Royal Bank of Canada’s recent acquisition of mortgage fintech Pinch Financial could significantly expand the reach of the Toronto company’s AI-powered borrower verification platform, while still keeping it available to lenders and brokers outside the bank.
Pinch’s technology helps lenders verify borrower information and determine mortgage eligibility in minutes, reducing a process that traditionally takes days.
Founded in Toronto in 2017, Pinch Financial quickly made a name for itself by taking those verification processes down from days to just 10 minutes. Pinch was then acquired by M3 Group in 2021.
“Management — and a group of private investors — completed a full buyback of the business in 2024,” explains Pinch Financial founder and CEO Andrew Wells. “M3 was not a party to the transaction announced yesterday.”
After the buy-back, Pinch Financial integrated its services into Realtor.ca last year, allowing borrowers to click on a listing, get a customized mortgage quote and apply for pre-approval within minutes.
Last year, the company also inked a deal with Dominion Lending Centres, making the service available to DLC borrowers. “Pinch continues to have a great working relationship with both the M3 Group and DLC,” says Wells.
How the deal could accelerate Pinch’s growth
Despite the company’s recent successes, Wells says he was looking for a partner that could supercharge its growth. The terms of the deal with RBC have not been disclosed publicly.
“We’ve been focused on building the best platform we can, but reaching more Canadians takes resources — marketing, infrastructure, distribution,” he says. “This acquisition gives us access to those resources while we continue to operate independently.”
The acquisition gives Pinch Financial access to RBC’s 17 million clients while allowing the company to continue serving non-RBC partners as a standalone platform.
“They understand what we’ve built, and they’re committed to letting us continue running the business as we have been,” Wells says. “It’s a good fit because we’re aligned on where we’re going, and they have the resources to help us get there faster.”
Wells adds that RBC has implemented legally mandated confidentiality measures to segregate the handling of non-RBC client data from its own. For the time being, non-RBC Pinch users should expect no changes to the service.
“Pinch’s technology capabilities and extensive partner network will continue to deliver meaningful value to its partners,” Wells says. “We’re not changing what we’ve built or our vision for making mortgages faster and simpler. We’re just getting the infrastructure and investment capacity to do it at a much larger scale.”
“This acquisition isn’t about limiting Pinch’s reach, it’s about giving them the resources to expand it while helping us advance our own digital capabilities,” says Janet Boyle, the senior vice president of home equity financing for RBC. “We’re not gatekeeping who they can do business with — Andrew and his team will run the business as they have been, and that includes working with other financial institutions.”
RBC mortgage borrowers, meanwhile, will enjoy a “faster, simpler and more transparent” qualification process thanks to the integration of Pinch’s capabilities, says Boyle.
“This move accelerates our digital roadmap and reinforces our commitment to creating exceptional, personalized experiences for Canadians,” she says. “This is about leveraging new technologies to create better, more personalized experiences — making it easier and faster for Canadians to navigate one of life’s biggest financial decisions.”
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Last modified: March 12, 2026