It also ditched U.S. expansion efforts after selling its U.S. book of business to Betterment in 2021, and sold its Wealthsimple for Advisors to Purpose Advisor Solutions as it focused in on Canadian consumers.
The company’s valuation is also down from its peak. Power Corp., which across several divisions together held a 55.1% undiluted equity interest as of June 30, said the fair value of its holding was $1.5 billion. That’s down from $2.1 billion in 2021.
But the company has still managed a steep climb in assets from growth across the board, whether it’s wealth management, trading and brokerage or its banking business, said Katchen.
It comes as Wealthsimple increasingly positions itself as a full-suite alternative to the big banks, including boosting its banking services last year, that has helped lead to a $20 billion boost to the bank’s net deposits.
“We’ve been pretty excited about a more complete product offering,” said Katchen.
Product expansion to include mortgages, credit and insurance
Wealthsimple, which also offers tax services after buying Simpletax in 2019, launched a mortgage offering earlier this year and plans more credit products ahead along with an expansion into insurance, he said.
It’s all part of the company’s effort to rival the big banks, by having more than a trillion dollars in assets under administration.
While Katchen had originally said he’d want to reach that goal within the first 15 years, he’s now aiming for a slightly less ambitious timeline of within 20 years of co-founding Wealthsimple.
