SENIC

Behind the Presentation: Capturing the $1T Gen Z Wealth TransferThe gap between traditional banking and the next generation of investors isn't a product problem it’s a distribution channel problem. At the ## [CASE] HACKS 2026 pitch competition, our team targeted a major blind spot for traditional financial institutions: Why are 3 million young Canadians investing somewhere else? 📉 The Cold Hard Numbers* 82% of young Canadians (ages 18–24) get their investment information directly from social media feeds.

3M+ customers are already using digital-first platforms like Wealthsimple.
$1T in intergenerational wealth is actively transferring to this generation right now. Our proposed solution is the Scotia Creator Network: a compliant, scalable growth engine built specifically to help Scotiabank engage the next generation of investors by showing up where they already are. ## InspirationTraditional financial institutions are facing a massive modern distribution challenge: while over $1 trillion in wealth is transitioning to younger generations , traditional banks are losing the investment conversation entirely. Competitors have successfully capitalized on this shift, accumulating millions of users primarily by building an extensive distribution engine of over 500 affiliate creators. Meanwhile, traditional bank channels maintain a near-zero presence on high-growth platforms like TikTok. We were inspired to build SENIC (Scotia Creator Network & Integrated Compliance) to bridge this channel gap. We realized that Scotiabank doesn't have a product problem it has a distribution problem. The bank already possesses immense regulatory trust, licensed advisors, and CDIC protection. SENIC was conceived to safely, legally, and scalably plug Scotiabank's superior product catalog into the creator economy workflows that younger demographics already trust.
## What it does SENIC is an end-to-end influencer affiliate and compliance management platform that automates, tracks, and protects regulated financial marketing campaigns. The platform splits into two primary experiences: ### 1. The Creator & Compliance PortalScotia Fact Portal: A centralized, searchable database of compliance-reviewed, plain-language financial concepts. It gives creators clear guardrails by explicitly outlining what they can and cannot say, ensuring they post verified facts rather than forced corporate scripts. Automated Disclosure Generator: A localized compliance helper where creators input their target platform (TikTok, YouTube, or Podcast) and receive instant, CRTC-compliant sponsorship disclosure language with a single click. Performance Dashboard: Offers unique referral tracking links, real-time click and conversion metrics, and transparent cost-per-acquisition (CPA) earnings tracking.
### 2. The In-App Acquisition & Social LayerGoal-Based Funnel: When a consumer clicks a creator's link, they land on a streamlined, single-question onboarding page (What are you saving for?) that completes account opening and first funding in under 3 minutes. Milestone Share Cards: Dynamically generates high-utility, shareable graphic assets upon hitting investment milestones, instantly turning everyday users into an organic loop of micro-influencers. ## System Workflows[Campaign Launch Flow] Corporate Compliance ──> Populates Fact Portal ──> Issues Campaign Briefs to Tier 1 & 2 Creators

[Creator Content Workflow] Creator Studio ──> Pulls Facts from Portal ──> Generates CRTC Disclosures ──> Publishes with Tracking Link

[User Acquisition & Social Loop] Social Feed ──> Creator Link Click ──> 3-Min Goal Onboarding ──> Account Funded ──> Share Milestone Card ──> (Loop Resets)

The Acquisition Pipeline (Step-by-Step)Content Delivery: Creator posts Scotiabank-approved financial education on TikTok/YouTube/Instagram alongside a unique affiliate link. Contextual Landing: Viewer clicks the link and is greeted by a dead-simple Scotia Smart Investor page minimizing cognitive load. Automated Account Routing: User responds to the saving goal metric, and the platform automatically handles regulatory backend plumbing to open a TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA. Viral Loop Injection: App creates a localized milestone share card, updating user rewards state and prompting peer-to-peer distribution.

How we built it

We focused heavily on modern development workflows, automation tools, and agile continuous integration to build a highly scalable web application within intense hackathon constraints.

The Development Stack & ToolsClaude Code & AI Assistance:

We leveraged claude-code via our terminal architectures to rapidly iterate on our codebase, generate boilerplate routing, refactor backend logic, and manage complex system contexts efficiently.Backend Architecture: Built a fast, secure API layer using Python to handle real-time referral tracking, click logging, and mock compliance audits.Frontend Interface: Developed a fully responsive dashboard in React, adhering strictly to clean UI architectures to display the creator metrics and mock up the high-conversion, goal-based onboarding screens.### Technical Workflows & AutomationRubyputs "Configuring CI/CD Automated Pipelines..." puts "Initializing Local Dev Environments via Claude Code..." Version Control & CI/CD: We configured strict GitHub Actions workflows to automate code linting, run unit tests on conversion tracking algorithms, and deploy preview environments on every push.Prompt-Driven Iteration: By integrating LLM tools directly into our local development workflows, we accelerated our database schema design and built the search indexing mechanism for the Scotia Fact Portal in a fraction of the expected time.

Challenges we ran intoRegulatory Complexity & Guardrails:

Dealing with financial services means navigating strict legal frameworks. We had to carefully architect our system around recent OSFI digital marketing guidance. Designing an interface that differentiates personal financial education from regulated financial advice required meticulous data filtering and strict contract parameters. Dynamic Content Compliance: Tracking thousands of unstructured social media videos is a massive challenge. We struggled to find a way to let creators stay authentic without micro-managing them. We resolved this by building a programmatic "Truth vs. Script" validation pipeline, mapping creator requirements directly into enforceable contract clauses. Minimizing Onboarding Friction: Traditional bank sign-up flows are notorious for high bounce rates. Optimizing data payloads to handle automated routing into TFSAs, RRSPs, or FHSAs while ensuring the entire process takes under 3 minutes required aggressive optimization of state management and form workflows. ## Accomplishments that we're proud ofAgile Engineering Execution: Successfully utilizing AI terminal workflows to move from zero code to a fully interactive, multi-tiered frontend and tracking backend within the event timeline.The "Facts, Not Scripts" Engine: Creating a viable compliance platform that solves a real-world enterprise bottleneck, proving that banks can safely protect their regulatory trust while granting complete creative freedom to modern creators. Robust Financial Modeling: Constructing a complete, bottom-up growth model tracking tiered creator reach (targeting ~8M Canadians), detailed conversion drop-offs, organic peer multipliers, and long-term customer value payback periods.

What we learnedDistribution Dictates Success:

A technically superior or highly trusted product means nothing if it isn't visible in the target audience's digital feed at the exact moment they experience financial curiosity. AI Workflows are a Force Multiplier: Using specialized terminal utilities fundamentally shifts hackathon engineering. It allowed our team to spend less time debugging syntax errors and significantly more time refining our business logic, data models, and system flows.Regulatory Environments Can Drive Innovation: Compliance frameworks don't always have to be a roadblock. By deeply analyzing OSFI guidelines, we learned how to turn legal constraints into a competitive technological moat.

What's next for SENICLive OSFI Audio-Video Auditing:

Integrating multimodal AI agents to automatically ingest, transcribe, and review creator-uploaded videos against the Scotia Fact Portal database to flag potential rate misrepresentations or compliance risks instantly.Solana-Backed Micro-Incentives: Exploring decentralized rails to distribute instantaneous, low-cost peer-to-peer referral bonuses directly to users when their milestone share cards convert friends.Real Transaction-Data Personalization: Connecting the platform securely to Scotiabank’s core data layer to enable personalized, automated in-app notifications nudging users toward specific investing goals based on real-time spending habits.