A(Wealth)simple playbook for competing with the big banks

Wealthsimple's flood-the-zone approach has drawn $100-billion in assets, which is a lot

The financial innovation machine known as Wealthsimple is at it again.

Wealthsimple just announced a long list of investing-specific new products and services, a follow-on to some favourably reviewed (by me) banking innovations released mid-year.

There are hits and misses in the latest round of innovations, but that’s beside the point. By flooding the zone with new products and services, Wealthsimple is writing the book on how to challenge the big banks for financial supremacy in Canada.

The common view on bank and investing competition is that we need more players to challenge the big banks. That’s true, but it’s also a cop-out to suggest the solution to big bank might is simply a high volume of alternatives.

We need smart and aggressive competition, which is what Wealthsimple offers. The company is trying to appeal to the widest possible swathe of people - those who simply want cheap and basic banking and investing, and those who see themselves as sophisticated investors in need of higher-level tools and products.

The new investing initiatives are fine, if you’re excited about trends of the moment.