The Canadian financial services sector had a tale of two halves in 2026. The five major chartered banks—TD, RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, and BMO—all improved their GCBI scores year-over-year and now hold the top five positions in the Financial category, a clean sweep that did not exist in 2025. TD claimed the #1 position for the first time in the GCBI's history, rising from 7th to 1st within the category and from 112th to 79th nationally. CIBC's rise is notable not just for its magnitude but for its character: it now leads the Financial category on Honesty—arguably the most valuable dimension a financial brand can own in a sector whose relationship with consumers is built on trust.
The non-bank segment told the opposite story. Desjardins, National Bank, Laurentian Bank, Sun Life, Intact, and Manulife all declined. Laurentian Bank suffered the most dramatic reversal in the dataset—falling from category leader in 2025 to last place in 2026, losing 2.11 points in a single year. The financial services category as a whole ranked last among all 12 GCBI industries, sitting 1.63 points below the national all-brand average. This is not a story about individual brands failing—it is a structural perception deficit that has persisted across both years of the GCBI.
The category's most commercially consequential finding lies in the generational data. Millennials rate Financial brands lower than any other generation—and the gap widened in 2026. Millennials are the generation currently making the most significant financial decisions of their lives: mortgages, investments, retirement planning. The category is least trusted precisely where it needs trust most. The full GCBI Financial Services Industry Report explores this finding in detail, alongside regional breakdowns, political perception gaps, and the dimension-level profiles of all 11 brands.
The Canadian financial services sector had a tale of two halves in 2026. The five major chartered banks—TD, RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, and BMO—all improved their GCBI scores year-over-year and now hold the top five positions in the Financial category, a clean sweep that did not exist in 2025. TD claimed the #1 position for the first time in the GCBI's history, rising from 7th to 1st within the category and from 112th to 79th nationally. CIBC's rise is notable not just for its magnitude but for its character: it now leads the Financial category on Honesty—arguably the most valuable dimension a financial brand can own in a sector whose relationship with consumers is built on trust.
The non-bank segment told the opposite story. Desjardins, National Bank, Laurentian Bank, Sun Life, Intact, and Manulife all declined. Laurentian Bank suffered the most dramatic reversal in the dataset—falling from category leader in 2025 to last place in 2026, losing 2.11 points in a single year. The financial services category as a whole ranked last among all 12 GCBI industries, sitting 1.63 points below the national all-brand average. This is not a story about individual brands failing—it is a structural perception deficit that has persisted across both years of the GCBI.
The category's most commercially consequential finding lies in the generational data. Millennials rate Financial brands lower than any other generation—and the gap widened in 2026. Millennials are the generation currently making the most significant financial decisions of their lives: mortgages, investments, retirement planning. The category is least trusted precisely where it needs trust most. The full GCBI Financial Services Industry Report explores this finding in detail, alongside regional breakdowns, political perception gaps, and the dimension-level profiles of all 11 brands.
