Due-North

Due North turns unverified online financial advice into fact-checked, personalized conversations backed by real Scotiabank data and one-tap access to live human advisors.

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Inspiration

Young Canadians don't need another generic financial literacy blog—they are already getting daily investing advice from TikTok, Reddit, and the group chat. However, 82% of investors aged 18-24 rely on this unverified social media content for investment choices, while 43% feel completely uncertain about where to begin investing. The real barrier isn't education or capital; it's trusted human judgment at the exact moment of decision. We built Scotia Due North to turn the noisy financial internet into a one-tap, fact-checked conversation backed by real Scotiabank data, bridging the gap between an "anonymous TikTok guy" and a private wealth advisor.

What it does

Scotia Due North is a seamless feature integrated directly inside the existing Scotiabank mobile app built around four core actions:

  • Fact-Checking: Paste financial advice text or upload screenshots from TikTok or Reddit to instantly find out if the claim is true or false.
  • Hyper-Personalization: The AI builds answers using your real Scotiabank account info (income, balances, life stage), avoiding generic responses.
  • Product Routing: It recommends specific Scotiabank products based on your situation and goals.
  • Human Escalation: Chat with an AI advisor anytime, and tap once to connect directly to a licensed Scotia advisor.

How we built it

We engineered a robust full-stack architecture designed to layer smoothly on top of existing banking structures. Our frontend uses Next.js 14 (App Router) and React 18 with TypeScript for absolute type safety, styled cleanly through Tailwind CSS and Lucide React. The intelligence layer is powered by Anthropic Claude (Haiku 4.5), utilizing native vision APIs to process and analyze uploaded user screenshots. The entire system is hosted dynamically via serverless deployment on Vercel.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating a high-functioning LLM into a strictly regulated financial ecosystem requires deep compliance awareness. We carefully structured the application boundaries: the AI handles pure information processing and fact-checking, while personalized advisory functions route cleanly to licensed human experts. This keeps the system completely CIRO-aligned while using existing infrastructure like Scotia Smart Investor.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully designed a highly viable product that fulfills every strict enterprise case requirement within an 18-month implementation horizon. Instead of trying to fight Gen-Z daily behaviors, we successfully built a tool that captures high-intent users the exact second they are scrolling financial content, turning passive engagement into long-term client value.

What we learned

We learned how to leverage a legacy institution's greatest unfair advantage—190 years of trust and human advisors at scale—and blend it with modern generative AI capabilities. We realized that the solution to modern financial anxiety isn't more passive content channels or gamified streaks, but building a reliable human layer on top of a noisy internet.

What's next for Due North

We have mapped out a clear 18-month roadmap to bring the feature to life:

  • Months 1-6: Finalize AI integration and personalization features.
  • Months 7-12: Integrate the real-time licensed advisor chat framework.
  • Months 13-18: Scale, polish, and fully launch to capture the upcoming $1 trillion Canadian wealth transfer over the coming decades.

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