The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, April 30, edition that smaller Canadian lenders are expanding wealth management and insurance offerings, widening access to credit cards, and getting creative with deposit accounts to navigate economic uncertainty and boost competition, says a new Morningstar DBRS report. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that they've relied more on non-interest income over the past five years to generate revenue. DBRS's Jiani Wu says given the complexity and potential rate changes, a stable fee-based income is crucial. A soft real estate market could slow borrowing and make consumers more selective with mortgage providers, potentially hurting a bank's net interest income. Increasing reliance on other income sources could improve bank resilience. But a significant gap remains between Canada's largest banks and smaller financial institutions. Nearly half of the revenue generated by the Big Six banks comes from non-interest income, compared with about 25 per cent for credit unions and 18 per cent for mid-sized banks, according to the report, which was based on six credit unions and three mid-tier lenders, including Laurentian Bank of Canada, EQB and Fairstone Bank of Canada.