TORONTO: Canada's Financial Capital

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The Toronto Region is the second largest financial centre in North America, after New York City.

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The Toronto Region is home to the highest concentration of financial services companies in Canada, including startups in Fintech, cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence.

As the business and financial hub of Canada, Toronto has many opportunities for both startups and established businesses to expand their operations in a thriving market. We are also home to one of the largest tech centers on the continent, providing a unique environment for financial services innovation.

The Toronto Region offers everything an innovative financial service or fintech company is looking for: an ever-increasing market demand, a large, relevant pool of talent and an ecosystem of potential partners that can help you advance, adapt and commercialize your products quickly.

As Canada’s economic capital, the Toronto Region boasts one of the safest banking systems in the world and the third-largest stock exchange globally by total trade. Ten thousand financial services businesses employ over 320,000 skilled workers, and the area attracts more than half of all foreign capital investment in financial services in Canada. It consistently ranks as a top 10  business location and a safe place to do business.

Canada’s financial companies are growing rapidly, and Toronto is a central location for employment in this industry. Join like-minded individuals, businesses, and startups in our region as they evolve and grow.

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  • Fintech: Leaders in mobile payments are discovering Toronto, as global providers MasterCard, VISA, Gemalto, Ingenico, and Giesecke & Devrient, have established operations here
  • Cybersecurity: Cyber risk is a growing concern across all industries. The Toronto Region’s technology and financial services strength has supported the development of a robust cybersecurity cluster. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s (UOIT) Master of Information Technology Security (MITS) program is the first of its kind in Canada and one of the few specialized IT security graduate degree programs available worldwide.
  • Advanced Analytics and AI: The Toronto Region’s rich financial service ecosystem and growing prominence as a global leader for artificial intelligence research and talent make it a natural destination for companies looking to develop and provide AI products to the financial services industry. 
  • Insurtech: Canada has significant consumer demand for disruptive insurance options. The Toronto Region also boasts a ripe hiring ground for cost-effective actuarial talent, along with a high presence of major insurance carriers who have demonstrated a willingness to partner with insurtechs to bring innovative solutions to the market.
  • B2B Payments: The Canadian payments ecosystem is undergoing modernization to open access to core infrastructure and create opportunities for new market participants. Some of the Toronto Region’s best-known homegrown technology companies are working in the e-commerce and B2B payment space, including Shopify, Rubikloud, Flipp and Plooto, to name a few.
  • Regtech Compliance: With $4 billion in annual spending on compliance by Canadian banks, the demand for new compliance solutions is growing.  The Toronto Region is also uniquely positioned to enable Regtech companies to expand to other global markets through the international reach of domestic banks and participation in international regulatory frameworks BASEL III and FATCA.
  • Blockchain: Canada’s major financial institutions, most headquartered in the Toronto Region, are open to embracing emerging technologies and are already partnering with blockchain startups or developing in-house blockchain solutions. The Blockchain Research Institute is a multi-million-dollar initiative funded by the private and public sectors, which launched in 2017 to explore blockchain applications. The Institute was founded by Alex and Don Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution, who have helped highlight Toronto as a center of global thought leadership on blockchain. Let’s not forget that Toronto is the birthplace of Ethereum, cementing Toronto as a major blockchain and cryptocurrency hub.

We are home to:

5 of Canada's largest banks and 41 foreign bank head offices
9 of the top 10 Canadian mutual fund managers
2 of the world's largest life insurers
 
3 of the world's largest pension funds
 

Major Players in the Toronto Financial Services Industry:

Ontario is a global leader in fintech, offering financial services ranging from cybersecurity and mobile payments to blockchain and trading analytics. Toronto is North America’s second-largest financial hub after New York, with over 600 fintech firms, 10,000 financial services firms, and over 320,000 financial services professionals.

The Toronto Region is home to 50 percent of the country’s approximately 60,000 fintech employees, graduating from one of the region’s 18 world-renowned colleges and universities. From the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s STEM-focused university in Oshawa to our first class Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, to the 30+ programs available at the Business School at Centennial College, institutions across the Toronto Region are producing highly skilled, educated employees for your company to hire today, and into the future.

Toronto fintech companies are successful locally, nationally, and internationally. If you are a financial services company looking to evolve and grow, work alongside progressive fintech companies in Canada’s economic center.

19%
of postsecondary students in the Toronto Region are studying a finance or business-related field
2
of Canada’s four QS “Global Elite” business schools, U of T’s Rotman School of Management and York University’s Schulich School of Business, are located in the Toronto Region
280,000+
skilled workers in the financial services industry across the region
26%
Employment in Toronto’s financial service sector has grown by 26% in the last five years, while New York and Chicago have seen declining employment
25,000+
STEM grads annually
200+
co-op computer science programs in the region
 
 

The Schulich School of Business

York University’s Schulich School of Business, located in the north end of the City of Toronto, is renowned as one of the top business schools in the country. Ranked #1 in Canada by Forbes, CNN Expansion & Corporate Knights, Schulich offers one of the broadest ranges of business specializations of any business school. Schulich is home to North America’s first ever cross-border executive MBA degree and one of the world’s first degrees in international business (IMBA) and Business Analytics (MBAN).

The innovative programs at the Schulich School of Business attract students from all over the world, making the school home to one of the most diverse student bodies of any MBA program in North America. Over 60 percent of students at the School are international, coming from close to 30 countries and speaking in excess of 35 languages.

Did You Know?

Ethereum was developed by Torontonian Vitalik Buterin in 2013 and launched in 2015. It builds on the concepts and innovations begun by Bitcoin, with some significant differences. Ethereum and its cryptocurrency token payment system, known as Ether, are now worth USD $7 billion.

Ethereum is a decentralized global software platform powered by open-source blockchain technology with smart contract functionality. Ethereum is programmable, which means it can hold assets, make transactions, communicate, and construct apps and companies without a central authority.

Ethereum is similar to Bitcoin as a payment network, but also offers a marketplace of financial services, games, social networks, and apps.It has opened the door to a booming digital economy, providing new ways for investors to earn online.

Ethereum is poised to be one of the most important startups in Canadian history, as it has become the investment bank of the blockchain world and the second-leading technology to Bitcoin.

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