Department of Finance Canada said proposed regulatory measures on consumer-targeted fraud and consumer-driven banking were published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on June 26 for public comment before final rules are issued.
The fraud-related regulations are open for a 30-day comment period. They are intended to operationalize federal banking-law amendments made through Bill C-15, which require banks to maintain policies and procedures to detect, prevent, and mitigate consumer-targeted fraud.
Under the proposal, banks would need to obtain express consumer consent before enabling prescribed electronic funds-transfer capabilities, including wire transfers. The rules would also address which capabilities consumers can disable, how quickly banks must process requests to change transaction limits, and what fraud-related information banks must collect and report to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
Finance Canada also opened a 60-day comment period on proposed Consumer-Driven Banking Regulations. Those rules are part of the framework intended to let Canadians and businesses securely share financial data with approved service providers, replacing screen scraping with API-based data sharing.
The consumer-driven banking proposal covers data scope, accreditation, national security, duties of participating entities, liability, assessment fees, technical standards, evidentiary privilege, and violations. Finance Canada said the rules would come into force in stages, beginning with accreditation, followed by common rules and assessment fees within one year of final publication.
The Bank of Canada would supervise participating entities, accredited third-party service providers, the technical standards body, and the external complaints body under the consumer-driven banking framework. It would also maintain a public registry of participating entities and accredited third-party providers.
Taken together, the proposals would move two related policy tracks forward: stronger controls around consumer-targeted fraud and a regulated framework for sharing financial data. The practical effect would be felt by banks, fintech firms, consumers, and businesses as compliance obligations and data-access rules become more formal.