EJB Business Consulting Inc

07/21/2026

In an interview with Fintech.ca, Rohitash Hurla, Associate Vice-President of Strategic Accounts at Peoples Group, discussed Peoples Group's role in powering Canada’s fintech infrastructure, the state of embedded finance, and upcoming shifts in Canadian payments.

Key Takeaways

Peoples Group's Behind-the-Scenes Role: Acting as an "ecosystem connector," Peoples Group provides deposit, regulatory, and payment infrastructure to over 1,500 fintechs, challenger banks, and merchants. Over the past year, they facilitated $8 billion in issuing volume, $88 billion in acquiring volume, and $37 billion in money movement.

State of Embedded Finance: While embedded payments (like e-Transfers and tap-to-pay) are now standard in Canada, embedded credit, lending, and deposits still lag behind. Democratizing access to these services for underserved consumer segments remains a key focus for the next wave of fintech.

Next-Gen Payments via Fiserv: Peoples Group has partnered with Fiserv to build a next-generation payments platform based on Fiserv's Enterprise Payments Platform. This infrastructure provides 24/7 instant payments and rich ISO 20022 data standards ahead of Payments Canada's Real-Time Rail (RTR) deployment.

Overcoming Canadian Structural Barriers: Historically, Canadian innovation has been slowed by reliance on incumbent banking backends and the lack of a Real-Time Rail. However, momentum is building: Payments Canada has 15 new participants in its pipeline, and the Bank of Canada has introduced fast-track licensing pathways under the Retail Payments Activities Act (RPAA) framework.

Navigating Growth & Risk: As fintechs scale, they demand both speed and rigorous compliance. Hurla notes that growing companies often move away from purely transactional vendor relationships toward strategic, single-partner models—frequently adopting a hybrid approach (handling direct network participation where strategically essential, while relying on partner infrastructure for the rest).

07/01/2026

This Reuters report highlights how the Philippines has become the world’s biggest spender on solar panels relative to its market size, following a massive rush by citizens to escape skyrocketing electricity bills.
The key takeaways from the article include:

1. Skyrocketing Energy Costs

The Catalyst: Following the outbreak of conflict in Iran in late February 2026, the country's top power distributor, Meralco, raised electricity rates by roughly 10%.

Financial Strain: The Philippines already suffers from the highest residential power prices in Southeast Asia due to a near-total lack of government subsidies. A median household now spends about 12% of its monthly income just to cover a modest 200 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

2. The Rooftop Solar Boom

Unprecedented Demand: Local installers are seeing a massive wave of interest. For instance, Manila-based Philergy German Solar reported customer inquiries spiking to more than 2.5 times what they were the previous year.

Surging Imports: The rush triggered $407 million in solar panel imports (primarily from China) in the three months leading through May 2026—a staggering 145% increase compared to the same period last year. Even when Chinese global panel exports dropped slightly due to tax rebate changes, shipments to the Philippines stubbornly rose by nearly a third.

Projections: Energy think tank Ember forecasts that distributed rooftop solar capacity in the Philippines will nearly triple to 3,500 megawatts within the next two years as equipment costs fall and high power bills shorten the investment payback period.

3. Persistent Obstacles

Despite the heavy momentum, widespread adoption still faces friction. Middle-class consumers face steep upfront installation costs—often running around 570,000 pesos (~$9,300) for a standard residential system. Furthermore, supply chain bottlenecks and rigid restrictions on government-backed financing (which currently exclude private-sector workers) leave many households struggling to fund the transition.

06/17/2026

The Big Comeback
Iconic Canadian retailer Zellers is officially returning to southern Ontario as part of a national expansion strategy. This follows the successful launch of an Edmonton store in October 2025 that exceeded company expectations. The brand was acquired from HBC by Quebec-based retailer Les Ailes de la Mode Inc. in August 2025.

Store Openings
Toronto Location: A new 25,000-square-foot standalone store is opening on Thursday, June 18 at 80 Orfus Road in North York (near Dufferin Street and Highway 401).
Windsor Location: A second store is scheduled to open next month at the Tecumseh Mall, though the exact date has not yet been announced.

The Return of the Zellers Diner
To celebrate the Toronto launch, Zellers is introducing a "Zellers Diner on Wheels." This nostalgic food truck concept will serve classic menu favorites, including:
The Big Z Burger
Hot gravy chicken sandwiches
Chicken fingers
Grilled cheese
Fries and gravy

The food truck will operate right outside the Toronto store from Thursday, June 18 through Sunday, June 21, and is expected to roll out to future store launches across Canada.

What to Expect
The new locations will feature a rotating assortment of products, including apparel, home goods, toys, seasonal items, and snacks, alongside expanded nostalgic merchandise. A 25-foot inflatable "Zeddy Bear" mascot has already been set up outside the Toronto location to welcome shoppers, and the opening weekend will feature limited-time giveaways. Zellers is also in talks with landlords for additional locations across the country.

06/05/2026

The Fintech.ca article features an interview with Phil Hogg, President of Worldpay Canada Corporation (now Global Payments), detailing how the checkout experience is shifting from a mere transaction point to a critical battleground for merchant conversion, loyalty, and technological adaptation.

The core takeaways from the discussion highlight several evolving trends:

1. Shift in Consumer Expectations

Frictionless & Fast: Canadian consumers demand speed, simplicity, choice, and robust security at checkout.

The Rise of Digital Wallets: While credit cards still dominate the Canadian landscape, digital wallet adoption (like Apple Pay and Google Pay) is surging. Hogg notes that wallets are "digitizing" cards rather than replacing them—over half of digital wallets in Canada are funded by credit cards.

Omnichannel Consistency: Successful merchants must ensure a seamless, identical payment experience whether a customer is shopping online, on mobile, or in-store.

2. Strategic and Global Tools

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL): Making up about 5% of Canadian retail sales, BNPL is no longer a luxury but an expected checkout feature. It addresses budget-conscious consumers, drives higher conversion rates, and increases average order values.

Cross-Border Localization: Expanding internationally requires merchants to overcome currency fragmentation, local compliance regulations, and fluctuating authorization rates. Success depends on localizing the payment experience (pricing and paying in local currencies) and leveraging transparent foreign exchange (FX) pricing.

Real-Time Rail (RTR): Canada's upcoming real-time payment system will transform liquidity by offering immediate, account-to-account settlements, enabling faster refunds, and improving cash flow management.

3. The Frontier of "Agentic Commerce"

The biggest looming disruptor is agentic commerce, where consumers delegate buying power to AI agents that search, compare, and execute purchases autonomously.

The Disintermediation Threat: AI agents ignore flashy marketing and web design, focusing strictly on price and features. Merchants must ensure their product catalogs are optimized to be discoverable and interpretable by Large Language Models (LLMs).

Adoption Timeline: While luxury travel, electronics, and insurance are already seeing comparison impacts, AI will soon automate everyday grocery restocking and wellness purchases, eventually moving to B2B software procurement.

The Trust Barrier: Mainstream adoption relies heavily on consumers trusting AI with their digital wallets. Payment giants (Worldpay, Visa, Mastercard) are building a secure "digital handshake" to handle autonomous delegated authority.

4. Overhauling Fraud Infrastructure

Agentic commerce requires an entirely new approach to cybersecurity. Legacy anti-fraud systems often mistake shopping AI agents for malicious bots, resulting in a spike in false positives (wrongfully blocked sales).

Merchants must upgrade to machine learning-driven fraud tools and adopt a Know Your Agent (KYA) framework to verify whether an AI agent is legitimate, authorized, and acting with real consumer consent.

06/04/2026

The CTV News article summarizes the latest preliminary data from Statistics Canada regarding national earnings. In March 2026, the average weekly earnings for Canadians rose 3.5% year-over-year to $1,333.23 (which includes overtime and is calculated before taxes and deductions).

The key takeaways regarding industries and regional earnings include:

Highest and Lowest Earning Industries
The sectors bringing in the highest average weekly amounts are predominantly centered around resource extraction, utilities, and specialized professional services:

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas: $2,509.13
Utilities: $2,329.80 (this sector also saw the highest growth, jumping 9.6% from the previous year)
Information and cultural industries: $2,025.50
Professional, scientific, and technical services: $1,943.22
Management of companies and enterprises: $1,820.13
Finance and insurance: $1,758.96

By contrast, the accommodation and food services sector recorded the lowest average weekly earnings at $538.98.

Regional Breakdown
When broken down by province and territory, Canada's northern territories lead the country in average weekly earnings, while the Atlantic provinces sit at the lower end of the scale:

Nunavut: $1,874.95
Northwest Territories: $1,741.07
Yukon: $1,520.39
Alberta: $1,371.07
Ontario: $1,368.71
British Columbia: $1,348.36
Newfoundland and Labrador: $1,290.53
Saskatchewan: $1,288.82
Quebec: $1,283.60
New Brunswick: $1,231.77
Manitoba: $1,214.49
Nova Scotia: $1,210.83
Prince Edward Island: $1,177.97

05/29/2026

1. The Ongoing Debate Over the "Recession" Tag
Despite the headlines, several experts—BMO Chief Economist Douglas Porter among them—caution against a premature alarm. They highlight specific details within the data that complicate the narrative:

A Stagnant Quarter: Viewed through a non-annualized, quarter-over-quarter lens, growth in Q1 was essentially static at 0.0%.

Potential for Revision: Analysts suggest the 0.1% annualized decrease is marginal enough that subsequent data adjustments could flip it into positive territory.

Early Recovery Indicators: Preliminary figures from Statistics Canada indicate a 0.4% economic upswing occurred as recently as April.

2. Economic Drivers and Detractors
Canada's stalled economy is currently defined by a balance between declining investment and resilient household activity:

Downward Pressures: A persistent trade dispute has dampened corporate optimism. This is reflected in a 2.5% drop in government capital investment and a 0.7% slip in business investment—the latter marking its fifth straight quarterly decline. Elevated imports also acted as a drag on growth.

Stabilizing Factors: Conversely, consumer spending on financial services and food provided a necessary buffer. Additionally, a significant buildup of business inventories helped mitigate the broader declines.

Summary: Regardless of the "technical recession" classification, the consensus is that Canada's economy has struggled for momentum over the past year. The Bank of Canada has revised its annual growth forecast down to 1.2%, a decrease from the 1.7% recorded previously.

05/28/2026

The WWD article outlines Saks Global’s progress toward exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Here is a summary of the key developments and details regarding their restructuring plan:

1. $500 Million Exit Financing Deal
The Milestone: Saks Global (the luxury parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman) reached a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with an ad hoc group of senior secured bondholders.

The Funding: The bondholders committed to providing $500 million in exit financing, which will serve as critical capital when the company emerges from bankruptcy.
Timeline: Backed by this funding agreement, Saks Global expects to file its official Plan of Reorganization and successfully exit bankruptcy.

2. Stabilization and Rebound in Operations

Vendor Relationships Restored: One of the most critical milestones highlighted is that more than 650 brand partners that had previously paused shipments have resumed sending merchandise. This has unlocked roughly $1.5 billion in retail receipts, accounting for over 90% of the retailer's expected inventory for Q1.

Positive Inventory & Sales Growth: Thanks to the return of these brands, March inventory receipts increased 18% year-over-year.

Consumer Demand: The influx of new inventory boosted key metrics compared to the prior year, including a 6% increase in customer spend per store visit and an 11% increase in online conversion rates. Full-price selling has also markedly improved across its luxury banners.

3. The Strategy for the Future

Financial Health: Upon emerging from Chapter 11, the company intends to run a "right-sized capital structure" with lower debt burdens and healthy liquidity to invest back into long-term growth. Its goal is to achieve a double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin.

Footprint Optimization: Moving forward, Saks Global's operational model focuses on an optimized brick-and-mortar footprint consisting only of its best-performing stores in high-concentration luxury markets. This follows previous restructuring actions that streamlined their footprint (such as closing underperforming full-line locations and heavily scaling back off-price business like Saks Off 5th and Neiman Marcus Last Call).

Leadership Perspective: CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck stated that this milestone reflects strong capital partner confidence and allows the company to refocus heavily on strengthening brand partnerships and delivering curated, high-end personalized services to its luxury consumer base.

05/15/2026

Based on University of Toronto and Statistics Canada data, here is a summary of the decline in travel to the U.S.:

The 42% Decline

While official figures suggested a 25% drop, cell phone data reveals a more severe trend. Between April 2025 and March 2026, Canadian trips to U.S. metros plummeted by 42% year-over-year.
Cell phone data captures a broader range of activity than border data, including day trips and business travel without overnight stays.

Primary Drivers

Analysts attribute this slump to three main factors:
* Social Boycott: Many Canadians are boycotting travel in response to U.S. political rhetoric and global tariffs.
* Economic Uncertainty: Trade tensions have disrupted business travel, particularly in tech, finance, and automotive hubs.
* Weak Currency: The Canadian dollar at 70 cents US makes travel and dining significantly more expensive.

Hardest-Hit Regions

Warm-weather destinations and major hubs saw the most dramatic drops:
* Myrtle Beach: Recorded a 65% decline.
* Florida Cities: Orlando, Miami, and others saw visitor numbers fall by 50% or more.
* Business Hubs: New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas registered significant declines.

Long-Term Impact

Unlike the pandemic recovery, this decline is driven by policy choices and political friction. Persistent tensions suggest a difficult rebound for U.S. tourism and cross-border business.

05/13/2026

The article, based on research from the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, highlights a significant and widespread decline in Canadian travel to the United States between April 2024 and March 2026.

While traditional border-crossing data has shown some decline, this study used cellphone activity to reveal a much deeper trend: a median decline of 42% in Canadian visits to major U.S. metropolitan areas.

The Three Cities Bucking the Trend
Out of 267 U.S. cities examined, only three saw an actual increase in travel from Canada during this period:
Portland, Oregon
Gainesville, Florida
Cleveland, Ohio

Key Findings & Reasons for the Drop
Widespread Declines: 50 major U.S. metropolitan areas saw travel decreases of 50% or more.

Hardest Hit Locations: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, saw the steepest drop at 65.4%. Other heavily impacted cities include Florida vacation hubs (Orlando, Miami, Panama City, Cape Coral) and border/trade-heavy cities like Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Trade and Politics: Researchers link the decline to "Mapping Tariffs"—a project tracking the fallout of U.S. trade policies, annexation threats, and political tensions. The data suggests that it isn't just "snowbird" or tourist travel being lost, but also essential trade-related business travel (e.g., the auto industry in Michigan).

Behavioral Shifts: Canadians are not only visiting the U.S. less frequently but are also visiting fewer locations and staying for shorter durations when they do cross the border. Some travelers are reportedly opting for alternative international destinations like Portugal, Mexico, or Cuba as a form of "pocketbook protest."

The study indicates that the economic and political climate has created a significant "chilling effect" on the cross-border mobility that has historically underpinned the Canada-U.S. relationship.

05/12/2026

FYI

Dunkin' is revitalizing their presence in Canada after shuttering all locations in 2018, and retail expert Bruce Winder says other coffee chains should be co...