Weekly FinTech & Financial News
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August 17-21, 2026
Top FinTech Updates this Week
💰 Clearco, Toronto-based working capital provider secured $100M USD ($138.7M CAD) in asset-backed debt financing from Australian investment firm Macquarie Group, its first such financing in years, as it aims to provide capital to its approximately 400 e-commerce customers
💰 Brdg, Montreal-based AI-native platform for construction finance secured CA$850,000 in pre-seed funding to help real estate developers, cost consultants, and lenders navigate the complex world of financing construction projects in Canada
💰 Air Canada reported $2.5B minority equity investment in Aeroplan led by Blackstone and La Caisse, with PSP Investments and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation also participating
🤝 Payment Asia Group, Hong Kong-based e-payment technology provider obtained a Canadian MSB licence and integrated its AlphaPay subsidiary with Motion Pay, Ottawa-based alternative payment solutions for Canadian businesses to enhance cross-border payment services and Asian wallet acceptance in North America
🚀 OnGuardAI, Montreal-and Atlanta-based AI app protecting seniors from scams launched a scam-protection app in the US to coincide with National Financial Awareness Day to prevent financial losses to bad actors over the phone in real time
🚀 BOXX Insurance, Toronto-based insurtech launched affirmative coverage for AI and deepfake related events for social engineering and security failures within their commercial policy offering, Cyberboxx® Business
🚀 Magical Credit, Toronto-based short-term personal loan provider expanded its family of lending companies with Magical Cash, its fast short-term lending brand, and Magical Business, a direct funder providing Ontario small businesses with advances of up to $300,000
🌟 CAD Digital Inc., part of Tetra Digital Group and the company behind CADD stablecoin, appointed former Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn A. Wilkins as an advisor to the CAD Digital Board
Top Financial Institutions Updates this Week
🚀 Sun Life launched its AI-powered advisor concierge, expanding the company's suite of advisor tools giving advisors a faster, simpler way to find information on products, policies and processes so they can better support clients
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For FinTech professionals, this dual move signals a coordinated effort to bridge the Asia-Pacific and North American corridors through regulated cross-border payment infrastructure. This regulatory approval grants the firm the authority to operate within the Canadian financial ecosystem, specifically allowing for foreign exchange services, money transfers, and virtual currency dealing. This move is designed to provide a compliant foundation for the group to facilitate cross-border trade and financial inclusion for both businesses and consumers in the region. Also, the primary objective of AlphaPay and Motion Pay collaboration is to streamline international transactions, with a specific focus on enabling merchants to accept popular Asian payment methods, including Alipay and WeChat Pay. By combining these resources, the companies aim to offer a more seamless platform for processing high-volume international payments between the two continents. | Merchant’s Eye
The expanded, preferred partnership between Square and OpenTable is designed to eliminate the data silos that have traditionally separated front-of-house reservations from back-of-house financial operations. By integrating OpenTable’s guest insights directly with Square’s transaction and operational data, restaurant operators gain a singular, connected view of the customer journey. This integration is functional across Square’s entire suite of hardware and software, including the Square Handheld device, ensuring that staff can access guest profiles and payment history directly at the table. The primary objective of the collaboration is to allow restaurants to link specific reservations to actual revenue. This enables more sophisticated decision-making regarding loyalty programs, targeted marketing campaigns, and personalized guest engagement. | Merchant’s Eye
This new functionality allows merchants—specifically targeting contractors, professional offices, and landscapers—to accept secure bank-to-bank payments through digital invoices and payment links. By integrating ACH directly into the existing SwipeSimple ecosystem, CardFlight ensures that every transaction, whether via card or bank transfer, is managed through a unified reporting, reconciliation, and transaction history interface. The partnership leverages Nuvei’s unified platform to combine local payment capabilities and intelligent optimization into a single integration. This allows SwipeSimple to maintain its signature user experience while expanding its utility for high-value transactions where bank transfers are often preferred over cards due to lower processing costs. | Merchant’s Eye
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Wilkins brings more than two decades of experience across central banking, financial regulation and economic policy. She served as Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2014 to 2020, where she shared responsibility for monetary policy and financial system stability and represented the Bank internationally, including as its G7 and G20 Deputy and as a member of the Financial Stability Board. She is currently an external member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee and a Visiting Senior Policy Scholar at Princeton University’s Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies. Wealthsimple and Urbana are among the Canadian companies supporting the development of CADD. Wilkins’ appointment follows the launch of CADD, Canada’s first Canadian-dollar stablecoin issued by a regulated financial institution. | Business Wire
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Debuting today at Wrexham AFC's opening match against Cardiff City, RBC's shield will be featured on the back of the playing shirt, above the player's name and number, on the Club's men's and women's home, away and third kits. The Wrexham AFC partnership deepens RBC's global commitment and expands the bank's investment in communities across Europe. As part of the partnership, RBC will benefit the Wrexham AFC Foundation, which uses the power of football and the Club to positively change the lives of children and young people across Wrexham and North Wales. | RBC
Since launching last month, it has been used in more than 11,000 Client conversations. The company's growing suite of advisor tools also includes Notes Assistant, which recently earned a 2026 CIO Award Canada. Together, these tools help advisors reduce administrative work, find information faster and better support Clients. Recent advances include Sun Life's founding membership in the AI Consortium and the launch of a proprietary agentic AI platform that helps technology architects make faster, more informed decisions. | Sun Life
Launched in 2026, CIBC AdvisorAssist leverages generative AI to automatically capture and summarize detailed notes during client meetings and streamline follow-up documentation. The tool enables advisors to reduce time spent on administrative charting tasks by up to 50 per cent, helping them dedicate more time to client engagement. CIO Awards Canada recognizes Canadian organizations and IT leaders driving measurable business value through technology. The awards honour organizations using IT to create competitive advantage, streamline operations, accelerate growth, or strengthen customer relationships. This award further underscores CIBC's leadership in AI and digital innovation, following two 2026 awards from The Digital Banker for Best Gen-AI Initiative and Best Digital Transformation Program. | CIBC
The award honours RBCIS's Securities Lending Operations team, serving Canadian asset managers, pension funds and insurance providers whose assets demand the highest standards of settlement integrity. With active loans across 34 lendable markets, the team plays a critical role in the functioning of Canada's market infrastructure. Ranked #1 by average value on loan across Canadian equities, ETFs, government debt and corporate bonds1, and recognized as the top lender of Canadian government debt, RBCIS's position at the top of the market reflects a team that holds itself to an exceptional standard. Operating from hubs in Toronto and Kuala Lumpur, the Securities Lending Operations team provides around-the-clock support across global time zones for clients navigating Canada's complex regulatory, settlement and jurisdictional requirements. | RBC
The initiative is one of several that will help achieve the organization's bold ambition to generate $700 million to $1 billion in enterprise value from AI benefits by 2027. The CIO Award recognizes RBC's investments in modernized technology infrastructure, AI talent, and disciplined execution. Early results from the program, which enables the bank to look beyond traditional credit models, include improved approval rates, accelerated decision timelines and increased client acquisition. AI-enhanced retail credit underwriting was built on ATOM, RBC's proprietary foundation model which was securely trained on large-scale financial datasets, providing it with a unique breadth of knowledge in financial services and expertise that can be used across a variety of banking tasks. The retail credit underwriting program demonstrates how the bank is translating infrastructure investments into scaled business outcomes. Through this program, RBC can tailor credit offers to each client's unique circumstances, leading to better decisions and more personalized experiences. The in-house development and use of cutting-edge science enables RBC to derive unique insights and develop innovative solutions, all within a responsible AI framework. | RBC
Luke Gee will join Scotiabank in October as Executive Vice President and Chief Data and AI Officer, a newly created role focused on advancing the bank’s enterprise-wide data and AI initiatives. Gee brings more than two decades of experience spanning analytics, AI, financial products and business leadership. He joins Scotiabank from TD, where he most recently served as Chief Analytics and AI Officer after holding several senior business and enterprise analytics roles. Before joining TD, Gee held leadership positions at Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was tasked with leveraging advanced data and analytics to support growth and improve business performance. The appointment comes as Scotiabank accelerates its adoption of AI across the organization. Earlier this year, the bank launched Scotia Intelligence, a unified enterprise platform designed to give employees secure and scalable access to AI capabilities. | Fintech.ca
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This isn't a one-time purchase stretched over 4 installments. It's monthly rent payments deferred by a few weeks. Under the pilot programme, eligible renters using Esusu can split their monthly rent into two payments at 0% interest, with no late fees. Affirm provides the financing, while Esusu continues to handle rent collection and report on time payments to credit bureaus as part of its credit-building service. | LinkedIn
Clearco provides capital to e-commerce merchants and direct-to-consumer brands, without equity dilution. Clearco initially provided funding and took a cut of revenue in return. Now, it takes fixed weekly payments from its customers based on projected sales. Clearco raised over $400 million CAD in equity financing over the years, and its valuation reached more than $2 billion USD in 2021. As macroeconomic conditions worsened in 2022, however, the company cut staff, pulled out of some overseas markets, and narrowed its product offering. In 2023, the company made leadership changes, more layoffs, underwent a recapitalization, and raised $60 million USD in equity after it was impacted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. When it comes to reaching that milestone, the CEO said the new credit facility “makes a huge difference” because the cost of capital is 50 percent lower than it was in 2023. Clearco expects to be at break-even by the fourth quarter of this year. | BetaKit
Together, the three brands allow the company to serve Canadians at every stage of their financial lives, from an unexpected bill to a major personal expense to the working capital a growing business needs to seize its next opportunity. Magical Credit: Personal Installment Loans. The flagship brand that started it all. Magical Credit offers installment loans from $1,500 to $20,000 with terms of 12 to 60 months, welcoming applicants with bad credit and non-traditional income. Approvals in as little as one business day. Magical Cash: Fast Short-Term Loans. When life can't wait, Magical Cash delivers. Fully online loans of up to $1,500 with no credit check required and funds deposited in as little as one hour. A fast, transparent, and secure way to handle life's surprises. Magical Business: Funding for Ontario Small Businesses. The newest member of the family brings the group's signature speed and accessibility to entrepreneurs. As a direct funder, not a broker, Magical Business provides Ontario small businesses with merchant cash advances from $5,000 up to $300,000, with a simple online application and revenue-based qualification that looks at the health of the business, not just a credit score. | Newswire
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The platform now enables businesses to issue both physical and virtual cards locally in North America, complementing its existing footprint in APAC, Europe, and the Middle East. By providing a single platform for these disparate regions, Nium aims to solve the operational friction of managing separate compliance frameworks, card issuers, and technical integrations for each territory. The expansion brings Nium’s "just-in-time" funding model to the US market. This feature, which has seen high adoption rates in Europe and APAC, allows businesses to fund cards at the exact moment of transaction, helping to optimize cash flow and capital efficiency. The platform supports a wide range of card credentials, including single-use and multi-use options, catering to diverse commercial needs such as supplier payments, corporate expense management, loyalty rewards, and employee incentives. | Merchant’s Eye
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This announcement eliminates ambiguity and cements BOXX's commitment to providing clear cover for AI-driven incidents for their customers and their broker partners. This endorsement, coupled with BOXX's First Party Each and Every Loss, keeps coverage available throughout the policy period by reinstating the policy Aggregate Limit of Liability after each cyber incident. As AI-driven social engineering and deep fake losses ramp up, the risk of having multiple claims over a policy period increases. Pairing AI & Deepfake Coverage with Each and Every Loss Reinstatements for Full Policy Term Protection. | Newswire
WMB provides retail insurance brokerage services to commercial clients primarily in Western Canada, with industry focuses of construction, commercial real estate, surety bonding, hospitality and mining. The WMB team, led by David Beck, will remain in their current locations under the direction of Dave Partington, head of Gallagher's retail property/casualty brokerage operations in Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. | PR Newswire
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Deloitte launched a platform for secure software developed on Anthropic’s AI technology foundation
Built as part of our service delivery platform, Deloitte’s secure software platform helps organizations navigate one of cybersecurity’s fastest-growing challenges: the urgent gap between vulnerability discovery and remediation. The secure software platform utilizes Deloitte’s remediation harness, engineering capabilities and managed services to help enterprises remediate vulnerabilities rapidly while maintaining operational stability. Powered by Claude, the platform supports remediation across both known and novel vulnerabilities through a structured workflow that includes fix sourcing or creation, patch testing, validation, certification and deployment. | Deloitte
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It’s looking to flag and stop fraudulent calls while they’re happening through its app, which monitors calls in real time and sends an instant text to the user and a family member if “fraud patterns” are detected. The app is mainly designed for seniors, who are disproportionately targeted by phone fraudsters in Canada and the US. OnGuardAI says its tech analyzes speech in real time for “known social engineering tactics,” such as emotional pressure and manipulation. Though other services exist that already do this and flag worrisome calls, OnGuardAI takes it further by sending an immediate text to an associated family member with a list of red flags and suggested actions. Despite beta tests with Canadian users, the OnGuardAI app isn’t yet widely available in Canada due to pricing barriers. | BetaKit
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Construction draws, which are typically overseen by cost consultants, are a phased payment system whereby lenders closely monitor developers’ progress and release loan funds in installments as they achieve project milestones. It is raised through a simple agreement for future equity from a group that included New York’s Forum Ventures and undisclosed strategic investors from the real estate and construction finance world. Brdg launched in beta near the start of 2026, and was made available to the broader public earlier this summer. Brdg has partnered with industry stakeholders across projects representing more than $600 million in active development, from high-rise residential rental buildings to industrial projects, hotels, and shopping centres. | BetaKit
The research partnership, led by Xanadu’s algorithms team and chemistry professor Alex Brown, aims to develop a quantum computing framework to design next-generation photosensitizers. Photosensitizers are molecules that react to light. They can be used in photodynamic therapy, a non-invasive cancer treatment that uses light to selectively destroy tumour cells, while avoiding the side effects of traditional cancer treatments. This is the second academic partnership Xanadu has struck this month, following a memorandum of understanding it signed with the University of Guelph last week. That partnership is meant to prepare Guelph students for quantum careers by introducing them to “practical” quantum computing concepts, tools, and research opportunities. | BetaKit
Xero introduced new AI capabilities through JAX to automate financial tasks like data entry, reconciliation, error detection, and document management, with Auto Bank Reconciliation expected to save accountants about 50% of reconciliation time. It also expanded the Partner Hub, added US payroll and payment features, integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT, and previewed XeroForce for building custom AI agents. | Merchant’s Eye
The transaction gives Aeroplan an implied value of approximately $10 billion. Air Canada will maintain full operational control of Aeroplan and a controlling ownership interest after the minority investment. Aeroplan remains a core part of Air Canada’s commercial strategy and customer value proposition, and the experience of members, partners and employees will be unaffected by the transaction. Proceeds from this investment will be used toward the repayment of Air Canada’s upcoming US$1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) bond maturity, strengthening Air Canada's balance sheet through a reduction in gross indebtedness without a corresponding reduction in cash and cash equivalents. Most of the balance to be applied to accelerate the share repurchases contemplated in its long-term strategic plan. | Air Canada
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