Best No-Fee Business Bank Accounts in Canada for 2024
What You Should Know
- Digital business bank accounts by Wise, Loop, Vault, Wealthsimple, and Tangerine come with no monthly fee.
- Most of Canada’s major banks charge monthly fees starting from $6 per month, with additional fees per transaction.
- If you’re looking for the support of a major bank with no monthly fee, BMO’s eBusiness Plan is the best major bank for small businesses in Canada with no monthly fee, unlimited electronic transactions, and no minimum balance requirement.
- Loop and Vault both offer low-to-no-fee multi-currency accounts, perfect for those operating internationally who want to open free local bank accounts.
| Digital Accounts | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account | No Monthly Fee | No Minimum Balance | Free Unlimited Transactions | Cashback or Rewards |
Wise Business | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Loop Basic | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Vault | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Wealthsimple Save | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Tangerine Business Savings | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Traditional Major Banks | ||||
| Bank | No Monthly Fee | No Minimum Balance | Free Unlimited Transactions* | Cashback or Rewards |
BMO eBusiness Plan | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
*BMO’s eBusiness Plan includes unlimited electronic transactions
Digital Accounts
Wise Business Account
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Low foreign transaction fees
✅ Hold 40+ currencies In your account
What We Don’t Like:
❌ $42 registration fee
❌ Fee to deposit and send money
❌ Limited free withdrawals
❌ No interest on balance
The Wise Business account is perfect for businesses operating internationally that need to send and receive multiple currencies. Wise (TransferWise) is well-known for its currency conversion service, allowing consumers to exchange money at the actual currency exchange rate. Wise brings this into their Wise Business account, allowing businesses to send and receive payments from over 80 countries.
The Wise Business account does not pay any interest for Canadian businesses. If you're a US customer, such as if your business is registered in the US, you can earn interest on your USD balance.
Wise Business Fees
While Wise Business has no monthly fees, it does have plenty of other fees to nickel and dime you. Wise charges an account opening fee of $42 CAD ($31 USD) when you first register for an account. After verifying your business and paying the one-time set-up fee, Wise can take up to 10 business days to approve your account.
Once your business account is open, there’s no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement. Wise accepts various deposit methods to add money to your account, each with a fee.
Wise Business Deposit Options and Fees
| Deposit Method | Fee |
|---|---|
| Credit Card | 4.13% |
| Debit Card | 1.87% |
| Direct Debit | 0.24% |
| INTERAC e-Transfer | $1.24 + 0.02% |
| Bill Payment | $2.30 |
| Domestic Wire Transfer | $2.30 |
Note: As of September 2023, adding money (CAD) to the Wise Business account
While Wise allows you to deposit money for free if it's in the same currency as your account, it's only available for all other currencies besides USD and CAD. This means that Canadian businesses looking to deposit money into their Wise Business account in Canadian Dollars will need to pay a fee, something that can really add up in the long run. This deposit fee is on top of the fee to convert currencies and then send or withdraw money.
There are other ways to receive money into your Wise Business account. For some currencies, such as CAD, EUR, GBP, and USD, receiving non-wire payments is free, as is sending money between Wise Business accounts. CAD SWIFT payments have a flat fee of $10, while USD wire payments have a flat fee of $4.14 USD.
Sending Money with Wise
When sending money involving different currencies, such as converting USD to CAD Wise charges a 0.43% currency conversion fee and a fixed fee, depending on the transfer type. Same currency payments also have a fee depending on how you fund the payment.
Wise Business Sending Money Fees - Same Currency
| Making Payments By | Fee |
|---|---|
| Credit Card | $1.27 + 3.93% |
| Debit Card | $1.27 + 2.22% |
| Direct Debit | $1.27 + 0.24% |
| INTERAC e-Transfer | $2.51 + 0.02% |
| Bill Payment | $3.57 |
| Domestic Wire Transfer | $3.57 |
| Wise Account Transfer | $0.66 |
Note: As of September 2023, sending payments with the same currency (CAD)
The cost of sending money from the Wise Business account ranges from a flat fee of $0.66 if you are sending money which is already in your Wise account to $1.27 + 3.93% if you’re funding the payment with a credit card.
One thing to note is that you cannot add bank accounts with a currency different from the home country’s currency. For example, you can’t add a Canadian USD bank account to Wise and use it to send USD or convert it back into CAD. Instead, you could open a cross-border bank account with one of the major banks, such as RBC and TD, and convert or send money from there.
Wise Business vs. Personal
There are some useful features in the Wise Business account that makes it different from the Wise personal account. One of those features has to do with cash management, with multi-user access controls on the Wise Business account. This allows you to assign access roles and create custom permissions for each user, making it easy to transfer funds, set up payment plans and track spending.
Another feature of the Wise business account is the ability to make batch payments, receive Stripe and Amazon payouts, connect to accounting software, and access the Wise Open API to connect to other tools.
There are slight differences between Wise Personal vs Business fees too. Wise Canada personal accounts are free to open, while Wise Canada business accounts have a $42 registration fee. Currency conversion fees and transaction fees are the same between personal and business accounts.
Supported Currencies
While Wise’s multi-currency account is comprehensive, it doesn’t include all currencies. Wise Business lets you add money in 20 currencies, hold money from over 50 currencies, and receive money from 11 currencies.
Add Money: AUD, BGN, BRL, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HUF, IDR, JPY, MYR, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD and USD
Receive Money: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, NZD, MYR, PLN, SGD, USD, RON, HUF
There are limitations, such as only Brazilian tax residents being allowed to add money in BRL or only Malaysian residents being allowed to receive or add money in MYR.
Wise Debit Card
The Wise debit card lets you make purchases in many currencies with a low foreign currency exchange fee, compared to the 2.5% markup that Canadian credit cards typically charge. There's no fee to get this card, but there are fees to withdraw money with an ATM. The first two withdrawals are free for amounts less than $350 CAD. Three or more withdrawals will cost $1.50 each. Amounts over $350 CAD withdrawn per transaction also come with an additional 1.75% fee.
Additional Business Features
The Wise Business account lets you add team members to your account, such as employees who need to make foreign transactions. Each member can get a debit card, and you can set the level of access that they have on the business account, from view-only all the way up to full privileges.
Wise integrates with apps such as QuickBooks and Xero that allow businesses to sync their accounts and track all their financial transactions in one place. This feature makes it much easier for companies to manage expenses, track invoices, pay vendors and employees, and reconcile payments.
Who is the Wise Business Account for?
Where the Wise Business account shines is with businesses that deal with many international transactions. With Wise's multi-currency accounts, you can easily manage your money across borders and currencies. Since there’s no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement, you can hold many small balances of foreign currencies or convert them to Canadian Dollars with a fair exchange fee. That’s a good thing for small business accounts.
Loop Basic
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Low foreign transaction fees
✅ Earn reward points on card purchases
What We Don’t Like:
❌ Can’t receive CAD payments from customers
❌ No interest on balance
The Canadian peer-to-peer lending platform Lending Loop has branched off into banking services with its Loop business accounts. With a particular focus on global businesses, Loop lets you set up open free international bank accounts in US, UK, and EU domiciled accounts to receive and hold USD, GBP, and EUR without fees.
Loop Basic, their free plan, has no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement. The difference between Loop Basic and their paid Loop Plus and Loop Power plans, which cost $49 per month for Plus and $199 per month for Power, has to do with some extra features that not all businesses might need. Loop Basic has a 0.5% FX fee, while Plus has a 0.25% FX fee, and Power has a 0.1% FX fee.
Basic lets you earn 1x points on your Loop Visa card spend, while Plus and Power earn 2x points, with Power receiving custom rewards. Included is insurance coverage for employee misuse, custom spend settings and controls, and no FX fee for purchases requiring currency conversion in CAD, USD, EUR, and GBP.
Comparing Loop Business Accounts
| Basic ($0/month) | Plus ($49/month) | Power ($199/month) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign Currency Conversion Fee | 0.50% | 0.25% | 0.10% |
| Rewards | 1x Points on Spend | 2x Points on Spend | 2x Points on Spend |
| Physical Cards | 2 | 10 | 10 |
| Virtual Cards | 20 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| ACH/EFT Billing Processing Fee | 0.50% + $1 | 0.25% + $1 | $10 or 0.10%, whichever is lower |
Adding Money
To add money to your account, you can link an external bank account to transfer CAD to your account. It can take up to four business days for your money to arrive. Customers can’t send money directly to your CAD account, but they can in other currencies.
Sending Money
Sending money with Loop is free, even as a wire transfer for international payments. There are no sending limits, either, to the 37 currencies and 180 countries that Loop supports. You can even send money to yourself for free!
Currency Conversion
Similar to Wise, Loop charges a fee for currency conversion. Loop's 0.50% fee is slightly higher than Wise's 0.43% fee, but Loop Plus has a lower 0.25% fee, and Loop Power has an even lower 0.10% fee. That’s quite attractive to businesses that frequently deal with foreign transactions. When using your Loop Visa card for purchases, there’s no fee for currency conversion for CAD, USD, EUR, and GBP purchases.
Business Features
Unlimited users and cardholders are allowed on each account, with two free physical cards and 20 virtual cards for the Basic account and up to 10 physical cards and unlimited virtual cards for the Plus and Power accounts. This allows you to fine-tune access to your account. There's also integration with Quickbooks and Xero.
Account Providers
Loop’s business accounts are provided by:
Bank Accounts: Solid Financial Technologies, Inc.’s partner banks
The Loop Global Visa Card: EQ Bank
Who is the Loop business account for?
With a relatively low FX fee, rewards on spend, and free international payments, Loop is a good choice for businesses transacting in multiple currencies. It’s low requirements also makes it a great small business account.
Vault
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Low foreign transaction fees
✅ Earn cashback on card purchases
What We Don’t Like:
❌ Not available to businesses in Quebec
❌ Fee to send wire transfers
❌ No interest on balance
Vault is a relatively new start-up founded in late 2021 that focuses on providing business banking accounts to small businesses and entrepreneurs. They advertise themselves as having the best FX rates in Canada and the first-ever multi-currency account with account details.
This means that you can open international bank accounts in the US, UK, and Europe without visiting a bank branch. This allows business owners to manage their finances much more efficiently than if they had to constantly exchange one currency for another when dealing with global customers or suppliers.
Local bank accounts allow you to receive payments from customers and vendors and hold them in these foreign currencies. When you wish to convert funds, Vault says you'll get the best FX rates with them.
Vault Debit Card
The Vault Mastercard Corporate Card lets you make purchases using the funds in your accounts, no matter the currency, with no monthly fee. If you currently have funds in the local currency in your account, you won't be charged any FX fees either. As a Mastercard, you can also use it worldwide wherever Mastercard is accepted.
Each physical corporate card is free per user, meaning that you can add additional users to the account such as employees, and you can pay $10 per additional physical card. There are also unlimited virtual corporate cards if you need to make payments online. These virtual cards can be instantly issued to employees online.
As a corporate card, you can fine-tune spending limits on each card. For example, you can limit the amount that can be spent and even where it can be spent, such as only being able to be used at a specific vendor or merchant category.
Besides having low-to-no FX fees, the Vault Corporate Card also gives you 1% cashback on all purchases. There’s no limit to the amount of cashback you can earn.
Vault Account Fees
Common with other digital business bank accounts, there's no monthly fee. Unlike Wise, there's also no account opening fee with Vault.
Sending and receiving domestic transfers, as well as receiving international wire transfers, is also free. However, there's a $10 fee to send international wire transfers, which is something that is free with Loop.
Supported Currencies
You can hold balances in CAD, USD, GBP, and EUR. Vault also allows you to send transfers in 36 currencies after the 0.35% currency conversion fee.
Bank transfers can be conducted by:
- EFT (Canada)
- ACH (United States)
- SEPA (Europe)
- Faster Payments (UK)
- SWIFT (International)
Business Features
Similar to Wise and Loop, Vault offers QuickBooks and Xero integration. Employee spending limits on cards can also be set.
Loans
Vault offers fixed-term loans, lines of credit, and merchant cash advances. You can borrow as much as $300,000 and be approved in 24 hours.
To be eligible for financing, you must have operated as a Canadian corporation for at least six months and have at least $10,000 in monthly revenue.
Investments
Vault offers Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) issued by Peoples Trust directly in your Vault business account. Term options range from 30 days up to 5-year GICs.
Account Providers
Vault’s business accounts are provided by:
Canada: Peoples Group and Digital Commerce Bank
United States: Community Federal Savings Bank
Europe and UK: Currencycloud and Barclays
Who is the Vault business account for?
Vault’s low fees, customizable corporate card, and loans and investment offerings make it a one-stop shop for businesses looking to streamline their financial management.
Wealthsimple Save for Business
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Earn interest on your balance
✅ Quick withdrawals to your external bank accounts
What We Don’t Like:
❌ For saving only, not for spending
❌ Only available for incorporated businesses
❌ Lower interest rate than other types of savings
Wealthsimple’s Save for Business account is a savings account, not a chequing account, for incorporated businesses in Canada. Rather than an everyday banking account, Wealthsimple Save for Business is a secure place to save and grow your business’s money.
You can’t use this account as a chequing account, and Wealthsimple requires you to already have a corporate bank account elsewhere in order to open and fund a Wealthsimple Save account.
Wealthsimple requires you to upload a bank statement showing your corporation's name when opening the account. You'll also need to provide your 9-digit federal Business Number. This means that this account is only available for corporations, not sole proprietorships or partnerships.
Once you open the account, you can quickly transfer money in and out of it with no fees. No monthly fee and no minimum balance means you can save as much or as little of your business' excess funds as you want. Withdrawals back to your corporate bank account take just one day. Since this is a business savings account, you won’t get a debit card to make purchases from this account.
As of September 2023, the interest rate paid on your Wealthsimple Save for Business balance is 1.1%. That’s higher than most business bank accounts but lower than other options, such as GICs.
Also offered by Wealthsimple is their Invest for Business account. This managed investment account lets you invest in a portfolio of ETFs.
Who is the Wealthsimple business account for?
For businesses looking to earn some interest on their excess funds that already have a business chequing account elsewhere.
Tangerine Business Savings
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Earn interest on your balance
What We Don’t Like:
❌ For saving only, not for spending
❌ Account opening requires consultation
The Tangerine Business Savings account is the high-interest savings account version of business bank accounts. With an interest rate well above that of other business bank accounts, this account offers a great way to save money for businesses of any size.
There is no monthly fee and no minimum balance combined with a high interest rate that varies based on your account size. As of September 2023, the rate you'll earn on your business savings are:
Tangerine Business Savings Interest Rate
| Account Balance | Interest Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 to $99,999 | 2.65% |
| $100,000 to $499,999 | 2.75% |
| $500,000 and up | 3.25% |
Note: Rates as of September 2023
As a business savings account, you’ll need to already have a business chequing account elsewhere. They'll even contact you as part of the account opening process to make sure of this. This makes opening a Tangerine Business Savings account a lengthier ordeal than other banks.
Besides business savings, Tangerine also offers Business USD Savings Accounts and Business GICs. The Tangerine US Dollar Business Savings Account requires you to have both a regular Tangerine Business Savings Account and a US dollar business chequing account at another bank.
Tangerine Business GICs require a Tangerine Business Savings Account and is available for terms from 90 days all the way to 5 years. Rates can be as high as 6% for a 1.5-year term, available as of September 2023.
Who is the Tangerine business account for?
A high-interest savings account for businesses who might also be interested in holding USD or investing their funds in GICs.
Traditional Major Banks
Comparing Major Banks’ Cheapest Business Accounts
| Bank | Monthly Fee | Included Transactions | Per Additional Transaction Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
BMO eBusiness Plan | $0 | Unlimited Electronic | $1.25 |
RBC Digital Choice Business | $6 | Unlimited Electronic | $2.50 |
TD Basic Business | $5 | 5 | $1.25 |
Scotiabank Right Size Account | $6 | 0 | $1.25 |
CIBC Basic Business Operating | $6 | 0 | $1.00 |
Note: Fees are as of September 2023
BMO eBusiness Plan
What We Like:
✅ No monthly fee
✅ No minimum balance
✅ Unlimited electronic transactions
✅ Bank digitally or in-branch
What We Don’t Like:
❌ Requires an appointment to open an account
Rare among Canada’s major banks is a no monthly fee business account with unlimited free electronic transactions. BMO is the only major bank in Canada to offer a business bank account with no monthly fee with its BMO’s eBusiness Plan, while RBC, TD, CIBC, and Scotiabank all charge monthly fees for their small business bank account offerings, making BMO a contender for small businesses that can settle with digital banking while still having the option of in-branch banking for a fee. This makes BMO the best major bank for small businesses in Canada looking for a no-fee account. There’s also no minimum balance requirement for this account.
Similar to RBC’s Digital Choice Business bank account that only includes electronic transactions, BMO’s eBusiness Plan includes unlimited electronic transactions for free, such as online bill payments and pre-authorized payments. It’s free to send two Interac e-Transfers per month, while you can receive unlimited Interac e-Transfers for free.
The bank account also includes unlimited Moneris transactions for merchants with point-of-sale transactions (POS), which means that you can accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Interac payments without it counting towards your bank account’s included transaction limit. Additional fees apply for Moneris settlement and terminal rental fees. The account does not include transfers that you might make to other business bank accounts, or mobile cheque deposits. Fees will apply for assisted transactions in-branch or over the phone. You will need to book an appointment to open a business account with BMO.
Disclaimer:
- Any analysis or commentary reflects the opinions of WOWA.ca analysts and should not be considered financial advice. Please consult a licensed professional before making any decisions.
- The calculators and content on this page are for general information only. WOWA does not guarantee the accuracy and is not responsible for any consequences of using the calculator.
- Financial institutions and brokerages may compensate us for connecting customers to them through payments for advertisements, clicks, and leads.
- Interest rates are sourced from financial institutions' websites or provided to us directly. Real estate data is sourced from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and regional boards' websites and documents.