Best online banks and credit unions in Canada for 2024

Where can you get the best digital banking experience in Canada? We set out to find out in this inaugural review of the best online banks and credit unions in Canada. To come up with the ranking, MoneySense partnered with Surviscor, a leading Canadian research and consulting firm specializing in financial service customer experiences. Surviscor analyzed hundreds of data points on financial institutions across the Canada’s digital banking space, including traditional banks, credit unions, co-operatives and neo/branchless banks. 

Best online banking firms for 2024

Here are the best online banking firms in Canada in 2024, based on Surviscor’s analysis. The results are based on the four pillars of the digital banking experience: desktop experience, mobile experience, rates and fees, and service availability and responsiveness. To find out more about the points, read our methodology.

Rank	Firm and points awarded	Surviscor’s full analysis
1	TD Canada Trust (72 points)	TD Canada Trust’s pros and cons
2	CIBC (70 points)	CIBC’s pros and cons
3	Royal Bank of Canada (68 points)	Royal Bank of Canada’s pros and cons
4	Desjardins (44 points)	Desjardins’ pros and cons
5	National Bank of Canada (38 points)	National Bank of Canada’s pros and cons
6	Scotiabank (34 points)	Scotiabank’s pros and cons
7	Bank of Montreal (33 points)	Bank of Montreal’s pros and cons
8	Coast Capital Savings (31 points)	Coast Capital Savings’ pros and cons
9	Tangerine (27 points)	Tangerine’s pros and cons
10	Conexus Credit Union (25 points)	Conexus Credit Union’s pros and cons
11	Meridian Credit Union (22 points)	Meridian Credit Union’s pros and cons
12	Motusbank (16 points)	Motusbank’s pros and cons
13	Simplii Financial (14 points)	Simplii Financial’s pros and cons
14 (tie)	ATB Financial (10 points)	ATB Financial’s pros and cons
14 (tie)	Manulife Bank of Canada (10 points)	Manulife Bank of Canada’s pros and cons
16	Servus Credit Union (8 points)	Servus Credit Union’s pros and cons
17 (tie)	Alterna Savings (7 points)	Alterna Savings’ pros and cons
17 (tie)	EQ Bank (7 points)	EQ Bank’s pros and cons
19 (tie)	Motive Financial (6 points)	Motive Financial’s pros and cons
19 (tie)	Vancity (6 points)	Vancity’s pros and cons
21	Alterna Bank (5 points)	Alterna Bank’s pros and cons
22 (tie)	Laurentian Bank (4 points)	Laurentian Bank’s pros and cons
22 (tie)	PC Financial (4 points)	PC Financial’s pros and cons
24	BlueShore Financial (0 points)	BlueShore Financial’s pros and cons

Note: The Royal Bank of Canada takeover of HSBC Canada is in progress, so we left HSBC Canada out of this review. HSBC Canada customers are being moved over to RBC, but they also have the opportunity to search for another firm.

Did you know that Canadians have an abundance of choice outside of the popular—and traditional—big banks? Hopefully you do. But if not, this analysis will open your mind to other choices, from regional-based credit unions to co-operatives, and neo to branchless virtual banks. 

Let’s face it, the majority of Canadians love and trust their banks—sometimes too blindly. It’s unclear if this loyalty stems from familiarity, tradition or a general lack of trust in other financial institutions. But many Canadians stick with the big banks, even when they know lower costs and fees are elsewhere. The reality is: there are many exceptional banking firms across Canada.

Before we dig into the results, let’s address the elephant in the room: the term digital banking. It’s important not to confuse digital banking with digital bank. Digital banking refers to our use of phones, tablets, laptops and desktops for banking, not an online-only bank.

Every firm included in this review offers digital banking, of course. Most of the neo/branchless banks are discount subsidiaries of a larger bricks-and-mortar firm; they do not have branches for you to visit or use, and they offer either full or partial traditional banking services. The analysis also includes credit unions and a co-operative (Desjardins is the latter and is hugely popular in Quebec and stands in a category of its own).

To conduct our ranking of the best online banks and credit unions, we held 10 categories of focus: four that speak to customers’ larger overall experiences, and six that look more closely at the user experience within the two digital platform, meaning mobile and desktop. For each case, we’ve leaned on Surviscor’s existing research and ensured the four pillars of experience—desktop, mobile, service, and commissions and fees—are incorporated into the four larger categories. Desktop and mobile data narrows in on the best firms within the six more targeted experiences.

Check the above chart to see which banking firms in Canada ranked with the most points for all categories, then read more below about the top three online banking firms and the best ones depending on your digital banking needs, styles and long-term goals.

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Top 3 online banking firms in Canada

Here’s a closer look at the top three overall winners. 

Gold — Best online bank: TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is MoneySense’s pick for the best online banking firm in Canada in 2024, scoring 72 out of a possible 100 points. It ranks in the top spot in two of the 10 categories and is the runner-up in another three categories.

TD Canada Trust is the banking arm of Toronto Dominion Bank and was Canada’s second-largest bank by asset size in 2023, according to Statista. TD Canada Trust offers two well-designed and comprehensive digital platforms for consumers that include easy application processes for both prospective and current customers, comprehensive account information and transactional capabilities, and strong digital-based education.

TD’s most glaring drawback is its rates and fees’ structure, for which it barely cracks the top 20 among the 24 banking firms under review. Another issue for the bank is that prospective customers can only receive non-branch, non-automated support by phone or through social media. However, this is a common issue among big banks in Canada, despite decent service availability overall, with only the odd firm offering some level of human-based chat in key areas. 

Pros

• Navigational design on both desktop and mobile that is easy to use and understand
• Educational resources available pre-login on desktop 
• Stock market information (including quotes) available pre-login on mobile
• Depth of account information and analysis available on both mobile and desktop
• Top-tier money movement and bill payment capabilities on both platforms

Cons

• Non-competitive rates and fees
• New customers can only communicate with the bank by phone and through social media
• Lack of customization features on both mobile and desktop
• Low level of account notifications on both platforms
• Few educational resources on mobile

Interested in better understanding the good, the bad and the ugly about digital banking with TD Canada Trust? Read the complete Surviscor review.

Silver — Best online bank: CIBC

CIBC is the next-best online firm overall, scoring 70 out of a possible 100 points. It ranks in the top spot in two of the 10 categories and finishes top three in four others.

CIBC was the smallest of the traditional Big Five banks in terms of asset size in 2023, according to Statista. But it sure does pack a punch, and has for years, when it comes to digital banking experiences. CIBC’s mobile platform has long been considered the industry leader and innovator—in fact, CIBC was the first big bank to have launched a mobile app. Despite its slightly dated desktop design, it’s easy to use and has the capabilities to provide customers with a good overall banking experience. CIBC’s strengths lie in the account opening process and its commitment to financial literacy across digital platforms.

Consistent with its big bank peers, CIBC’s biggest drawback is its non-competitive rates and fees’ structure, which ranks at a whopping 21st spot among the 24 banking firms under review. Its somewhat out-of-date digital designs are another, smaller downside. Its designs are improving but if it means losing digital banking capabilities, we hope it keeps with the current, very functional older designs.

Pros

• A digital experience that is balanced and consistently good across the mobile and desktop
• Industry-leading mobile platform which set the industry standard for excellence
• Top-tier account opening process on both platforms for both new and existing customers
• Strong account alerting and notifications capabilities on both platforms
• Good amount of digital-based account services

Cons

• Non-competitive rates and fees
• New customers can only communicate with the bank by phone and through social media
• Average account information and analytics available on both desktop and mobile
• Low inventory of tools and calculators on both platforms
• Below-average customization features on both platforms

Are you interested in better understanding the good, the bad and the ugly about digital banking with CIBC? Read the complete Surviscor review.

Bronze — Best online bank: Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank (RBC) rounds out the top three in 2024, scoring 68 out of a possible 100 points. It ranks in the top spot in three of the 10 categories and is the next-best in two others.

RBC was Canada’s largest bank by asset size in 2023, according to Statista, and has been Surviscor’s top choice for desktop-based online banking for many years. It set the recent standards for overall experience with its best-of-breed depth of account information and transactional capabilities. Its mobile platform is no slouch either—it also ranks as a top-tier platform.

If we sound like a broken record, that’s because its most glaring drawback is its non-competitive rates and fees’ structure. In this area, it ranks a whopping 22 among the 24 banking firms under review. And, despite its strong mobile platform finish, its mobile platform does not offer the same complete experience as the desktop platform.

Pros

• Industry-dominant desktop platform with the majority of bells and whistles
• Top-tier account management, information and analytics
• Good mobile platform for transactions
• Top-tier educational resources on desktop
• Account spending tool NOMI, which helps clients better understand how they’re using their money

Cons

• Non-competitive rates and fees
• New customers can only communicate with the bank by phone and through social media
• Disjointed functionality and product availability between desktop and mobile
• Poor account alerting and notifications capabilities on both platforms
• Lack of educational resources on both pre-login and secure areas on mobile

Are you interested in better understanding the good, the bad and the ugly about digital banking with RBC? Read the complete Surviscor review.

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Best online banking firms by category

When reviewing any financial services and firms, Surviscor’s main message is always “buyer beware.” Why, you ask? Let’s blame it on the firms’ marketing and the fact that they each attempt to get a leg up on their peers with very minor points of differentiation. Meanwhile, they purposely leave out key details on their websites and promotional materials; many use dozens of fine print disclosures—103 such notices, in the case of Bank of Montreal—to clarify the real facts.

As is the case in our review of the best online brokers, our overall best online banks ranking will not appeal to everybody. We know that some aspects of online banking are more important to you than others. To help you find what you’re looking for, we’ve selected the best online banking firms across 10 categories and divided them into three groups: results by platform, results by relationship experiences, and results by digital activities.

Digital experience category	Best online banking firms
Best for desktop users	Gold: Royal Bank of Canada Silver: TD Canada Trust
Best for mobile users	Gold: TD Canada Trust Silver: CIBC
Best for service	Gold: Desjardins Silver: Conexus Credit Union
Best for rates and fees	Gold: Tangerine Silver: Manulife Bank of Canada
Best for digital account opening	Gold: CIBC Silver: TD Canada Trust
Best for digital user experience	Gold: TD Canada Trust Silver: Royal Bank of Canada
Best for account information and management	Gold: Royal Bank of Canada Silver: CIBC
Best for completing digital transactions	Gold: Royal Bank of Canada Silver: National Bank of Canada
Best for educational resources	Gold: CIBC Silver: Royal Bank of Canada
Best for account analysis and budgeting	Gold: ATB Financial Silver: Coast Capital Savings

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Best online banking firms for desktop users

Are you a little old-school and love your laptop for digital banking? Or maybe you prefer using your iPad or tablet? Either way, you’re using what the industry defines as “a desktop platform.”

Desktop-based consumer banking was introduced shortly after the inception of the internet, and it remains the core platform for Canadians’ digital banking needs. 

For this category, we looked at the five main categories of consumer banking:

1. The pre-login and pre-customer experience;
2. The general experience of using the platform;
3. The experience of using, managing, and analyzing account information;
4. The experience of establishing and performing money transfers and payments;
5. And the availability of supporting account and educational resources.

It’s not surprising that the big banks in Canada dominate the desktop-based online banking experience, because they were early adopters and, outside of a few outlying independent banking firms, continue to drive the development of new features and functionality.

Known for being opinionated, Surviscor’s key advice is that every banking firm should have a desktop-based platform. You should steer clear of those that don’t, regardless if you have an affinity for using your phone for all day-to-day financial activities. The bottom line: Desktop offers more features and functionalities than mobile at almost every firm, and you never know what you don’t need until you actually need to use it.

Gold – Best for desktop: RBC

Royal Bank is our undisputed choice for best desktop-based online platform for 2024, scoring 161 out of a possible 220 points—25 points better than the next-best TD Canada Trust. RBC ranks in the top three for each of the five areas of focus, and ranks first in two of them. It excels at providing different levels of account information and desktop-based account services that make managing an account easier, top-tier transactional experiences, and an informative and interactive public website.

There are no high- or mid-level drawbacks to mention. We would need to go into the weeds to start picking on RBC. As mentioned earlier, it’s been Surviscor’s top choice for desktop-based online banking for many years due to its unmatched amount of user features that support each banking process offered.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about RBC. 

Silver – Best for desktop: TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is the next-best online bank in the desktop category, scoring 136 out of a possible 220 points—edging out CIBC by one point. It ranks in the top three in each of the five focus areas. TD Canada Trust excels with a user-friendly desktop design, including easy-to-use navigation, supporting features, and an informative and interactive public website.

No glaring drawbacks, but it would be nice if CIBC could improve on the depth of account information presented, provide better transactional processes, and provide more overall resources that support the user experience. 

The reality is that TD Canada Trust and CIBC are in a dead heat for silver after RBC. At 136 points, TD gets only one point more than CIBC. 

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about TD Canada Trust.

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Best online banking firms for mobile users

Now, let’s look at the other main platform: the cellphone-based application, or mobile platform. As noted above, mobile functionalities tend to differ from those on desktop—sadly, in many cases, customers can expect fewer of features on mobile.

For the mobile category, we measured the same five criteria used for desktop-based platforms. Surviscor’s opinion after years of research is that both platforms should provide the same depth of functionality and features. Your decision to use one platform shouldn’t be based on what the other is missing. But that often isn’t the case.

Many online banking firms offer fewer features and functionalities on handheld devices than on desktop. Why? Simply, they choose to have it this way. Firms have decided what you want to do on a handheld device, and they market fewer features and less functionality as being better for you. 

Here’s another word of advice when it comes to comparing mobile apps: Don’t treat App Store and Google Play ratings as gospel. These review ratings can be manipulated, and they often emphasize superficial usability factors rather than the comprehensive features and functionality of the app. 

Gold — Best for mobile: TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is our top choice for mobile-based platforms for 2024, scoring 143 out of a possible 230 points—only one point ahead of the next-best CIBC. It finished in the top three in four of the five major areas of focus. TD Canada Trust excels with a mobile platform that’s easy to use and understand. It provides different levels of account information and account services that make managing an account pretty simple. It offers straightforward transactions and plenty of pre-login features.

Its main drawback: It doesn’t offer many supporting resources.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about TD Canada Trust. 

Silver — Best for mobile: CIBC

CIBC is our next-best choice for mobile, scoring 142 out of a possible 230 points. It finishes in the top spot in two of the five main areas of focus. Compared to its Canadian banking peers, CIBC excels at providing information and resources before you log in. 

The app’s main drawbacks are its dated design and the level of account information provided: CIBC falls outside of the top five on both counts, while TD Canada Trust is the top firm in those key areas.

Considering the one-point difference between CIBC and TD Canada Trust, the reality is that the firms are in a dead heat—both offer superior mobile experiences. 

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about CIBC.

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Best online banking firms for service

Back before Canada adopted digital banking, customer service for financial firms was measured by evaluating email, face-to-face and phone interactions. Today, we measure beyond those three types of communication and include form-based interactions, live chat, virtual assistants and social media interactions, as well as the ability to book in-person or virtual meetings using digital platforms. It appears as one method becomes too expensive or poorly serviced, another so-called innovative, marketing-hyped method is introduced with no improvements to the overall service experience.

Surviscor analyzed three aspects of customer interaction, including pre-login and logged-in interactions, the methods of interaction offered through desktop and mobile, and the overall service responsiveness of each firm. Our proprietary mystery shopping program has accumulated over 110,000 interactions over the past 15 years, covering 45 combined banking and brokerage firms.

According to us at Surviscor, customer service finds itself on a slippery slope now. We feel digital banking firms prioritize servicing customers where it is convenient for them—not their customers. For example, virtual assistants are marketed as leading-edge, but are really just a kind of automated FAQ. Overall, despite the increased methods of interacting, our data shows that Canadians are receiving an overall customer service experience that is less good today than a decade ago. For example, in 2023, the consumer banking industry responded to our mystery shopping inquiries in 49 hours on average, up from 34 hours in 2014. A deeper dive into the average of the top 15 firms indicates a 122% rise in response time over that period.

Gold – Best for service: Desjardins

Desjardins is our top choice for overall service experience in 2024, scoring 42 out of a possible 80 points. It has the strongest results in our mystery shopping program. During 147 interactions over the past calendar year, the firm averaged a 6.12-hour turnaround on anonymous service inquiries.

Despite its exceptional responsiveness, Desjardins only offers limited hours of availability and comparatively few methods of interacting on both platforms.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Desjardins. 

Silver – Best for service: Conexus Credit Union

Conexus Credit Union is our next-best service firm, scoring 40 out of a possible 80 points. Conexus offers a similar level of service across mobile and desktop. It averaged a 6.75-hour turnaround on anonymous service interactions.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Conexus Credit Union.

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Best online banking firms for rates and fees

It’s not easy to find the best-suited rates and fees on your banking products, considering all the options available in Canada now. Consumers tend to focus on the costs and rates of borrowing through mortgages, lines of credits and car loans. Money management was once almost free, but that is no longer. And rates have a large impact on your cost of living, especially for younger Canadians. But there’s more to banking than the cost of borrowing to consider. 

For this category, Surviscor measured the rates and fees offered on five types of products: chequing accounts, non-investment savings accounts, registered savings accounts (namely, registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and tax-free-savings accounts (TFSAs)), guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) and term deposits, and mortgages. Note: We used posted rates and ignored promotional and/or account bundling deals, as the number of permutations and combinations is enough to make anyone abandon their research.

The gloomy reality is: If you think a big bank provides overall competitive rates and fees, you’re very mistaken. Smaller firms offer aggressively low rates and fees to gain attract Canadians. Larger firms market the whole experience of being a customer and entice you with add-ons to mostly distract from how less competitive rates they offer.

Gold – Best for rates and fees: Tangerine

Tangerine is our choice for having the best overall rates and fees in 2024, scoring 84 out of a possible 160 points. Tangerine boasts some of the best mortgage rates and options around. It also offers competitive rates and fees on chequing accounts, non-investment savings accounts, and GICs/term deposits.

The interest rates offered on registered savings accounts, however, could be better. 

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Tangerine. 

Silver – Best for rates and fees: Manulife Bank of Canada

Manulife Bank of Canada is our next-best firm for rates and fees, scoring 81 out of a possible 160 points. Manulife offers competitive rates and fees for non-registered savings accounts, and it has some of the best posted mortgage rates in Canada—all supported by its ManuOne account, a comprehensive account type that offers a combination of deposit and borrowing functionalities. 

Despite being the next-best firm for fees to Tangerine, Manulife Bank of Canada fails to register a top-five finish in our chequing accounts, registered savings accounts and GICs analysis.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Manulife Bank of Canada.

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Best online banking firms for digital account opening

Our first functional digital experience looks at the features and functionality of both the pre-login and secure customer areas of both digital platforms as it relates to the general onboarding process of becoming a new customer or expanding on your current relationship, and the service interaction methods that support the process. 

To measure the onboarding experience at each firm, Surviscor looked at the types of accounts offered, the features and resources that support the onboarding process, the number of accounts available in one session, and the various service interaction methods offered when opening an account digitally. In addition, we explore the various service interaction methods available. An account must be available for a complete non-human, electronic signature process to be given credit.

The big banks tend to excel in this category over the other firms, mainly due to the breadth of accounts and products offered. 

Gold — Best for digital account opening: CIBC

CIBC is our undisputed choice for overall onboarding experience in 2024, scoring 67 out of a possible 120 points. It leads in two of the three main areas of focus. CIBC offers both prospective and current customers a well-designed and easy-to-use digital account opening process on both platforms. With CIBC, you can easily open a wide array of accounts and receive support when you need it.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about CIBC. 

Silver — Best for digital account opening: TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is the next-best for overall onboarding experience, scoring 55 out of a possible 120 points. It finishes in the top three in two of the three areas of focus. And like CIBC, TD Canada Trust makes it easy for prospective and current customers to open an account online. Plus, it supports many different types of accounts on both platforms.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about TD Canada Trust.

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Best online banking firms for digital user experience

This category is about the individual experience using either of the digital platforms. We measure the usability of desktop and mobile platforms, both inside and outside of their secure areas. We analyze the features and functionality that impact investor choice, convenience and control of the overall experience (through the analysis of user-protection features, navigational design, product availability and a user’s ability to customize their experience).

Even though the top two firms are big banks, our broader look at the usability of digital banking platforms allows all firms to compete. 

Gold – Best for digital user experience: TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is our undisputed choice for overall platform experience in 2024, scoring 58 out of a possible 100 points—16 points ahead of the next-best Royal Bank. It finishes in the top spot in four of the ten areas of focus, and top three in three other areas. TD Canada Trust excels on both platforms thanks to its user-friendly navigational designs (both before and after logging in), and the level of products and services offered.

Its main drawback is that the designs do not allow users a lot of customized features to enhance the overall experience.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about TD Canada Trust.

Silver – Best for digital user experience: RBC

RBC is the next-best for overall platform experience, scoring 42 out of a possible 100 points. It finishes in the top five in six of the ten areas of focus. Its areas of strengths vary across platforms: the navigation design and product and service availability is strong on desktop, but only average on mobile.

Its main drawback is that users have limited ability to customize features to enhance the overall experience.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about RBC.

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Best online banking firms for account information and management

We look at account information and management experience for a large portion of the main activities performed on desktop and mobile, including reviewing balance, past transactions and account details.

The key measurements include how much account information you can see for yourself, how well you can sift through the info and manage your personal details, as well as, generally speaking, how easily you can get a snapshot of your overall account standing during each digital visit.

The big banks tend to excel over the other firms in this category, but all firms struggle to offer the same features and functionality and level of excellence on both desktop and mobile. 

Gold — Best for account information and management: RBC

RBC is our top choice for overall account management experience in 2024, scoring 100 out of a possible 120 points, mainly due to its strong desktop platform, where it finishes in the top three in five of the six main areas. RBC offers its desktop customers the ability to expand their relationship with a streamlined account opening process, a wide variety of self-managed account management services, in-depth account information with statements and documentation availability.

However, on mobile, RBC fails to register a top-five finish in all but one of the six areas under review. RBC also lacks sufficient account-related alerting notifications on both platforms.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Royal Bank.

Silver — Best for account information and management: CIBC

CIBC is our next-best—and nearly our top overall—choice, scoring 99 out of a possible 120 points. It finishes in the top three in six of the 12 areas of focus. 

The difference with CIBC, for the most part, is its balance and consistency for its mobile and desktop platforms, providing existing customers with an easy-to-use account opening process and the ability to self-manage main account services, while providing a good level of account-related alerting notifications.

The main drawback for CIBC here is that its account and transactional information could provide more indepth and supporting usability features on both platforms. 

But again in this category, the reality is CIBC and RBC are in a dead heat. 

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about CIBC.

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Best online banking firms for completing digital transactions

Digital transactional experience accounts for a large portion of the main activities performed on desktop and mobile.

We measured the digital-based features and functionality that support the products available on its desktop and mobile platforms, including all internal transfers, third-party transfers, and Interac transactions, as well as bill payments, cheque deposits, investment purchases and other processes, such as international transfers and precious metal purchases.

The big banks tend to excel over the other firms in this category. 

Gold — Best for digital transactions: RBC

RBC is the undisputed leader for overall transactional experience in 2024, scoring 83 out of a possible 110 points. It finishes 26 points ahead of the next-best National Bank of Canada, mainly due to its mobile platform: RBC comes first in four of the six mobile platform experiences. In general terms, its desktop platform provides an above-average experience compared to its peers.

On the mobile side, though, RBC doesn’t score as well on the availability of investments and the experience of buying those investments.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about RBC. 

Silver — Best for digital transactions: National Bank of Canada

National Bank is our next-best choice for overall transactional experience, scoring 57 out of a possible 110 points—just narrowly edging out TD Canada Trust. Although National Bank’s merits are spread across both platforms, the overall nod goes to its mobile platform where it finishes second in three of the six areas of focus.

The main drawbacks of National Bank can be seen when performing bill payments and fund transfers on desktop. Plus, you don’t have the ability to perform non-standard transactions on neither platform.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about National Bank of Canada.

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Best online banking firms for educational resources

Education means different things to different people, and it sometimes does for financial institutions as well. In its purest sense, education means learning. This leads some firms to consider their “help’ features (specific and general, FAQs, and so on), virtual agents and even blog posts as part of their education offering. These resources are sometimes included in areas labelled as “learning centres.”

What does Surviscor think? It disagrees with using the broad definition of education. Instead, it measured the availability, presentation, and ease of use of written education material, quizzes, courses, videos, webinars, podcasts and even decision tools based on the products offered. These should provide digital users with an increased knowledge of banking and investment products and the impacts these can have on their financial roadmap.  

A few big banks provide the best educational experiences. The industry as a whole, though, needs to do a better job at providing more targeted resources and ensuring the educational experience translates to mobile platforms.

Gold — Best for educational resources: CIBC

CIBC is our undisputed leader for overall educational experience in 2024, scoring 59 out of a possible 80 points—that’s only 12 points ahead of our next-best, but still far ahead of the mid-ranking firms. CIBC finishes in the top five in five of the six main areas of focus. It provides a balanced offering of interactive educational resources on desktop and does well, relative to its peers, on mobile.

The main drawback with CIBC is that it could create more tools and calculators on mobile to really stand out.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about CIBC. 

Silver — Best for educational resources: RBC

RBC is our next-best choice for overall educational experience, scoring 47 out of a possible 80 points. It finishes in the top three in four of the six areas of focus, offering more educational resources on desktop than what you’ll find at other firms.

However, RBC still lacks educational resources in both the pre-login and logged-in areas on mobile, which is proof of a larger industry story: How can a firm missing so much on its mobile platform still be the next best firm? 

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about RBC.

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Best online banking firms for account analysis and budgeting

The digital account analysis and budgeting experience represents eight main criteria out of the hundreds we looked at between the two digital platforms. This area of focus is being studied as a standalone experience requested by MoneySense instead of within a broader account information experience within each Surviscor review.

First and foremost, Surviscor measured the existence of a tool that allows you to visually see and analyze your account activity. We then drilled down into the features that enhance your analysis and differentiate firms when it comes to account budgeting and financial planning.

There are many firms running in this race, but the fact remains that not many of them do this very well at all. Only 50% of the firms examined offer some level of coverage and only 25% of them offer what we would call a legitimate account analytics tool that has budgeting and planning features that are based on actual transactional data. 

Gold — Best for analysis and budgeting: ATB Financial

ATB Financial, a government-owned Alberta-based firm, is our top choice for providing the best account analysis and budgeting experience in 2024, scoring 19 out of a possible 20 points. It finishes first in mobile and second in desktop. ATB’s strength is the number of different product accounts incorporated into its analytics tool. It pulls transactional data from deposit accounts, credit cards, loans, credit lines, investments and mortgages.

ATB differentiates by offering the ability to customize and set up categories and sub-categories for individual revenues and expenses. In addition, the tool allows for manual non-ATB transactions to be included if desired.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about ATB Financial. 

Silver — Best for analysis and budgeting: Coast Capital Savings

Coast Capital Savings, our premier credit union firm, is our next-best choice for account analysis and budgeting with a score of 16 out of a possible 20 points. Coast Capital Savings offers a similar tool as ATB, only without the same number of product accounts. However, Coast Capital offers the ability to link third-party bank accounts. Overall, it has an industry-leading tool, but the complete experience falls a little short of ATB’s experience.

Learn more about what Surviscor likes and dislikes about Coast Capital Savings.

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Compare Canada’s best digital banking firms

To view all the data in the table, slide the columns right/left/up/down using your fingers or mouse. You can download the data to your device in Excel, CSV and PDF formats. A checkmark symbol indicates the feature is available on both mobile and desktop; a checkmark followed by one of the two platforms indicates the feature is available on that platform only; and an X indicates the feature isn’t available on either platform.

*(1) 147 service requests per firm between January and December 2023
*(2) Industry average response time was 49 hours between January and December 2023

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Methodology

Surviscor representatives completed a features and functionality questionnaire of nearly 8,000 questions for each firm in the review, covering both desktop and mobile platforms, while performing hundreds of typical user tasks on each individual digital platform. Surviscor also analyzed the firms’ rates and fees across five products and reviewed 147 service interactions over a 12-month period ending on December 31, 2023. Each firm was assigned a score based on its ranking within the 10 sections of our review (10 points for first place; 9 for second; 8 for third; 7 for fourth; 6 for fifth; 5 for sixth; 4 four seventh; 3 for eight; 2 for ninth and 1 for tenth), and the overall score represents the sum of the awarded sections.

More Surviscor resources

Looking for more information? Surviscor provides exclusive and curated information with the digital banking customer in mind. Here are some valuable links to consider:

• Surviscor offers unbiased analysis of Canadian online banking and online brokers based on facts, not influenced by marketing campaigns and paid reviews. At the website, you can read in-depth analysis of the four major investor/client experiences, helping consumer banking and self-directed investors to quickly decide on the online firms that will work best for their goals and interests. Surviscor’s reviews provide a comprehensive look at each Canadian online banking and online brokerage firm, including rankings and scores for fees, service levels and both digital platforms (desktop and mobile).
• Powered by Surviscor’s extensive research, scorChoice, the only tool of its kind in Canada, allows digital bankers to produce a personalized scorecard of the top firms that suit the desired digital banking experience criteria. The beauty of the tool is that it can be useful for Canadians and newcomers to quickly gain insight on the firms that could satisfy their initial needs. And longstanding clients can use it to, not only validate current relationships, but also gain insight into firms that may provide a better solution.
• The truth often lies somewhere between the lines. Surviscor’s blog, Between the Lines, provides valuable insight into Consumer Banking and Online Brokerage customer-facing digital experiences and general insight through Surviscor’s annual reviews.

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Read more about banking:

• Video: How to find the best online bank account

• The best chequing accounts in Canada
• MoneySense’s free Excel template for your monthly budget
• It’s probably time you switched banks—4 easy steps for Canadians

The post Best online banks and credit unions in Canada for 2024 appeared first on MoneySense.