The market is adjusting to the central bank’s recent rate cut, but savers can still find an edge by looking beyond the major banks.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
High interest savings accounts and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) continue to attract savers who may need to access their funds in the next year and prefer stability over the volatility of stocks or precious metals.
Canadians are seeing modest rate declines following last week’s Bank of Canada rate cut, which lowered the policy rate by another 25 basis points. This rate cut led some institutions to trim savings and GIC rates, though there are still competitive rates to be found.
Among GICs, MCAN Financial leads nationally with 3.65 per cent on a one-year GIC term that matches or exceeds competitors across all major maturities up to five years.
In savings accounts, Meridian Credit Union’s 4.7-per-cent promotional rate for four months tops the list, just ahead of Scotiabank at 4.65 per cent for three months, BMO at 4.6 per cent for four months, and then RBC and CIBC at 4.6 per cent for three months.
Besides Meridian, the strongest savings promotions this week come from the major banks as they continue to rely on limited-time offers to attract new deposits.
For continuing savings, WealthONE Bank’s 2.85 per cent remains the best nationally available standard rate.
The market is adjusting gradually to the central bank’s latest rate cut, but savers can still find an edge by looking beyond the major banks when it comes to GICs. Online credit unions such as Hubert Financial and Achieva Financial accept deposits nationwide and offer slightly better returns than the big banks.
Interest rates are provided by WOWA.ca, which gathers, aggregates and freely disseminates data on mortgage rates, savings accounts, and GIC rates from more than 50 Canadian financial institutions.
Jimmy Nguyen is a writer and content developer at WOWA.ca, a Canadian personal finance platform.