The Bank of Canada building in Ottawa on Dec. 10, 2025.Keito Newman/The Globe and Mail
With the Bank of Canada holding its policy interest rate steady and the broader rate environment remaining stable, Canada’s best guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) rates and high-interest savings account (HISA) rates held steady this week, with no meaningful movement from last week’s leading offers.
The Scotiabank Momentum Plus account continues to offer the best savings account promotional rate at 4.65 per cent for three months. However, the rate drops to 0.4 per cent after the three-month promotional period.
The next best promo rate is the 4.60-per-cent rate offered by Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for three months, following which their rates drop to 0.55 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively. The promo savings accounts can be a great option for people looking to park their money for the short term before spending or investing.
Providers offering the best non-promotional savings rates can be a strong choice for people looking to build their savings over a longer horizon. Saven Financial’s 2.85-per-cent rate is the highest available rate in the market, followed by 2.80 per cent by Oaken Financial.
For the unversed, Saven Financial and Oaken Financial are both online, direct-to-consumer brands. Saven is the digital savings division of FirstOntario Credit Union, while Oaken is the direct-to-consumer deposit brand of Home Trust Co./Home Bank (now a part of Fairstone Bank group).
The GIC market also remains competitive, offering attractive options for investors who are willing to lock in funds for longer terms. The five-year GIC remains the most competitive, with EQ Bank currently posting the top five-year GIC rate at 3.85 per cent, with eight other providers close behind at 3.80 per cent.
Savers looking to maximize interest earnings can benefit from looking beyond traditional banks. Digital providers often offer stronger continuing rates and, in some cases, higher deposit protection.
For example, Saven Financial is covered by FSRA (Financial Services Regulatory Authority) Ontario deposit insurance up to $250,000 per depositor for non-registered deposits, with unlimited coverage for eligible registered accounts. Manitoba-based Hubert Financial, MAXA Financial, Outlook Financial and Achieva Financial are backed by DGCM (Deposit Guarantee Corp. of Manitoba), which guarantees 100 per cent of deposits with no dollar limit.
These coverages far exceed CDIC’s standard $100,000 limit per insured category at the major banks.
Interest rates are provided by WOWA.ca, which gathers, aggregates and freely disseminates data on mortgage rates, savings accounts and GIC rates from 50-plus Canadian financial institutions.
Sanika Purohit is a writer and content developer at WOWA.ca, a Canadian personal finance platform.
