Startups, banks and regulators are grappling with customer stress, stablecoin stalls and accelerating threat deadlines.
Canadian Fintech Forum has always signaled where the industry is heading, but this year it felt like a tactical briefing on how it would all actually work.
Last month in Montreal, panels outlined the foundations of Canada's next financial era: real-time rails, tokenized money, artificial intelligence on every corner and growing interconnectedness between incumbents and startups learning to move together.
Speakers described the industry as it enters its growth phase, and conversations focused on the infrastructure that powers modern finance every hour of the day.
Here are five signals from the Canadian Fintech Forum about where the industry is heading next.
Consumers Stress Test FinTech Products
In a conversation with Mastercard's Balinder Ahluwalia, senior vice president and head of market development and digital partnerships in Canada, KOHO CEO Daniel Eberhard said consumers facing a stressful economic situation are paying much more attention to where their money is going.
According to Eberhard, when people feel pressured, they begin to doubt products that do not provide visible benefits. This means that fintech companies need to prove their models in real time.
KOHO's proprietary lending strategy, with loan terms ranging from 30 to 90 days, reflects the growing need to quickly absorb losses and correct them before they worsen. Across the sector, fintechs are being pushed towards operational discipline, short feedback loops, transparent pricing and sustainable unit economics.
Canada's stablecoin shortage becomes a competitive risk
Panelists highlighted that Canada's regulatory framework for tokenized money remains a work in progress, creating a competitive advantage. US dollar-denominated stablecoins already handle billions of dollars in daily transactions, but Canada has yet to establish clear rules for issuance, reserve and redemption in Canadian dollars.
Without these standards, foreign issuers will control the digital rails Canadians use for transactions.
Speakers urged Canadian regulators to act quickly, citing U.S. legislation as a workable model. Panelists asked: How soon can Canada develop a standard that keeps pace with global markets?
Banks and startups are learning to act in sync
A structural shift was made clear across several sessions, signaling a new phase of practical collaboration in Canada's fintech ecosystem.
Startups built outside the banking perimeter understand that trust and regulatory reach require partnerships. And banks, once determined to own every level of innovation, are opening up their systems to fintech companies that can move faster and safely experiment within the confines of compliance.
These dynamics go beyond traditional banking, as Mastercard's Ahluwalia noted in another conversation with Affirm COO Michael Linford. Affirm offers consumers flexible options that allow them to pay over time without any late fees or hidden fees, making real-time credit decisions on every single transaction.
By collaborating with traditional “networks, acquirers and bank partners,” Linford noted, Affirm is making its transparent credit products more accessible and helping financial institutions meet the growing demand for these payment methods.
While Mastercard and Affirm are not partners, Linford's remarks reflect the broader payments landscape, in which networks like Mastercard play a fundamental role in connecting banks, acquirers and FinTechs through a common infrastructure that allows new lending models to scale.
AI Destroys the Financial Fraud Timeline
When attackers penetrate the financial system, they previously lay dormant for an average of nine days before taking the next step. The Cyber Security Forum Commission reported that the time had been reduced to 51 minutes.
The pauses that once gave defenders a chance to react have been eliminated by automation, allowing malicious systems to map networks, collect credentials, and escalate privileges almost instantly.
Human monitoring cannot keep up with the scale and aggressiveness of cyberattacks, and financial institutions are being forced to automate detection as aggressively as attackers automate exploitation. AI turns security into a symmetric competition in which two learning systems compete within the same networks.
In response, the panelists noted that all players in the fintech community should invest in AI and cyber solutions to improve intelligence, security and personalization in commerce.
Although Mastercard is not a member of the cybersecurity commission, it uses artificial intelligence to combat AI-based fraud and cybercrime, investing approximately US$11 billion in cybersecurity innovations since 2018. These investments are aimed at strengthening cybersecurity, anti-fraud and artificial intelligence capabilities, helping players large and small from across the ecosystem improve operational resilience.
Real-time rail transport will require culture change in banks
Canada's real-time railway will be the country's first step toward an always-on payments infrastructure. For decades, settlements occurred in batches, buffered by overnight processing and extra work hours. RTR replaces this rhythm with perpetual motion.
In this context, panelists also emphasized that banks will need teams capable of monitoring, correcting and reconciling transactions around the clock. Banks that view RTR as an operational transformation will be prepared to operate at the pace of the 24/7 economy.
The conversations at the Canadian Fintech Forum didn't end there. The program also delved into platforming, borderless payments, talent and other forces changing finance in Canada. The full Finance Montréal sessions can be viewed here..
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Mastercard fuels FinTech innovation by providing the tools, resources and support startups need as they scale. Learn more about Mastercard's approach today.
Artistic image by Eric Carriere.
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