Thank you, Senator and good afternoon. My name is Andrew Ross, Senior Vice President Payments & Digital, and I am joined today by the CBA’s Director, Digital, Alana Barnes.

It is a pleasure to appear before this committee to discuss the provisions related to the consumer-driven banking framework introduced in Division 16 of the BIA.

The Canadian Bankers Association is the voice of more than 60 banks operating in Canada, employing more than 280,000 Canadians and helping to drive Canada’s economic growth and prosperity. 

As key contributors to Canada’s competitive and innovative financial services sector, the CBA and its members remain supportive of a consumer-centric approach to harnessing innovative technologies that provide tangible benefits for Canadians. Providing Canadians with the ability to securely access and use their financial data will promote consumer confidence, trust and adoption of consumer-driven banking.

The framework is guided by three core policy objectives: safety and soundness, protecting Canadians’ financial well-being, and fostering economic growth and international competitiveness. We support those objectives and provided a number of recommendations to the government to help guide the successful implementation of the framework. We are encouraged to see general alignment between some of the CBA’s recommendations and the Framework in the BIA 1.

The provisions of the Bill that establish a governance structure which oversees compliance and supervises the Framework will enable the effective governance required for securely sharing financial data.

Another key feature of the Bill is the government’s phased approach. We appreciate the clarity this provides on the initial scope of the Framework by confirming the products and services to be included, the exclusion of derived data, and the requirement for read-only functionality.

We also believe that, based on the principles outlined in the Bill, a timely designation of FDX as the technical standards body is needed. Work has long been underway in Canada and the U.S. with a diverse group of organizations in the financial data ecosystem on the FDX standard, and prompt designation would clarify the requirements needed to expedite implementation and lead to greater participation and interoperability.

As future details of the framework are addressed, it is imperative that Finance Canada ensures regulatory harmonization by leveraging existing regulatory frameworks, where applicable. Doing so will inspire greater consumer trust in the Framework and lead to higher adoption rates as consumers will enjoy a consistent experience. It would also support an economically sustainable framework that encourages participation, innovation and competition for the benefit of all Canadians.

Finally, we recognize a lot of work remains to address other elements of the framework in BIA 2. As strong supporters of a consumer-driven banking, we look forward to collaborating with the government to advance the development of a successful Framework in line with its policy objectives. 

We would like to thank the Committee again for providing the opportunity to appear today and we look forward to your questions.