Small Businesses in Canada Fast Track Open Banking Adoption

Canadian small business owners are adopting new open banking technology rapidly, data from Mastercard has revealed. They also want better access to innovative fintech to take control of their finances.

Mastercard says that the upcoming national framework will prime the open banking sector for even further expansion, according to the research.

In March 2022, the Canadian government appointed Abraham Tachjian to lead the development of an open banking framework in the country. Experts expect the framework in the early half of 2023.

The Mastercard research

Small business owners in Canada are increasingly adopting digital financial tools and technology into their day-to-day operations to drive growth, streamline processes and improve security.

Fifty-nine per cent of small businesses say they’ve used a new digital financial tool in the last two years. People with disabilities (90 per cent), indigenous (79 per cent) and women (71 per cent) small business owners are even more likely to have used new open banking tools recently.

Two-thirds of business owners feel positive about the concept of sharing financial data between institutions and authorised third parties. Eighty per cent also say Canada’s open banking framework should take their unique needs into account.

In addition, 70 per cent of small business owners say they’re more inclined to use government-regulated tools/technologies in a hybrid open banking system, as opposed to unregulated platforms, signalling the importance of trust and transparency in the sector.

“Our latest research findings reinforce the message we keep hearing from small businesses across the country: They want better access to innovative, secure financial technology to take control of their finances, access new capital, and succeed,” said Darrell MacMullin, senior vice president, products and platforms at Mastercard Canada.

“Mastercard is committed to ensuring the data privacy of Canadians, and by empowering them to access and use that data, we can help accelerate greater innovation.”

When choosing a digital financial tool or technology to use, small business owners prefer platforms that require little training or experience (61 per cent), as well as platforms that are time-savers (59 per cent) and secure (56 per cent).

Fraud prevention and payment verification rank as the most appealing benefits of digital financial tools and technology. This highlights the increasing demand for secure, trustworthy open banking products and services, says Mastercard.