We're proud to share that EQ Bank officially launched the EQ Bank Business Card on June 18, 2026. As one of Berkeley's premier partners, EQ Bank is Canada's Challenger Bank™ and seventh-largest bank by assets.
The Business Card is another example of an industry leader using Berkeley's payments infrastructure.
EQ Bank's retail card program, also powered by Berkeley, surpassed $1 billion in transaction volume last year, a milestone that reflects both the scale of EQ's cardholder base and the reliability of the underlying infrastructure.
Why Canadian Businesses Need This
Canadian business owners have long faced a difficult trade-off in business banking.
More than half of Canadian small business owners cite high costs and limited value as their top banking frustrations. When asked about their single biggest pain point, 25% pointed to high or unexpected fees, 15% said they don't see enough value for their money, and 12% cited low interest rates on balances.
Traditional credit cards often require established credit history and carry annual fees. Debit options provide simplicity but no earning potential, with money sitting idle rather than working.
The EQ Bank Business Card is built to close that gap. It is designed to complement existing options by giving entrepreneurs a new way to make the most of their money, allowing them to spend their own funds while being rewarded with consistently high interest and cashback with no caps or category restrictions.
What the Card Offers
The EQ Bank Business Card is a Mastercard designed for Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs. It earns 2.25% interest daily on balances, 1% cashback on monthly spend over $10,000, and carries no annual or monthly fees. The card is digital-first, meaning eligible cardholders can add it directly to Apple Pay or Google Pay at the moment of issuance, with no wait for a physical card.
And unlike traditional business credit cards, there's no credit check required to sign up, removing a common barrier for early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs.
Built on the Mastercard network, the Business Card integrates seamlessly with EQ Bank's high-interest, no-monthly-fee Business Account, providing a clear, real-time view of balances and transactions. It’s a more streamlined way to manage day-to-day spending and support smarter budgeting.
What this Means for Financial Infrastructure
The Canadian business banking market has been underserved for years. The institutions that move to address it will need more than ambition: they'll need infrastructure that can actually keep pace.
For most financial institutions, launching services means confronting the same set of obstacles: aging core systems that weren't built for modern products, compliance requirements that demand specialist expertise, vendor relationships that take years to build, and time-to-market timelines measured in years rather than months.
The result is that good product ideas stall, competitive windows close, and smaller institutions in particular find themselves locked out of segments they could otherwise serve well.
Berkeley was built to remove those obstacles.
We operate a cloud native banking technology platform that empowers organizations to modernize rapidly, grow strategically, and innovate continuously. Banks, corporations, and governments can access card issuance, real-time disbursements, mobile wallet integration, and compliance infrastructure through a single platform - without standing up payments infrastructure from scratch or navigating regulatory and vendor landscapes on their own. We sit inside the regulated payments ecosystem so our clients don't have to rebuild it themselves.
The EQ Bank Business Card is a tangible example of what that looks like in practice. Over $1 billion in transaction volume on the retail card alone. The Business Card was fully configured and went live within a few months, not years.
For organizations looking to compete in payments segments they haven't been able to reach, the barrier is rarely the product idea. It's the infrastructure behind it.
If you're exploring card issuance, payment modernization, or program expansion, we'd love to talk.
See the press release here.
