Research Series: Financing Main Street

Report #1: SME market share among major banks

Banking is a vital component of operating a business. The financial institution at which an entrepreneur chooses to bank at can have significant impacts on their bottom line and what opportunities are available to their business. For this reason, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has been taking note of where small businesses do their banking since the early 1980s. CFIB regularly provides a unique perspective in this area by examining the share of small businesses using specific financial institutions for their banking needs.

Previous editions focused on business owners’ primary financial institution where they were currently handling their banking and how trends in small business bank market share have shifted over the years. In this iteration of the report, which is the first update since the COVID-19 pandemic, CFIB takes a closer look at the movement between different banks from 2019 and 2022, and how small businesses make use of secondary financial institutions.

This is the first report in CFIB’s banking series with two additional reports to follow. The second report will analyze small business financing trends and the third will cover the level of customer service that businesses receive at their main financial institution.