Financially Stressed Canadians Expect Banks to Provide Guidance but Turn to AI for Advice, JD Power Finds

With slightly more than half (52%) of Canadians considered financially vulnerable or stressed,¹ financial customers are expecting their banks and credit card issuers to provide financial advice and support that can help alleviate short-term financial pressure and guide longer-term financial decisions, according to the JD Power 2026 Canada Financial Health Support and Advice Satisfaction Study,^SM released . The study also finds that Canadians are turning to AI tools for personal financial advice, creating a more competitive environment for financial institutions as a trusted source of guidance.

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According to the study, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Canadians used AI tools during the past year, with two in five (41%) leveraging AI to seek information about their personal finances. Among those who used AI for financial advice, 73% acted on it, a level like the rate at which customers act on advice from their bank. The topics customers are most interested in from their banks include a mix of long-term advice related to investment (32%) and retirement (27%), coupled with short-term financial advice on topics such as fee reduction (29%) and tips to improve one’s financial situation (24%). The highest performing banks and credit card issuers consistently offer a variety of services, tools, and advice experiences while focusing on ensuring their customers recognize this support is available frequently. Security topics such as fraud prevention and identity protection are desirable but ranked lower among customers.

“Getting customers’ attention has become increasingly challenging, and the market for financial advice and support is more competitive than ever,” said Jennifer White, managing director of financial services intelligence at JD Power. “Banks and card issuers are rising to the challenge, and satisfaction with advice is improving, but customers facing financial pressure know the type of guidance they want, and many are turning to AI and acting on the information it provides. The highest-performing organizations consistently offer a range of services, tools and advisory experiences, while ensuring customers are aware of the support available. With Canadians polarized between those who are financially healthy and those who are financially vulnerable, banks and card issuers have an opportunity to differentiate themselves by making advice and supportive services more visible, personal and tailored to each customer’s needs.”

Following are some key findings of the 2026 study:

• Personal touch still matters: While customers are turning to AI and digital tools for financial advice, traditional channels remain highly relevant. Marketing communications remain the preferred way for bank customers to receive advice and guidance (51%), followed closely by direct representative channels including branch, specialty and contact centre representatives (47%), which continue to outpace digital channels (31%). Branch representatives (25%) and specialty representatives (22%) are preferred rather than telephone representatives (11%), highlighting the continued importance of accessible personal guidance.
• Barriers to engagement: Three in five customers (61%) face engagement barriers for financial support from their bank or credit card issuer. The top three barriers bank customers cite are lack of awareness that support is available, low confidence in their own financial literacy and already having a trusted source of financial information. Credit card customers also ranked lack of awareness as the top barrier, along with having a trusted source for financial information followed by the support offered is too generic or not personalized. The results indicate a need for financial institutions to make the availability of financial supportive services more prominent, make it easier to use, and always personalized.
• High awareness, low adoption rates: Across the board, Canadian banks demonstrate year-over-year improvement in the frequency and variety of advice they offer and awareness of supportive services is as high as 4 in 5 customers which positively impacts customer satisfaction. Although today’s struggling bank customer tell JD Power they want support and awareness of services is high, only 15% are using tools to help them manage their spending and only 12% of customers are utilizing money management or financial health education services. Credit cardholders use tools for credit score monitoring the most, however, the rate of usage is still only 1 in 5.

Index Ranking

RBC ranks highest in customer satisfaction with retail banking advice for a sixth consecutive year, with a score of 589 (on a 1,000-point scale). CIBC (587) ranks second and Scotiabank (585) ranks third.

RBC also ranks highest in customer satisfaction with banking health support with a score of 560. TD (553) ranks second and CIBC (551) ranks third.

CIBC ranks highest in customer satisfaction with credit card health support with a score of 560. Desjardins (558) ranks second and TD (555) ranks third.

The Canada Financial Health Support and Advice Study measures customer satisfaction with banking and credit card health support and retail banking advice. The 2026 study banking and credit card support segments are based on responses from 5,833 and 5,593 customers, respectively, who have a primary banking or credit card relationship with a qualifying bank or issuer. Among the banking customers, 2,845 received advice or guidance in the past 12 months and are included in the retail banking advice segment.

Banking health support satisfaction is evaluated in the following core dimensions (in order of importance): communicates financial health information; offers a variety of products and services; helps make better financial decisions; and helps meet savings goals. Credit card health support satisfaction is evaluated in the following core dimensions (in order of importance): helps meet credit/borrowing needs; helps improve credit score; helps make better financial decisions; and helps manage spending. Customer satisfaction with retail banking advice is based on performance in five core dimensions (in order of importance): clarity; concern for needs; relevancy; quality; and frequency. The study was fielded from January 2026 through March 2026.