Why so many owners are moving away from branch plans
Canada's biggest banks still sell business accounts roughly the way they did a decade ago: a monthly fee, a transaction allowance, and a rebate that appears only if you park a large daily balance in the account. Published plan details put those waiver thresholds between about C$20,000 and C$75,000 at the large banks, and National Bank's package only reaches zero at an C$80,000 daily balance. Money held there to dodge a fee earns nothing. On C$65,000, the interest you give up outweighs the C$1,500 or so of fees it removes. That arithmetic is the main reason the online business bank account category has grown so quickly.
Payment volume is the second pressure point. Most branch-based plans include a set number of Interac e-Transfers each month and charge around C$1.50 for each one after that. Interac for Business caps a single transfer somewhere between C$3,000 and C$25,000 depending on the bank and account tier, which gets tight once you are paying several vendors or running a small payroll. Cash still costs money too. Over-the-counter deposits run C$5 per C$1,000 at TD and RBC, C$2.60 per C$1,000 at Scotiabank past a monthly allowance, and C$2.25 per C$1,000 through an ATM.
Then there is geography. Two of the strongest digital options in the country, EQ Bank and Venn, do not accept Quebec-registered businesses. Owners in Montreal and Quebec City end up weighing National Bank against RBC and BMO instead, which reshuffles the shortlist before price even enters the conversation.
What the plans actually cost
Published rates for an online business bank account in Canada vary far more than the headline monthly fee suggests. The table below reflects current published pricing from the banks and fintechs themselves; confirm details before you apply, since allowances change.
| Account | Monthly fee | Good fit | Strengths | Watch-outs |
|---|
| TD Business Digital Account | C$6 | App-first owners who want ATM and point-of-sale deposits | Unlimited electronic transactions, POS deposits credited at no transaction fee | C$1.50 per e-Transfer beyond the included allowance; branch cash deposits C$5 per C$1,000 |
| RBC Digital Choice Business Account | Set plan fee, no minimum balance to open or maintain | Owners who want online signup but still need a branch nearby | Unlimited electronic debits and credits, 2 outgoing e-Transfers included, 1,200+ branches | Identity must be verified at a branch before the account is active; branch cash deposits C$5 per C$1,000 |
| BMO Essential Business Account | C$5 | Sole proprietors and incorporated businesses wanting the cheapest big-bank entry | Unlimited self-serve electronic transactions, full branch access | Cheque deposits C$0.25 per item; C$1.50 per e-Transfer after six |
| Scotiabank Select Account, Plan A | C$20, rebated at a C$20,000 daily balance | Businesses that deposit cash regularly | 25 transactions and C$6,000 in cash deposits included | C$2.60 per C$1,000 over the allowance; the rebate ties up working capital |
| EQ Bank Business Account | C$0 monthly fee, no minimum balance | Domestic sole proprietors and active corporations | 2.25% interest on the whole balance, 50 outgoing and 100 incoming e-Transfers, deposits eligible for CDIC coverage up to C$100,000 | Not available to Quebec businesses, trusts or partnerships; Canadian-dollar balances only |
| National Bank business package | C$100, reduced to C$80 with a qualifying card, waived at an C$80,000 daily balance | Quebec-based businesses that need bilingual support | Accepts Quebec businesses; French-language business service | Highest base fee in this group; the waiver is expensive to reach |
Total cost of ownership rarely matches the sticker. A C$0 account paying 2.25% on C$10,000 of operating float returns roughly C$225 a year, while a C$6 to C$20 plan charges C$72 to C$240 for the same balance and pays nothing. Once you add cross-border revenue, foreign exchange dwarfs everything else: a 3% markup on C$500,000 of foreign sales works out to about C$15,000, against 0.5% to 1% above the interbank rate at a platform built for multi-currency. International wires at the big banks typically land between C$30 and C$80 each, before intermediary fees.
Matching the account to how money actually arrives
Service businesses paid by e-Transfer
Freelancers, consultants and contractors in Ontario, BC and Alberta usually need three things: a no monthly fee business account, enough e-Transfer allowance to cover client payments, and a way to deposit the occasional cheque. EQ Bank covers the first two comfortably with 50 outgoing transfers a month, and its sub-accounts let you ring-fence HST/GST and tax instalments without opening a second product.
Picture Priya, a Mississauga graphic designer billing twelve clients a month. Her branch plan charged a monthly fee plus overage on transfers, and she kept a C$5,000 cushion purely to reduce it. Moving day-to-day collections to a no monthly fee account and keeping the branch account only for the rare paper cheque cut her annual banking cost by a few hundred dollars and freed the cushion for equipment.
Businesses selling online or across the border
If revenue arrives through Stripe, Shopify or US clients, the deciding factor is currency handling rather than the monthly fee. A multi-currency business account in Canada that issues local account details in several countries, holds balances in dozens of currencies and syncs to Xero or QuickBooks removes the forced conversion on every deposit. Worth checking whether the platform offers local rails in the countries you get paid from, since that determines both speed and cost.
Cash and cheque heavy businesses
Retailers, restaurants and trades still need somewhere to hand over a deposit bag. A digital-first plan with branch access, such as Scotiabank's Plan A or TD's Digital Account, is usually the honest answer, even with the per-thousand deposit charges. Compare the cash allowance against your real weekly deposits before choosing a tier; going one level up is often cheaper than paying overage.
Marc runs a bakery in Longueuil and discovered the Quebec gap the hard way when two digital banks turned down his registration. National Bank's bilingual service solved the account question at a C$100 monthly fee, and he later trimmed it to C$80 by attaching the qualifying card. The lesson was straightforward: confirm eligibility by province before you fall in love with an interface.
Opening one without losing a week
- Gather documents first. Sole proprietors need a business registration certificate and trade name registration where applicable. Corporations need articles of incorporation. Both need one valid government photo ID.
- Decide who signs. Some digital banks allow only one individual per business to open and operate the account, typically a majority shareholder, signing officer and director. Partnerships and trusts are excluded at several fintechs.
- Check the small print on residency and phones. Most online applications require Canadian residency and a Canadian mobile number for verification.
- Expect one in-person step at a big bank. RBC and TD let you apply online in minutes, but identity verification at a branch or through an appointment is still part of activation.
- Connect your books before the first statement. Accounting feeds with QuickBooks or Xero save hours at year end, and several digital platforms support them.
A short list to start from
Pricing your own numbers beats reading rankings. Pull three months of statements, count electronic debits, e-Transfers, cash deposits and any foreign currency receipts, then price two or three shortlisted accounts against those figures. A sole proprietor in Alberta with steady e-Transfer income will usually land on a no monthly fee account. An exporter in BC will care about the FX margin. A Quebec retailer needs to start with eligibility, not features.
If the arithmetic still looks close, open the online business bank account for sole proprietors that costs nothing to hold and keep your branch relationship for cash and credit. Two accounts, one clear job each, is a common setup for Canadian small businesses and rarely costs more than the single plan it replaces.
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