industry will need to balance high tech spending with the potential for competitive disruptors.

This second annual benchmark evaluates seven Canadian financial institutions across six feature categories and weights their scores according to the results of a survey of mobile banking users in Canada.

The country’s biggest banks more than doubled funding into highly polluting tar sands projects to $16.8B last year.

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.

In this report, we explore how digitization is reshaping the banking CMO’s role, responsibilities, and priorities through exclusive interviews with 10 banking industry CMOs in the US and Canada.

With its new digital identity verification feature, prospects don’t need to visit a branch to open a new account. Adoption of a similar offering by CIBC’s peers could further entrench incumbents against new entrants.

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.

CIBC places first in mobile: The banking giant topped J.D. Power’s Canadian mobile app customer satisfaction survey—a designation it may have earned in part due to some recently rolled-out features.

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.