Your corporation has money invested. It's working for you — compounding, growing, doing exactly what long-term money should do. But when the right opportunity appears — a market dip worth buying into, a position you want to add to, a deal that won't wait — you want capital to act on it without breaking what you've already built.
Or in more dire scenarios, you want to cover the expenses you didn't plan for. A quarterly tax instalment. A $90,000 dental scanner. A temporary gap in cash flow that needs covering this week, not next quarter.
The old options aren't great. Sell your investments and you interrupt the compounding, trigger a taxable event, and give up your position at whatever the market happens to be doing that day. Or go to a bank, book a meeting, sign a personal guarantee, and wait.
There's a third way. The Portfolio Line of Credit for business lets your corporation borrow against its own investment account — without selling a thing. Because it's backed by your portfolio, it has a built-in buffer that is more conservative than a standard margin account, with extra buying power that increases as your investments grow.
How a portfolio line of credit works
A portfolio line of credit lets you borrow money using your investments as collateral. Your holdings stay put and stay invested; the line of credit sits alongside them. You draw what you need, pay interest only on that amount, and pay it back on your own schedule.
Think of it as unlocking the value of what you already own without letting go of it. Your investments keep doing their job. You get cash when you need it.
Typically, secured lending offers lower interest rates, than say a credit card or an unsecured loan, since you’re putting something up as collateral (like your house). Because our portfolio line of credit is backed by your corporate investment portfolio, we can offer interest rates as low as 3.95%, better than most banks*.
What this means for you
Say your corporation holds $200,000 in a managed corporate account, and a $40,000 tax instalment is due.
Instead of selling $40,000 of investments — locking in gains, creating a taxable event, and pulling money out of the market — you draw $40,000 from your portfolio line of credit. Your $200,000 stays invested. You pay interest only on the $40,000 you borrowed, and only for as long as you borrow it. When cash frees up, you pay it back in full and the interest stops accruing.
A few situations where this tends to matter:
New investment opportunities that you want to jump on, but may not have the liquid capital to do so.
Large tax instalments you'd rather not fund by liquidating long-term holdings.
Equipment purchases like that new imaging system, the server upgrade, or even just a really nice laptop.
Short-term operating needs where selling investments would be an expensive way to cover a temporary gap.
What makes it different
Rates as low as 3.95%. Which is competitive to most banks*.
A limit that scales with your investments. Which means you could have more room to borrow as your portfolio grows.
Only pay for what you use. No minimum borrow amount and no monthly account fees. If you don't use it, it costs nothing.
Setup in under five minutes. No paperwork, no branch visits.
Borrow and repay instantly. Withdraw what you need (up to your limit) and pay it back with no delays.
No personal guarantee required. The portfolio line of credit is attached to your business and collateralized by its investments — not by you personally.
Which accounts can be used as collateral
Six corporate investment account types are eligible to back a Portfolio Line of Credit for business:
Self-directed corporate
Automated self-directed corporate
Managed corporate
Managed portfolio corporate
Direct index corporate
Managed holding corporate
A few account types can't be used as collateral: business chequing, self-directed corporate margin accounts (already a margin product), and private equity or private credit corporate accounts.
The Portfolio Line of Credit is available to incorporated businesses with at least one funded, eligible corporate investment account. Multi-director corporations aren't supported yet.
The trade-offs, honestly
Borrowing against your investments is powerful, but it's still borrowing, and it carries real risk you should understand before you start.
Your investments are collateral. If their value falls far enough, you may be required to add funds or repay part of the balance — potentially at a time you'd rather not, and potentially by selling the very holdings you were trying to keep. Markets move, and a line of credit doesn't change that; it can amplify it. Interest accrues on what you borrow for as long as you borrow it, and rates can change.
Used deliberately — for a defined expense with a clear repayment plan — a portfolio line of credit can be a flexible, low-cost tool. Used to paper over a significant structural cash shortfall, it can turn a market downturn into a forced sale. The difference can be as straightforward as planning.
Set it up in the app
You can open a Portfolio Line of Credit for business in a few minutes — right now from the app. No meeting, no forms, no waiting on someone to call you back.
Once completed, you will be prompted to add eligible investment accounts as collateral. For each account you add, you increase your overall borrowing limit - up to 35% of investments and up to 50% of uninvested cash in those accounts.
Your corporation's money is already working. Now it can back you when you need it, too.
Wealthsimple Trade is offered by Wealthsimple Investments Inc. (“WSII”). All investments involve risk. To get more info on our products, investment decisions, fee schedules, user testimonials, promos & more visit here.
*Compared with all margin interest rates available with similar asset requirements from Canadian financial institutions as listed under Schedule I under the Bank Act as of June, 2026. Wealthsimple’s margin interest rate ranges from P-0.5% to P+0.5%, depending on total assets with Wealthsimple.
Wealthsimple’s portfolio line of credit corporate account margin rate is P-0.5% for Generation clients, P+0% for Premium clients, and P+0.5% for Core clients. Prime rate is 4.45% for CAD as of October, 2025. Subject to change. Annualized rate, calculated daily, charged monthly. All investments involve risks. See here for details.
