ScotiaWrapped

Inspiration

ScotiaWrapped was inspired by the way platforms like Spotify Wrapped turn personal data into something fun, emotional, and shareable. We wanted to bring that same energy into personal finance, especially for Gen Z users who may find investing intimidating, boring, or too far away from their daily lives.

Our idea was simple: people already spend money every day, but they rarely see the long-term opportunity cost of those choices. ScotiaWrapped turns everyday spending into a personalized investing wake-up call. Instead of just telling users to “save more” or “start investing,” it shows them what their avoidable spending could become if invested over time.

What it does

ScotiaWrapped is a companion app connected to Scotiabank’s existing ecosystem. It uses a user’s financial profile and transaction data to create monthly and yearly financial recaps.

When a user joins, they answer questions about their financial goals, investing confidence, risk comfort, monthly savings ability, and how involved they want to be with their money. This helps the app understand the user’s personal context instead of judging every person’s spending the same way.

Throughout the month, ScotiaWrapped quietly tracks Scotiabank transaction data in the background. At the end of the month, the user receives a simple monthly recap showing their avoidable spending, the categories it came from, and what that money could become if invested.

For example, the app uses a future value idea like:

$$ FV = P(1 + r)^t $$

where $P$ is the amount of avoidable spending, $r$ is the annual return, and $t$ is the number of years invested.

At the end of the year, users receive their personalized ScotiaWrapped: a yearly financial recap with a score, ranking, achievements, and shareable stats. This creates a social media loop where users can post their Wrapped, promote the app organically, and encourage others to join.

How we built it

We built ScotiaWrapped as a product prototype focused on the full user journey.

The experience starts with onboarding, where the user creates a financial profile. From there, the app simulates connected Scotiabank transaction data and uses that information to generate a monthly spending recap. The monthly recap combines spending insights with investment potential, showing users how small spending changes could affect their long-term financial future.

We also designed the yearly ScotiaWrapped experience, which turns the user’s financial progress into a personalized, shareable recap. The goal was to make the app feel less like a traditional banking tool and more like a Gen-Z-friendly financial experience.

Challenges we faced

One major challenge was balancing motivation with sensitivity. We wanted to create FOMO around investing, but we did not want the app to feel judgmental or shame users for spending money. To solve this, we focused on framing the insights around “avoidable spending” and “investment potential” rather than blaming the user.

Another challenge was deciding how much information to show. A constant transaction breakdown could make the app feel overwhelming, so we chose to reveal insights through a monthly recap instead. This makes the experience simpler and closer to the excitement of a Wrapped-style reveal.

We also had to think carefully about privacy and trust. Since ScotiaWrapped would use personal banking data, the experience would need to be transparent, permission-based, and clearly connected to the value users receive.

What we learned

We learned that financial products do not have to feel complicated to be powerful. By using simple visuals, personal data, and emotional storytelling, investing can feel more approachable for younger users.

We also learned that the best financial insights are not just informational — they are motivational. ScotiaWrapped works because it connects what users do today with what their future could look like.

What’s next

The next step for ScotiaWrapped would be improving the personalization engine, refining the spending analysis, and creating more polished shareable yearly recap cards. The long-term vision is to make ScotiaWrapped a bridge between everyday banking and investing, helping Scotiabank turn existing clients into confident investors.