The Branch Habit Is Getting Expensive
Walk into any of the Big Five and you will hear the same range: roughly $5 to $35 a month for a small business chequing plan. BMO's Essential Business Account sits at the low end at $5. TD's Business Essential runs $35, waived only once you keep about $45,000 on deposit. RBC's Ultimate Business Account charges $100 monthly, waived at a $75,000 daily balance. For a bakery in Saskatoon or a two-person design studio in Hamilton, those thresholds are not realistic.
Then there is the quieter cost. Industry comparisons put foreign exchange markups at traditional Canadian banks between 2.5% and 3.5%. On a $20,000 invoice paid in USD, that is real money leaving your account before the money ever arrives.
Online accounts change the shape of the problem. Most charge nothing monthly, hold multiple currencies, and let you open the thing from a laptop. They also introduce new questions. Can you deposit cash? Who holds your balance if the provider is not a bank? What happens when a client insists on paying by cheque?
Three frictions show up again and again for Canadian owners. Fees that scale with transaction volume rather than with actual service. Currency conversion buried inside the exchange rate instead of shown as a line item. And eligibility rules that trip up newcomers, sole proprietors, and anyone whose revenue arrives in more than one currency.
Comparing the Real Costs
| Provider | Monthly cost | Standout feature | Best fit | Watch-outs |
|---|
| EQ Bank Business Account | $0 | 2.25% interest paid on the full balance | Sole proprietors and small teams living on e-Transfers | One signing officer per business; no overdraft; $500,000 balance cap |
| Airwallex Business Account | $0 on the Explore plan | 0% FX when spending from held currency; 1% cash back on corporate cards | Exporters, e-commerce sellers, agencies billing in USD or EUR | No branch cash deposits; no commercial lending |
| Wise Business | One-time C$55 setup charge | Transfers from 0.48%; local account details in 20+ currencies | Freelancers invoicing overseas clients | Not a full-service bank; full features need the setup payment |
| Venn | $0 | Up to 3.5% on USD balances | Corporations holding idle cash, outside Quebec | Corporate accounts only; provincial restriction |
| Wealthsimple Business Chequing | $0 | Up to 2.25% interest with clean accounting links | Solo owners who want simple bookkeeping | Limited cash and cheque handling |
| BMO Essential Business Account | $5 | Low entry cost with full branch access | Owners who need tellers, coin, and night deposits | Per-item charges climb quickly |
| TD Business Essential Account | $35 | Fee waived at a $45,000 balance | Businesses already holding steady balances | Waiver threshold is steep for startups |
| Loop | $0 on the Basic plan | Multi-currency card | Early-stage startups testing tools | Thin feature set on the entry tier |
Read the table with your own transaction count in hand. A landscaping company running 200 e-Transfers a month will feel different pain than a consultant sending twelve invoices a year.
What You Need Before You Apply
The paperwork is less scary than the forums suggest, but it does need to be in order. You need a business number from the Canada Revenue Agency if you are registering for GST/HST, payroll deductions, or corporate income tax. Sole proprietors apply with a SIN, legal name, date of birth, and home postal code. Corporations bring articles of incorporation, the certificate number, and the jurisdiction.
After that, most providers want photo ID proving you are who you say you are, plus a document showing your business address. RBC, for instance, lets you start an application online in under fifteen minutes and then asks you to verify documents at a branch. Fintechs often skip the branch visit but may cap what the account can do until verification clears.
A few structural details worth knowing before you sign up. EQ Bank Business allows one signing officer per business and no overdraft, which rules it out for partnerships where two people need independent access. Business accounts there are also capped at $500,000 across all accounts, fine for most small operators, less so for a growing wholesaler. Airwallex is a fintech rather than a bank and holds customer money in segregated trust accounts under federal retail payment rules. That is a different protection model from a deposit account at a CDIC member institution, and it is worth understanding which one you have.
Three owner profiles
Consider Maya, a Toronto graphic designer billing three U.S. clients and one Montreal agency. Her old branch account charged $6.95 a month and quietly shaved points off every USD conversion. Moving invoicing to a multi-currency account with local USD details cut the visible line items and made reconciliation with her bookkeeping software far less painful.
Devon runs a renovation crew in Calgary. Half his revenue arrives by e-Transfer, some by cheque from property managers, and a little in cash from small jobs. He keeps an online account for day-to-day bill payments and CRA remittances, and maintains a branch account purely as a cash and cheque funnel. Two accounts, one purpose each, and a monthly transfer that sweeps the balance across.
Priya sells home goods from Halifax and buys inventory from two overseas suppliers. She holds receipts in the supplier's currency instead of converting on arrival, which removes a conversion step from every order and gives her a clearer view of margin.
A Short Checklist That Saves Money Later
- Get the business number sorted before you shop. Almost every application stalls without it.
- Write down last year's transaction mix: e-Transfers out, cheques in, wires, cash. Match it against per-item fees, not just the headline monthly price.
- Run one real invoice through the currency conversion math at two providers. A 3% markup versus a 0.5% spread on a $15,000 payment is a difference you can measure.
- Confirm where your balance actually sits, and whether it is deposit-insured or held in trust.
- Keep a second account. Outages, frozen cards, and verification holds happen, and a backup keeps payroll running.
- Check statement charges. RBC, for example, charges $4 to $5 for paper statements with or without images.
- Turn on accounting sync from day one. QuickBooks and Xero connections exist at several providers and save hours at tax time.
Local help is closer than it looks. The CRA's Business Registration Online walks you through program accounts. Your provincial chamber of commerce or a local small business centre can review a business plan with a banker in the room. BDC runs advisory sessions for owners weighing lending against self-funded growth, and a CPA in your city will tell you quickly whether your account structure creates extra bookkeeping.
Where you bank should follow how money moves through your business, not which building is closest to your office. Start with the transaction list, price out two options against it, and open the second account before you close the first. If you already run a branch account and an online one side by side, the next useful step is a single afternoon comparing what each one charged you last quarter. Most owners find at least one line item they can remove without losing anything they use.
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