President's Choice Financial (), commonly shortened to PC Financial, is the financial service brand of the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain

Loblaw Companies Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private ...

. Two different wholly owned subsidiaries of Loblaw Companies provide services under the President's Choice Financial brand: personal banking and Mastercard credit card services are provided by the federally chartered President's Choice Bank, and insurance is provided by PC Financial Insurance Brokers.

Services

Bank Machines (ATMs) Most Loblaws and Loblaws-owned stores offer access to a PC Financial-branded ATM. These ATMs can be used for no fee by PC Financial customers. All other customers who use the ATMs will be charged fees.

Mastercard credit cards

PC Financial MasterCards are embedded with PayPass technology. In November 2014, Ugo Wallet, a

mobile wallet A digital wallet, also known as an e-wallet or mobile wallet, is an electronic device, online service, or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party bartering digital currency units for goods and se ...

app for Android was launched in partnership with

TD Canada Trust TD Canada Trust, commonly shortened in marketing to simply TD, is the Canadian commercial banking division of the multinational TD Bank Group. It is the list of banks and credit unions in Canada, second-largest commercial bank in Canada by assets ...

. In addition, users can store PC credit cards on

Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debi ...

and

Android Pay Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rolli ...

Insurance

President's Choice offers

auto insurance Vehicle insurance (also known as car insurance, motor insurance, or auto insurance) is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury ...

and

home insurance Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance (often abbreviated in the US real estate industry as HOI), is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insur ...

, underwritten through a broker model by a number of Canadian insurance companies,

pet insurance Pet insurance is a form of insurance that pays, partly or in total, for veterinary treatment of the insured person's ill or injured pet. Some policies will pay out when the pet dies, or if the pet is lost or stolen. As veterinary medicine is inc ...

, underwritten by SecuriCan General Insurance Company, and

travel insurance Travel insurance is an insurance product for covering unexpected losses incurred while travelling, either internationally or domestically. Basic policies generally only cover emergency medical expenses while overseas, while comprehensive policies ...

by Travel Guard Canada as managing general underwriter and agent for American Home Assurance Company. President's Choice discontinued their home and auto insurance offerings to new customers in 2009 for a brief period as structural changes were made. During this time, the previous partnership with Aviva came to an end. Their home and auto insurance products returned under a separate "broker model" in January 2010.

Consumer banking (since 2020)

President's Choice Financial launched the PC Money Account, a no-fee "debit-like" personal banking service, on September 14, 2020. Unlike its former banking service, which was provided by CIBC, PC Money Accounts are issued directly by President's Choice Bank. The PC Money Account card can be used to collect PC Optimum points on purchases, and can be used online and worldwide at any retailer that accepts Mastercard. Unlike conventional chequing accounts in Canada, the PC Money Account does not use the Interac network on domestic debit purchase transactions, as the card operates on MasterCard’s global payment network; it is a prepaid card.

Former services

Consumer banking (1996–2017)

Standard consumer banking products (chequing accounts, savings accounts, loans, mortgages) were provided as a joint venture with the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...

; this partnership began in 1996. CIBC offered lines of credit, loans, Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSPs), and mortgages using the President's Choice brand under license, except for between January 2001 and October 2005 when banking services were provided by Amicus Bank (a CIBC subsidiary). Services were available in all Canadian provinces, except Quebec. All PC Financial bank accounts had the same bank number as CIBC (010), and were located under one transit/branch number (30800). Clients performed their banking transactions on the Internet, at a PC- or CIBC-branded ATM, by telephone, or in person at pavilions located inside Loblaw-affiliated stores. President's Choice Financial consumer banking services were ranked by

J.D. Power and Associates J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company founded in 1968. The company specializes in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic models examining consumer behavior. The firm's busine ...

as having the highest customer satisfaction among mid-size Canadian banks in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. On August 16, 2017, it was announced that Loblaw Companies and CIBC had mutually decided to terminate their joint venture to provide consumer banking products. All PC Financial mortgages, loans, investments, and bank accounts were transferred to CIBC's new direct banking brand

Simplii Financial Simplii Financial is a Canadian direct bank and the digital banking division of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). It offers no-fee chequing and savings accounts, a VISA credit card, Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), mor ...

effective November 1, 2017. PC Financial's credit card and insurance products were unaffected by the decision, and continued to be offered by subsidiaries of Loblaw Companies. At the time of the announcement the consumer banking products had approximately 2 million customers.

Loyalty Program

Customers collect

PC Optimum PC Optimum is a single loyalty program operated by Canadian retail conglomerate Loblaw Companies; it was created through the merger of Loblaws' PC Plus and Shoppers Drug Mart's Shoppers Optimum programs. Launched on 1 February 2018, the prog ...

reward points on purchases made with their President's Choice Financial Mastercard credit cards, as well as with purchases made with the PC Money Account.

References

Footnotes

BMO closes supermarket locations

2010 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study

PC Financial Online Application

President's Choice Financial FAQs

PC MasterCard

External links

President's Choice Financial

{{George Weston Limited Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Loblaw Companies Insurance companies of Canada Supermarket banks

Financial Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

1996 establishments in Ontario Financial services companies based in Toronto Financial services companies established in 1996 Canadian companies established in 1996