Business · Companies · 6 hrs ago
Wealthsimple unveils AI assistant for banking and investing
Toronto-based Wealthsimple unveiled Penny, an AI assistant for its banking and investing services.
Users will be able to ask it questions about their finances and get help with moving money and placing trades.
Penny will not carry out those decisions without the user’s manual approval.
Wealthsimple plans to make the assistant broadly available by late 2026 or early 2027.
The company is also working on ways for customers to connect outside AI tools, such as Claude or ChatGPT, while controlling what those tools can access; those integrations are set to begin later this month.
These features come as AI tools raise concerns about access to personal financial information and as Wealthsimple expands its products for Canadian customers.
Wealthsimple unveiled Penny, an AI assistant designed to help users understand their finances, move money and place trades.
Users will have to approve actions before Penny completes them.
The assistant is expected to be broadly available by late 2026 or early 2027.
The Toronto-based company also plans to let users connect more securely with outside AI systems, with integrations beginning later this month.
The announcement came as Wealthsimple revealed a dozen new banking, investing and AI products and features.
- Who
- Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based financial technology company, unveiled Penny.
- What
- Penny is an AI assistant for users’ finances that can help with money transfers and trades, subject to manual approval.
- When
- The announcement was made on Thursday, November 5, 2026. Broad availability is expected by late 2026 or early 2027.
- Where
- Wealthsimple’s showcase was held at Massey Hall in Toronto.
- Why
- The company says Penny is intended to make managing finances simpler and help users understand and act on their financial situation.
Canada’s largest banks
Wealthsimple
AI agents’ access to banking
Canada’s largest banks
The banks committed to blocking AI agents from directly accessing customers’ online banking information.
Wealthsimple
Wealthsimple shares concerns about handing credentials to third-party agents but is developing controlled connections to outside AI systems.
Wealthsimple announced a $425-million CAD Series F round at a $13.8-billion valuation.
Wealthsimple presented Penny and other offerings at its showcase at Toronto’s Massey Hall.
Wealthsimple’s integrations with outside AI systems are set to begin going live.
Penny is expected to become broadly available.
- Assistant
- Penny
- Showcase venue
- Massey Hall, Toronto
- New offerings
- A dozen banking, investing and AI products and features
- Funding round
- $425-million CAD Series F at a $13.8-billion valuation
- Customers
- More than four million Canadians
- Assets under administration
- More than $169 billion
3 sources
What people are saying
It’s really the first time we’ve been able to meet Canadians and have that one-to-one conversation with them, in a way.
remove a lot of the overhead around actually doing things with your money.
Just like the big banks are saying, we don’t think clients should give their ID [and credentials] out to [a third-party] agent.
We’re expanding our product suite across every line.