Wealth One Bank of Canada (stylized as WealthONE) is a Canadian Schedule I bank opened in 2016 with a focus on providing services to

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. It provides innovative banking products and services online for business owners and entrepreneurs, real estate investors, newcomers and all Canadians.

History

Wealth One Bank of Canada was founded by seven key investors. Shenglin Xian attracted other investors, including Yuansheng Ou Yang and Mao Hua Chen, who became directors of the bank. With one other key investor, they raised $50 million as an initial funding for the bank. The investors believed that there was a business opportunity to create a Canadian financial institution that was able to offer services to Chinese-Canadians by understanding their culture, traditions and being able to speak their language. The company began working in the early 2010s towards gaining a charter through what its CEO and president at the time, Charles Lambert, described as a "long application process". On July 22, 2015, WealthONE received its tentative

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

from Canada's Minister of Finance. The bank was officially chartered federally in 2016 as a Schedule I bank under the ''

Bank Act The ''Bank Act'' (1991, c. 46) (the ''Act'') is an act of the Parliament of Canada respecting banks and banking. History The ''Bank Act'' was originally passed in 1871. The terms of the ''Act'' provide for a statutory review of the ''Act'' o ...

''. As such, it is regulated by the

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI; french: Bureau du surintendant des institutions financières, BSIF) is an independent agency of the Government of Canada reporting to the Minister of Finance created "to contribute ...

(OSFI) and is a member of the

Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC; french: Société d'assurance-dépôts du Canada) is a Canadian federal Crown Corporation created by Parliament in 1967 to provide deposit insurance to depositors in Canadian commercial banks and ...

, a

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

which insures all deposits into its member banks. In November 2016, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' published an article claiming that the banks website included inaccurate profiles of its key investors and that its founder previously faced allegations of mishandling client insurance claims. WealthONE responded in letter stating that "like every other Schedule 1 bank in Canada, Wealth One Bank had to go through an exacting and rigorous process under the Bank Act and OSFI... We're very proud of the fact that ealthONEmet those stringent standards." The bank’s head office is location in the heart of downtown Toronto Ontario’s Financial District. It first began providing mortgages and loans, and soon after began accepting deposits in July 2016. It hopes to attract new immigrant customers who "may have a solid net worth, just not the kind of proof of income or credit ratings that

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domestic lenders may prefer." The bank's customer-facing staff are of Chinese descent and able to interact with customers in English,

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

and

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. In October 2020, Paul Leonard was appointed as the new chief executive officer and president of the bank. Leonard first joined WealthONE as CFO in 2018. As CEO, he reported that the bank has about 700 borrowers, 7,000 deposit accounts, and $375 million in total assets as of November 2020. As of December 2023, WealthONE has grown to 1,000 borrowers, 20,000 deposit accounts and $615 million in total assets and has added multi-lingual customer-facing staff to service the growing needs of newcomers to Canada.

References

External links

* {{Canadian banks Banks of Canada 2016 establishments in Canada Banks established in 2016 Organizations based in Toronto Organizations based in Vancouver