Open a Business account

In this article:

Overview
Eligibility criteria
How to open a Business account
Managing multi-owner or director accounts
Frequently asked questions

Overview

You can open a Wealthsimple Business account for your corporation (including charities and associations) or sole proprietorship. The accounts you can open depend on your business's legal structure.

Corporations: If you're a beneficial owner, director, or person authorized to act on behalf of an eligible corporation, you can open Business investing and Business chequing accounts.
Sole proprietorships: You can open a Business chequing account, whether or not your business is registered. Learn how to open a Business chequing account for your sole proprietorship.

We offer the following Business account options:

Wealthsimple Trade

Supported business structure(s): You can only open a Wealthsimple Trade account if your business is a corporation.

A trading account where you can invest in the stocks and ETFs of your choosing. You can open up to eight Business investing accounts.

Note: If you have options enabled in a personal Wealthsimple Trade account, you can enable the same options levels in a Business investing account yourself. This is available on web only. Go to Settings and select Options, choose your Business investing account, then toggle on the levels you want. Level 3 and Level 4 require a corporate margin account.

Adding and withdrawing funds

You can add or withdraw funds between a Business investing account and the account types below:

Individual and joint non-registered accounts
Individual and joint chequing accounts
Another Business account of any type within the same corporation

Note: If you own a single-director corporation, you can open a new corporate margin account on the web and the Wealthsimple app. You can add margin to an existing Business investing account on the web and the Wealthsimple app, whether your corporation has a single director or multiple directors. Learn more about opening a margin account.

Wealthsimple Portfolios

Supported business structure(s): You can only open a Wealthsimple Portfolio if your business is a corporation.

Wealthsimple Portfolios are a part of Wealthsimple's automated investing service. With a Business portfolio, we'll invest your funds on your behalf in a customizable portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds.

Note: You can only open a managed Business portfolio on the web, not in the Wealthsimple app.

Chequing account

Supported business structure(s): Corporations and sole proprietorships can open chequing accounts.

We offer a Business chequing account that allows you to spend, save, and earn interest. Learn more about opening a Business chequing account for your corporation or your sole proprietorship.

Eligibility criteria

What you need depends on how your business is set up.

Sole proprietorships

You can open a Business chequing account for your sole proprietorship, whether or not it's registered with your province or territory. If it's registered, we'll verify it with the business registry. If it isn't, you'll confirm a few details yourself, like your industry and source of funds. Learn more about sole proprietorship eligibility.

Corporations, charities, and associations

To open a Business account for a corporation, charity, or association, your business must:

Be registered in Canada
Be a Canadian-controlled private corporation or a charity/association registered with the CRA
- You can't proceed without a CRA registration number
Have a single layer of ownership for incorporated entities
Be an active or passive non-financial entity (it can't be a financial institution)
Not be a strata or condominium corporation
Have a 9-digit federal business number

You must also be a director or owner of the business. Alternatively, you can be officially authorized to act on behalf of the business to sign agreements and handle accounts with Wealthsimple.

Before opening an account, make sure all details with the Business Registry are up to date and accurate.

If your corporation's status comes back as inactive during this check, learn how to fix an inactive business status.

Note: Wealthsimple doesn't support Business accounts for partnerships or cooperatives.

How to open a Business account

If you already have a Wealthsimple profile, please don't create a new profile only for your Business account. This causes a technical issue that we must resolve. You must open a Business account with your personal profile.

If you don't have a Wealthsimple profile, please sign up through the Wealthsimple app (iOS or Android) or on the web.

You can open a Business account on either the Wealthsimple app or on the web. If you're a sole proprietor, choose Business chequing. Business investing accounts aren't available for sole proprietorships.

Note: Any Business accounts you open will be sorted into a Business section in your accounts list to keep your personal and business accounts organized.

Wealthsimple app Web

Log in to the Wealthsimple app
From the Home tab, scroll down to your Accounts
Tap the add (+) button
Tap Open a new account
Tap Business
Choose Business chequing or Business investing
Tap Open account
If you're adding a new business, select its legal structure: Corporation or Sole proprietorship
Follow the prompts to open a Business account

Note: If you're opening an account for a corporation, we'll prompt you to continue on the web to finish opening your account. This includes adding additional owners or directors, if applicable.

Log in to your Wealthsimple profile on a laptop or computer
Select + Add account from the Home page
Navigate to the Business category
Choose Business chequing or Business investing
Select Open account
If you're adding a new business, select its legal structure: Corporation or Sole proprietorship
Follow the prompts to open a Business account

Note: If you're opening an account for a corporation, we'll prompt you to add additional owners or directors during the account opening prompts.

Complete your account application

If you're opening an account for a corporation, our team will review the information you provided against the business registry records. If you're a sole proprietor, learn what to expect when you open your account.

If you're the sole owner and director of your corporation, we'll prompt you to sign your account agreements in-app. You'll receive a notification once your account is active.

If your corporation has additional owners or directors, the primary applicant can invite co-owners directly during the application. Co-owners will receive an in-app notification to log in and complete their own identity verification and sign relevant agreements. Learn more about adding co-owners to your Business account.

Note: Your Business account won't be fully verified and ready to use until all owners and directors have completed their in-app verification steps.

In some cases, we may need additional supporting documents from you to help us verify your corporation. These can include:

Corporation Profile Report
Articles of Association
Certificate of Registration
Address change confirmation/Notice of address change/Form 4003
Certificate of Continuation
Notice of Articles
Notice of Change
Notice of Incorporation
Certificate of Amendment
CRA Notice of Assessment

Link a bank account to your Business account

You can link a corporate bank account to your Wealthsimple profile to fund and make withdrawals from your Business account. Learn more about linking a corporate bank account, including what information you need to provide.

If you're a sole proprietor, you don't need a corporate bank account. You can link your personal bank account to fund and make withdrawals from your Business chequing account.

Note: For multi-owner or director accounts, only the Authorized Person who originally set up the corporation will be able to open new accounts under that corporation and link external bank accounts.

Transfer a corporate investment account to Wealthsimple

You can also transfer a brokerage account to Wealthsimple to fund your corporation's Business account.

Multi-owner corporate accounts

To start a transfer for a multi-owner corporate account, you'll need to contact our support team. Learn more about transferring an account to Wealthsimple.

Note: Any secondary owners' signature(s) aren't required for the transfer.

Managing multi-owner or director accounts

This section applies to corporations. A sole proprietorship has one owner, so there are no co-owners to manage.

When a corporation's Business account has multiple owners or directors, all authorized individuals can view shared account information once they've completed their in-app verification.

Here's what each role can do:

Feature	Primary account person	Co-owner
Trading and investing	Full access	Full access
Move money (internal)	Full access	Full access
Link a bank account	Yes	No (primary only)
Withdraw to a bank account	Yes	No (primary only)
Sign legal agreements	Yes	View only
Open new accounts for the corporation	Yes	No

Note: Co-owner permissions may expand in future updates.

Frequently asked questions

Am I a sole proprietor or a corporation?

If you're self-employed and haven't incorporated your business, you're probably a sole proprietor. This often includes freelancers, contractors, consultants, and people with side businesses. If your business is incorporated, choose Corporation when you open your account.

How do I know who to list as a director and who to list as an owner for my business?

A director is a person on the board of directors and listed on the business registry whose responsibilities include monitoring the firm's activities and shaping the firm's strategy to protect shareholder interests. An owner is an individual who directly or indirectly owns or controls 25% of the corporation.

I have a business in Quebec, but I only have an NEQ (provincial number) and not a BN (federal number). Can I still open an account?

To open a Business account for a corporation, we need a federal Business Number. If your corporation doesn't have one, we can't open a Business account for it. If you're a sole proprietor, you don't need a Business Number or NEQ to open a Business chequing account.

What's an active non-financial entity (NFE)? What's a passive NFE?

In general, the corporation is an active NFE if less than 50% of the NFE's gross income for the preceding fiscal period is passive income and less than 50% of the assets held by the NFE during the preceding fiscal period are assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. If the company doesn't meet the above Active NFE definition, it most likely derives its gross income passively. Many holding companies are passive NFEs.

I have a Wealthsimple profile for my personal accounts. Can I use a different email to create a new profile just for my business account(s)?

No. You can't use different emails to create new user profiles because it will cause an identity conflict. We aren't able to support independent business profiles at this time. All of your businesses must be onboarded under your existing Wealthsimple profile.

Can I have a USD Business account?

Yes, corporations can have a USD Business trading account.

Note: You can't hold USD in a Business Save account.

What's the current coverage for my Business accounts?

The Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund protect your Business accounts:

CDIC covers your Business chequing and Business Save accounts up to $100,000 CAD per business, shared across those accounts.
CIPF covers managed and trading Business investing accounts up to $1,000,000 per account.

For more information, see how we keep your money safe.

If I already have a Business account, can I open a new account for the same business?

Yes. After you select + Add account from the Home page, select your existing business from the list instead of selecting Add a new business. Follow the on-screen prompts.

If you're the sole owner or director, we'll prompt you to sign the new account agreement in-app. If your corporation has additional owners or directors, they'll receive an in-app notification to complete their verification steps. Your new account will be ready to use once all parties have completed the required steps.

How will separating personal and Business accounts affect my instant funding availability?

You'll keep your instant funding availability. Business accounts now use separate information from personal accounts for instant funds availability.

Why can't I see my Business accounts on my Home tab?

Your accounts are organized in Personal and Business sections on your Home tab.

In the Wealthsimple app, scroll past your Personal accounts to view your Business accounts.
In a web browser, select the drop-down menu beside the Accounts section on the Home tab to choose which accounts you'd like to view (All accounts, Personal, or Business).

I tried to open a Business account but was asked to join a waitlist. Why can't I open an account?

We support Business accounts for corporations and sole proprietorships. If your business has a different legal structure, like a partnership or cooperative, you can't open a Business account yet. We've added you to our waitlist, and we'll be in touch when we expand support to other business types.

I joined a waitlist by accident. Can I restart?

Yes, you can re-enter the flow and select Corporation or Sole proprietorship, depending on your business's legal structure.

I have a Business Save account. Can I switch it to a Business chequing account?

We don't offer switching to a Business chequing account from a Business Save account. If you'd like a Business chequing account, you can open one by following these steps. Then, you can transfer your funds from your Save account to your chequing account.