Canada’s FinTech adoption rate has more than doubled in the past 18 months, going from 8 per cent to 18 per cent since 2015, says EY’s 2017 Fintech Adoption Index released July 25.

"Canadians know more about the FinTech options available than they did two years ago, and this trend is going to continue," says Ron Stokes, EY Canada's FinTech leader. "When it comes to banks and FinTechs, we're seeing what used to be a competitive mindset turn into a desire to collaborate. It's becoming clear that working for mutual benefit, rather than competing with each other, will result in more meaningful innovations, faster."

Global average much higher

However, Canada has one of the lowest FinTech adoption rates around the world, with 18 per cent of survey respondents saying they used two or more FinTech services in the past six months, compared to the global average of 33 per cent.

The study, conducted by EY Sweeney from March to April 207, is based on online interviews with 22,000 digitally active consumers across 20 countries: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, the US, Mainland China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, and Belgium/Luxembourg.

Lack of awareness

The study found the main reason Canadians aren’t using FinTech services is because they simply do not know about them – 22 per cent of Canadian respondents said they had not heard of any FinTech.

The second reason that Canadians do not use FinTech is because they prefer to use a traditional services provider.

EY predicts that awareness will grow rapidly, and increase the Canadian FinTech adoption rate to 34 per cent in the future.

Partnerships between banks and fintechs

With the rise of FinTech services in Canada, the banks are developing partnerships with them. "Because of the strength of the banking sector in Canada, we're seeing a lot of partnerships between banks and FinTechs," adds Stokes. "Banks are looking for faster and easier ways to boost their digital capabilities, both on the consumer side and in the back office. At the same time, Canada's FinTechs need access to more customers and resources to improve their offerings."

To learn more, you can find the full report here.