New Data Aides Financial Planning, Fundraising, Marketing and Merchandising

Toronto, August 25, 2015 – Environics Analytics (EA), the marketing services and data analytics company, today announced the release of WealthScapes 2015, the most comprehensive database available on the assets, liabilities and wealth of Canadians. The latest edition has been expanded this year to include 178 key financial and investment statistics, including new categories of data such as employer pension plans, tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) and registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) contributions.

Now in its eighth year, WealthScapes has proven to be a valuable tool for helping financial institutions, charitable organizations and large retailers better understand the financial and investment behaviour of their customers. Banks and investment companies use the database to market and calculate market share and potential sales for specific products like mortgages, mutual funds and GICs. Universities and charities use it to identify high-value donors from fundraising lists and areas that may be home to prospects with sizable investment portfolios. Retailers and real estate developers draw on WealthScapes data to plan commercial and residential developments and attract retail tenants.

As with previous releases, WealthScapes was built using sophisticated modelling techniques and aggregated, privacy-compliant, small-area data from a variety of authoritative sources, such as the Bank of Canada, Equifax and Statistics Canada. Applicable to every six-digit postal code in the country, the variables used in WealthScapes have been created to match the best available control totals in Canada so that they will be accepted by Chief Economists.

This year, EA added more than 50 variables to WealthScapes 2015, and users now have access to previously unavailable data on TFSAs, private pension values and RRSP contributions. The new data enhance such standard variables as income and income distributions, disposable and discretionary income, savings by type, investments by type, RSP components, mortgages, loans, lines of credit and credit card accounts. The expanded dataset provides users with more details into the financial health of Canadian households to help them develop differentiated marketing strategies, targeted products and effective messages that address customers’ changing needs.

“The new numbers indicate that Canadian household balance sheets are in good shape,” says Peter Miron, senior research associate at EA and lead developer of WealthScapes 2015. The database shows that net worth rose 6.1 percent during 2014 while debt remained in check, increasing only 2.9 percent; at the same time, real estate values grew 5.0 percent, indicating a solid but not overheated market. “These data are relied on by the financial sector and are becoming increasingly valuable to marketers and analysts in all industries,” adds Miron.

###

Highlights of findings from WealthScapes 2015 are available from Julia Vasilev, marketing manager of Environics Analytics, at 416.969.2733 or julia.vasilev@environicsanalytics.ca.

About the Methodology
WealthScapes 2015 was built using authoritative data and sophisticated modelling techniques. Updated to December 2014, the latest version features a database of key financial and investment statistics including income and income distribution, disposable and discretionary income, savings by type, investments by type, RSP components, pensions, consumer debt, mortgages, loans, lines of credit and credit card accounts. Along with methodological and data improvements to current and historical datasets, WealthScapes is updated to produce the best possible estimates and temporal comparisons. The data can be used on its own for marketing applications or aggregated to develop precise estimates for such applications as analyzing bank and retail trade areas.

About Environics Analytics 
The premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada, Environics Analytics helps customers turn data and analytics into insight, strategy and engagement. EA offers the full range of analytical services—from data supplier to strategic consultancy—and provides over-the-counter reports, purpose-built software-as-a-service and a wide variety of modelling approaches. Its team of quantitative marketers, modellers and geographers are expert at helping organizations identify their business challenges, develop data-driven solutions and achieve success along every phase of their analytics journey. EA is a member of the Environics group, a unique alliance of companies dedicated to providing intelligent research, analytics and communications. To learn more, visit  environicsanalytics.ca.