Canada Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Intelligence Report 2026-2030: $26.26 Billion Market Intensifies as Bank-Led Digital Propositions and Embedded Infrastructure Entrants Expand Competition

Dublin, Feb. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Canada Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook – Q1 2026 Update” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The Canada prepaid card and digital wallet market is expected to grow by 6.7% on annual basis to reach US$26.26 billion in 2026. The prepaid card and digital wallet market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 11.1%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% during 2026-2030. By the end of 2030, the prepaid card and digital wallet market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of USD 24.63 billion to approximately USD 32.61 billion.

Canada’s prepaid-card category is being pulled in two directions at once. Reloadable prepaid used as a day-to-day spend rail within digital-first accounts, and programmatic prepaid used by businesses and platforms for controlled spend and disbursements. That combination is expanding the definition of “prepaid” beyond retail gift cards to include account-linked spending and embedded finance.

Over the next 2-4 years, the category’s operating model will be shaped less by plastic distribution and more by digital funding and wallet provisioning, issuer and program manager capacity, and regulatory supervision of entities that hold end-user funds. Payments Canada’s recent research provides context: Canadians continue to rely heavily on electronic payments across channels, keeping card rails central to commerce.

Competitive Landscape of the Canadian Prepaid Card Market

• Competition is increasingly “stack-based”: issuers/sponsors, processors/program managers, and distribution partners each determine time-to-market and unit economics. The Bank of Canada’s PSP registry rollout (effective from September 2025 publishing) creates a cleaner environment for those operating in payments value chains, which matters for partner selection and risk management.
• At the product layer, consumer propositions are blending reloadable prepaid into digital accounts (e.g., EQ Bank’s prepaid reloadable Mastercard positioning). That shifts competitive intensity away from retail shelf placement and toward app onboarding, funding convenience, and dispute/service handling.

Key players and new entrants

• On the consumer side, EQ Bank is a visible example of a bank-led digital proposition using prepaid rails for everyday spending. This creates competitive pressure on other providers to match product usability (account linkage, controls, transparent fees) rather than competing only on card availability.
• On the embedded/program side, Zum Rails is a recent entrant expanding prepaid as an infrastructure-led offer for Canadian businesses, with Mastercard network support. This increases competition for program launches, as platforms can offer card programs as configurable modules rather than as bespoke bank projects.

Accelerate prepaid as a daily-use “spend” product (not only a retail shelf item)

• Reloadable prepaid cards are increasingly marketed and used as spend tools (for everyday purchases and ATM access) rather than single-purpose cards. EQ Bank explicitly positions the EQ Bank Card as a prepaid reloadable Mastercard, packaged with a digital account experience rather than a retail card rack.
• The underlying pull is continued consumer preference for digital payments in both in-store and online contexts, which makes “card acceptance everywhere” a practical requirement even when the product proposition is account-led. Bank of Canada’s 2024 Methods-of-Payment work (published 2025) reinforces that cash remains present but electronic payments continue to dominate purchase value, sustaining demand for widely accepted card rails.
• Expect more “account and prepaid card” propositions (especially from digital-first brands) with competition moving to onboarding friction, funding speed, and controls (limits, notifications, sub-accounts). This trend is likely to intensify because prepaid issuance can support mainstream acceptance while allowing product teams to design budgeting and spending constraints more tightly than credit cards do.

Expand prepaid issuance through embedded finance for B2B disbursements and controlled spend

• Canadian platforms are launching branded prepaid programs for business payments, expense use cases, payouts, and rewards, where the prepaid card serves as a programmable disbursement endpoint. Zum Rails’ 2025 launch of Mastercard-powered prepaid card programs in Canada is positioned directly around business payment workflows and near-real-time money movement.
• Companies want faster disbursements and tighter spend governance without rebuilding end-to-end payment infrastructure; prepaid programs provide a distribution-ready instrument that works across merchants. This aligns with wider embedded-finance adoption in Canada, where platforms prefer standard issuance stacks (an issuer network program manager and an API layer) rather than building bank-like rails.
• The number of prepaid programs is likely to rise, but not all will scale unless stronger risk filtering is applied based on performance, servicing costs, and issuer appetite. Competitive pressure will concentrate on compliance readiness, fraud controls, and economics (fees/interchange split), so the market should intensify at the infrastructure layer even if brand-level offerings proliferate.

Raise operating standards as RPAA supervision moves from “policy build” into enforcement reality

• Entities that function like PSPs, often adjacent to prepaid programs because they may hold customer funds, are now operating in a clearer supervision regime. The Bank of Canada announced it would begin publishing a PSP registry starting September 8, 2025, and it maintains a registry and applicant list for RPAA coverage.
• The policy objective is to reduce operational and insolvency risks in retail payments and to improve accountability for fund handling and risk management. For prepaid ecosystems, this matters because many modern “prepaid and app” propositions rely on partners that hold or move funds, not only on a bank’s internal ledger.
• Compliance and reporting burden will remain a structural factor in program viability; smaller operators may need to partner with larger issuing stacks or exit certain use cases. This will likely intensify, with more consolidation/standardization at the program manager and sponsor bank levels.

Tighten consumer disclosure expectations for prepaid products (fee/feature clarity)

• Consumer-facing disclosure for prepaid is being operationalized through clearer templates and expectations for how features, fees, and limitations are presented. FCAC updated its examples of prepaid payment products information boxes in October 2025, reinforcing standardized disclosure requirements for federally regulated institutions.
• As prepaid propositions expand beyond gift into everyday spending, consumer harm can come from confusion about fees, expiry, access to funds, and limitations. Standardized disclosure reduces ambiguity and supports comparability across providers in a market where product bundles (account and card + app) can obscure cost drivers.
• Providers with complex fee schedules or inconsistent disclosures will face higher complaint and supervisory risk, pushing the market toward simpler pricing and clearer product framing. This should remain persistent, especially as more prepaid programs move into digital distribution, where disclosures must work on mobile UX.

Key Attributes:

Overview of Prepaid Cards and Digital Wallet Market

Prepaid Card Market Analysis

• Metrics Assessed: The study examines the prepaid card market through various lenses, including transaction value, transaction volume, average transaction value, load value, and the total number of cards in circulation.
• Card Types: A distinction is made between open-loop and closed-loop prepaid cards, providing insights into their respective market shares and growth trajectories.
• Usage Categories: The report segments the prepaid card market into various categories such as general-purpose cards, business and administrative expense cards, travel forex cards, and meal cards.
• Business Segmentation: Further segmentation is provided based on business size and type, including small-scale businesses, mid-tier businesses, enterprise-level businesses, government entities, and retail consumers.
• Sector-Specific Applications: The analysis extends to specific sectors utilizing prepaid cards, including transit and toll payments, healthcare and wellness services, social security and other government benefit programs, fuel purchases, utilities, and more.

Digital Wallet Market Insights

• Key Segments: The digital wallet market is dissected across five primary spending categories: retail shopping, travel, entertainment and gaming, dining establishments, and recharge and bill payments.
• Performance Metrics: For each segment, the report evaluates transaction value, transaction volume, and average transaction value, offering a granular view of consumer spending behaviors.
• Retail Spend Breakdown: An in-depth analysis is provided for retail spending via digital wallets, covering categories such as food and grocery, health and beauty products, apparel and footwear, books, music and video, consumer electronics, pharmacy and wellness, gas stations, restaurants and bars, toys, kids and baby products, services, and other miscellaneous categories.

Virtual Prepaid Card Market Segmentation

• Categories Analyzed: The virtual prepaid card market is segmented into key categories, including general-purpose cards, gift cards, entertainment and gaming cards, teen and campus cards, business and administrative expense cards, payroll cards, meal cards, travel forex cards, transit and toll cards, social security and other government benefit program cards, fuel cards, utilities, and other miscellaneous categories.
• Performance Evaluation: For each category, the report assesses transaction value, providing insights into the adoption and usage patterns of virtual prepaid cards across different consumer segments.

Consumer Usage Trends

• Age Groups: Identifying usage patterns across different age demographics.
• Income Levels: Analyzing how income brackets influence prepaid card adoption and usage.
• Gender: Examining differences in usage trends between genders.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/zex20z

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• Canadian Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market