The company also abandoned its expansion efforts within the U.S. after selling its U.S. business to Betterment in 2021 and sold its Wealthsimple for Advisors to Purpose Advisor Solutions because it focused on Canadian consumers.
The company’s valuation has also fallen from its peak. Power Corp., which held a 55.1% basic stake across multiple business units as of June 30, said the fair value of its stake is $1.5 billion, down from $2.1 billion in 2021.
Nevertheless, the corporate has managed to extend its assets sharply through growth in all areas – be it asset management, trading and brokerage or banking, Katchen said.
This comes as Wealthsimple increasingly positions itself as a comprehensive alternative to the large banks, including expanding its banking service offerings last yr, which contributed to a $20 billion increase within the bank’s net deposits.
“We were pretty excited about a more comprehensive product offering,” Katchen said.
Product expansion to incorporate mortgages, loans and insurance
Wealthsimple, which also offers tax services after acquiring Simpletax in 2019, launched a mortgage offering earlier this yr and plans so as to add more lending products and expand into insurance in the long run, he said.
This is all a part of the corporate’s efforts to compete with the large banks by managing over a trillion dollars in assets.
Katchen originally said he wanted to realize that goal inside the first 15 years. Now he’s aiming for a rather less ambitious timeline, namely inside 20 years of co-founding Wealthsimple.
