To mark MoneySense’s 25th anniversary, we dove into the prime innovations that have modified private finance because this magazine was founded in 1999. From new registered accounts and expenditure solutions to on the web providers and developments in artificial intelligence, these are some of the biggest—the kinds we can barely think about residing devoid of nowadays.
one. 1999: The Canada Revenue Agency—then named the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency—introduced Netfile, enabling Canadians to file their tax returns electronically. In its 1st year, only 530 Canadians filed making use of this company. But in 2023, virtually ten.five million Canadians employed Netfile for their 2022 tax return.
two. 1999: Kanetix grew to become Canada’s first comparison web-site for personal finance solutions, with an initial concentrate on insurance plan quotes. It obtained Costs.ca in 2015, and afterwards took on the title Ratesdotca. Kanetix paved the way for comparison web pages like Ratehub.ca, which launched in 2010 and whose dad or mum firm, Ratehub Inc., acquired MoneySense in 2019.
three. 2000: Consumers Drug Mart, Canada’s most significant pharmacy chain, formally released its Consumers Ideal loyalty system. Six million Canadians signed up within just the to start with yr. Loblaw, which acquired Buyers Drug Mart in 2013, merged its Computer In addition details and Buyers Ideal in 2018—creating Computer Optimum, one of the greatest loyalty packages in the state.
4. 2000: Canada grew to become the first place with a bond exchange-traded fund (ETF), setting up on another Canadian to start with: the launch of the world’s first exchange-traded, index-linked product—the Toronto 35 Index Participation Units (Tips)—in 1990. Strategies grew to become a blueprint for the modern-day ETF and developed into what is recognized today as the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF.
5. 2001: HomeEquity Lender expanded its Canadian Dwelling Earnings Strategy (CHIP) reverse mortgage loan to Ontario and Alberta. The CHIP reverse mortgage loan was initial presented in Vancouver in 1986, and it turned accessible across Canada in the following several years. Currently, HomeEquity Bank and Equitable Bank are the only two Canadian fiscal establishments offering a reverse home loan, which permits property owners aged 55-additionally to accessibility the equity in their properties.
6. 2003: Interac released digital fund transfers (Interac e-Transfers), enabling Canadians to ship and receive dollars by means of e-mail and mobile numbers. This helped make Canada a chief in electronic revenue transfers right before the common adoption of other peer-to-peer strategies, in accordance to Interac.
7. 2005: On the web retail marketplace Amazon launched Amazon Primary membership for U.S. customers, featuring free and unlimited two-working day transport at a expense of USD$79 per yr. Canadians would have to wait around until eventually 2013 for access to Amazon Key, at the exact yearly cost in Canadian dollars. Considering the fact that the launch, Amazon Primary has transformed purchaser expectations of on the internet shipping and delivery and inspired other firms to adopt membership-centered expert services.
8. 2007: Financial institutions, key credit history card providers and Interac released chip technological innovation for debit and credit cards. They issued plastic cards with embedded microchips that contained encrypted data. This new feature greater security and aided reduce fraud at payment terminals and automatic teller machines (ATMs), and it is ubiquitous these days.
nine. 2007: Airbnb was born. It was 1 of the initial digital platforms to help the present day gig and side-hustle economy. Many thanks to Airbnb, any residence proprietor could lease out their house, and vacationers and short-phrase renters uncovered a aggressive different to inns. In latest yrs, Airbnb has come to be controversial, with some critics expressing that it has contributed to the housing crisis in main cities. These days, Airbnb listings are accessible in much more than 220 international locations and locations.
10. 2007: Netflix, which started off out as a DVD mail membership company in 1998, launched its streaming assistance. The company’s business model and rate tag of USD$nine per month ($7.ninety nine for every month in Canada when it landed right here in 2010) disrupted the classic cable television and film business enterprise, location the phase for important providers like Disney, Apple, Amazon and HBO to later on get started their possess streaming expert services.
eleven. 2008: The Canadian govt launched the registered disability discounts program (RDSP), a prolonged-term personal savings prepare built to assistance people with disabilities and their family members help you save for the future.
12. 2009: An nameless computer programmer (or group of programmers—no one particular knows for absolutely sure) called “Satoshi Nakamoto” invented bitcoin, the world’s very first cryptocurrency. The digital currency’s fundamental blockchain technological know-how spurred innovation throughout lots of industries and underpinned the generation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). One more bitcoin-connected 1st? In 2021, Canada turned the very first nation to launch bitcoin ETFs—the U.S. caught up in early 2024.
13. 2009: The federal federal government released the tax-no cost cost savings account (TFSA), giving Canadians a new tax-advantaged registered account for saving and investing. The account experienced an initial contribution limit of $5,000. TFSA contribution area improvements on a yearly basis as of Jan. one, 2024, anyone born in 1991 or previously has a most lifetime contribution limit of $95,000. (Check your contribution room with our TFSA calculator.)
14. 2010: An Uber was hailed for the 1st time. This happened in San Francisco, a yr immediately after the ridesharing app’s official launch. When Uber came to Canada in 2012, it disrupted the taxi and transportation industries with simple experience reserving and minimal fares. More than time, Uber and equivalent apps have turn into a major drive in the Canadian gig economy—and stirred up controversy above workers’ lower wages and work standing. Though in the beginning a experience price tag a portion of a taxi fare, now they are arguably comparable.
fifteen. 2010: CIBC grew to become the 1st of the Massive Six banking institutions to offer you a mobile banking application in Canada. By 2021, 65% of Canadians described utilizing cell application-based mostly banking, and 33% of economical transactions have been finished on a mobile phone, according to the Canadian Bankers Affiliation.
sixteen. 2010: Budgeting application Mint appeared in app merchants in Canada. Providing end users with an overview of their funds through multiple connected accounts, credit history checking and other features, Mint became just one of the most downloaded personal finance apps in North The united states. Intuit, which acquired Mint in 2009, shuttered the app in January 2024 and encouraged consumers to change to Credit history Karma, a related service it bought in 2020.
17. 2011: Google released Google Wallet in the U.S., a few a long time before Apple Fork out even popped up on our iPhones. Around the upcoming ten years, Google examined quite a few variations of the app—and even released a 2nd one particular, named Google Pay back (which was meant to substitute Google Wallet). In February 2024, the business reported it would end Google Spend in the U.S.—and swap it with Google Wallet. In its latest iteration, Google Wallet serves as a complete electronic wallet that can shop payment and loyalty playing cards, transit and event tickets, evidence of COVID vaccination and even digital auto keys.
eighteen. 2014: Scotiabank renamed ING Immediate Canada, which it obtained two several years before, as Tangerine. ING Direct was Canada’s initial branchless bank and one particular of the very first institutions to supply a no-fee high-interest financial savings account (HISA). These days, below its new identify, Canada’s very first on the web-only bank proceeds to offer favourable charges and lower costs.
19. 2014: ShareOwner Investments was the 1st robo-advisor to run in Canada—by a issue of months. At the start, the portfolio management platform allowed Canadian investors to decide on one particular of 5 model portfolios or to generate their individual from a checklist of all around fifty ETFs. Above the next number of several years, robo-advisors attained recognition amid buyers, as extra startups cropped up, Wealthsimple acquired ShareOwner Investments, and BMO grew to become the initial significant Canadian financial institution with its have robo services, SmartFolio.
20. 2015: Subsequent devastating floods in Alberta, house insurance policies providers Aviva Canada, The Co-operators, RSA Canada and 13 many others supplied overland flood insurance policy, which never ever existed before. Previously, insurers generally only provided sewer backup coverage, which shields from another type of h2o injury.
21. 2016: BMO was the first lender to offer biometric identification for company credit history card people. With this technological innovation, clients could comprehensive on the web payments with a “selfie” or fingerprint check. On the mobile banking facet, a new model of the Tangerine app included biometric technologies like EyeVerify (for eyeprint ID technological innovation) and VocalPassword (for voice authentication).
22. 2017: Toronto-dependent PayBright was the 1st firm to give a obtain now, pay back later on option to Canadians. The assistance, made available at on line check out-outs, permits customers to pay back for program purchases—everything from outfits and makeup to flights—through installments. Several comparable corporations now run in Canada, including Affirm (which obtained PayBright in 2021), Sezzle and Afterpay. Some substantial banks have also made installment payment items and credit rating card characteristics, which include CIBC (with Tempo It) and Scotiabank (with SelectPay).
23. 2019: RBC produced NOMI Budgets available as a result of the RBC cell banking application. NOMI Budgets, which the bank explained as the initially of its sort in Canada, utilizes synthetic intelligence (AI) to proactively examine a customer’s expending background, make funds suggestions and send timely updates.
24. 2022: OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot. Within two months, it had an believed one hundred million regular energetic users, building it the swiftest-rising client application in background. The new tech has myriad potential applications in finance, together with effectiveness measurement and forecasting, knowledge analytics, client support, and serious-time calculations and guidance.
twenty five. 2023: The Canadian govt introduced a new registered account, the first home discounts account (FHSA), which delivers up to $forty,000 in tax-cost-free contribution space to conserve for a residence down payment. Questrade was the only financial establishment completely ready to supply the account on its official start date in April, but several additional providers (which includes all the major banking companies) now have FHSAs, and a lot more than three hundred,000 Canadians opened an FHSA prior to the close of 2023.
Read through additional articles for MoneySense’s twenty fifth anniversary:
- twenty five timeless own finance ideas from MoneySense
About Justin Dallaire
Justin Dallaire is the senior editor at MoneySense.ca. He was earlier an editor at Strategy magazine and has a master’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan College.
