Where Canadian business banking stands
Most Canadian owners start with a Big Five branch account because it feels safe. Then the statements arrive. A TD Unlimited Business account runs CA$125 a month unless you park CA$65,000 in it daily. CIBC Unlimited Business sits around CA$65. RBC's Digital Choice package starts near CA$6 but adds per-transaction charges once you pass the included limit. For a shop doing forty small sales a week, those line items add up faster than the monthly fee itself.
The second squeeze is currency. If you sell to US buyers, Etsy shoppers in Europe or suppliers in Asia, a traditional Canadian account converts your revenue on arrival and again when you pay out. Industry comparisons put the built-in markup at roughly two to three percent above the interbank rate at several major banks. On CA$80,000 of cross-border revenue, that quietly removes a couple thousand dollars from your year.
Paperwork is the third hurdle. Banks want a government ID, plus a business registration document such as Articles of Incorporation, a Master Business License or a certificate of existence. RBC, for instance, lets you start an application online but still asks you to verify identity at a branch before the account goes live. Sole proprietors operating under their own name often face extra questions, and rules differ by province.
There is a fourth, less obvious gap: cash and cheques. Digital-first providers generally cannot accept a cash deposit or a paper cheque. A Toronto cafe taking $200 in bills on a Saturday needs a physical deposit point. A consultant invoicing by e-transfer does not.
What the options actually cost
Published pricing, pulled from provider pages, gives a clearer picture than marketing copy.
| Provider | Monthly fee | Best fit | Watch-outs |
|---|
| RBC Digital Choice Business | From CA$6 | Owners who want a branch nearby | Transaction fees beyond the included limit; branch visit to activate |
| TD Unlimited Business | CA$125, waived with a CA$65,000 daily balance | Cash-heavy businesses with high volume | Large minimum balance requirement |
| CIBC Unlimited Business | CA$65 | Unlimited domestic transactions plus US banking access | Currency markup on conversions |
| Venn Business | CA$0 Essentials; CA$40 Plus; CA$100 Pro | Small teams holding both CAD and USD | Digital only, no cash deposits |
| Float Business | CA$0 Essentials | Startups wanting separate CAD and USD cards | Limited handling of physical cash |
| Airwallex | CA$0 Explore plan | E-commerce sellers and exporters | Not a bank; no branch services |
| OFX | CA$0 Standard; CA$75 Full Suite | Importers managing currency risk | Per-wire charges on cross-border transfers |
Two structural notes matter here. First, several of these providers are fintechs rather than banks, which means your money sits in segregated trust accounts under the Retail Payment Activities Act instead of on a bank balance sheet. Second, deposit protection depends on the institution, so ask directly which regulator covers your balance before you move operating cash into it.
Matching the account to your business
Freelancers and solo consultants. You need low fixed costs, clean statements for tax season and a debit card that works online. A CA$0 or low-fee digital account covers this. Skip the CA$125 tier entirely; you are paying for branch tellers you will never visit.
E-commerce and cross-border sellers. Collections in multiple currencies change the math. A multi-currency account with local receiving details in the US, UK and Europe lets a customer pay through domestic rails rather than an expensive international wire, and conversion happens at a rate closer to the interbank figure. Airwallex publishes a 0.5 percent markup on major currencies; Float charges 0.25 percent on CAD-USD conversions only.
Businesses with real cash flow through a till. Keep a branch account for deposits and run a digital account alongside it for payables and cards. The CA$6 to CA$65 spread across two accounts is often cheaper than one premium package with a five-figure balance requirement.
One pattern I keep running into: a Halifax maker selling hand-thrown pottery to US buyers on a marketplace platform. Her sales arrived in USD, her old bank converted to CAD, and she converted back to pay a US shipping partner. Two conversions, two markups. Moving collections into a USD-holding account cut roughly a few hundred dollars a quarter off her costs, and the accounting export finally matched her bookkeeper's chart of accounts.
A different case sits in Surrey, BC, where a two-person landscaping company deposits cheques weekly. A digital-only account stalls them at the first cheque. Their workable setup is a credit union chequing account for deposits plus a CA$0 plan for card spending and vendor payments.
Getting set up without delays
Work through these in order and you will avoid the usual back-and-forth.
- Get your business number first. A Canada Revenue Agency business number, plus the provincial registration for your structure, is the document most applications stall on.
- Decide sole proprietorship or corporation before you apply. The account type, signing authority and required documents all follow from that choice.
- Prepare a document folder. Government ID, registration certificate, ownership details and, for corporations, the names of directors with signing authority.
- Ask two questions before signing. Which regulator protects deposits, and what exactly triggers a transaction fee.
- Test the plumbing. Send one small incoming payment, one outgoing bill payment and one card purchase. Check how each appears in your accounting software.
- Review your first full statement at 90 days. If the fee line exceeds what the sales volume justifies, switch. Account switching is a normal cost decision, not a failure.
Local resources worth bookmarking: provincial business registries for Ontario, BC and Alberta; the CRA for your business number; Ownr, an RBC Ventures company, for registration and incorporation support; and your nearest credit union if you need a deposit point in a town the Big Five under-serve.
A reasonable starting point
Look at your last month of transactions and count three things: how many incoming payments were in a foreign currency, how many were cash or cheque, and how many hit your account as individual line items. That count decides the account, not the brand on the door. A consultant with twelve e-transfers a month belongs on a CA$0 plan. A retailer with daily cash belongs in a branch, possibly with a second digital account doing the quieter work.
Pick one provider, open the application with your registration documents already scanned, and run a 90-day test before you commit to anything bigger. The right online business bank account in Canada is the one whose fee statement you can read without flinching.
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