Is Wealthsimple Safe?

Yes. The partners Wealthsimple uses to buy and sell investments are regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), and its portfolio manager is registered in every province and territory.

Wealthsimple also follows the same anti-money-laundering rules as a bank. It reports to FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence agency, under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

Your investments are protected up to a limit. The Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) protects the securities and cash a member firm holds for you if that firm becomes insolvent, and Wealthsimple says its investing accounts and high-interest savings account are covered up to $1,000,000.

CIPF's protection is custodial: it restores property the firm was holding for you. It doesn't cover losses from markets falling, and it excludes crypto.

With up to $1,000,000 in combined CDIC coverage. Wealthsimple isn't a bank itself; it holds chequing balances in trust at several CDIC-member partner banks.

CDIC covers eligible deposits up to $100,000 per category at each member bank. Spreading balances across at least 10 of them is how Wealthsimple reaches up to $1,000,000 in combined coverage, which protects you if one of those partner banks fails.

It's protected differently from the rest of your account. Crypto assets aren't covered by CIPF or CDIC, though the cash in your crypto account is covered by CIPF within its limits.

Most coins are held in offline cold storage with Wealthsimple's custodial partners: the keys that sign transactions sit on devices that are never connected to the internet. Wealthsimple says each custodian is regulated and carries more than $200 million in insurance.

Wealthsimple also holds insurance or guarantees against specific losses: fraud or collusion by employees, theft, physical loss of the devices holding the keys, and a breach of its wallets. That insurance has exclusions and limits.

With two-step verification, encryption and a reimbursement promise for passkey users.

• check_circleTwo-step verification (two-factor authentication) at sign-in. Wealthsimple recommends turning it on.
• check_circleData sent from your device to its servers is encrypted, and data loss prevention software monitors sensitive information.
• check_circleIf you sign in with a passkey and biometric authentication, Wealthsimple says it will reimburse all direct losses from unauthorized activity on your account.

For cash, the protection comes from the same place as a bank's: CDIC. For investments, it's the same CIPF protection every CIRO-member dealer has. The difference is structure: because Wealthsimple isn't a bank, your chequing coverage comes through its partner banks rather than directly.