Competition in the financial sector took a step forward on Friday with the release of proposed rules for open banking.
The Department of Finance released the proposed regulations for a 60-day comment period, which runs to Aug. 26.
Open banking will give consumers more control over their financial data, allowing them to more easily switch accounts or manage multiple accounts and products from different providers.
Finance’s proposed regulations operationalize the Consumer-Driven Banking Act by further specifying requirements related to such things as data scope, accreditation of service providers and duties of participating entities, a release said.
Publishing the proposed regulations “marks a key step toward implementing the consumer-driven banking framework, which will increase competition in the financial sector, allow Canadians and businesses to securely share their financial data with the approved service providers of their choice, give consumers greater control over their financial data, and better tools to manage their finances,” the release said.
Finance said the proposed regulations will come into force in a staggered approach, beginning with accreditation, followed by requirements related to common rules and assessment fees within one year of final publication.
It also published proposed regulations to combat consumer-targeted fraud, describing them as a first step ahead of the government’s broader work to develop its national anti-fraud strategy.
Those proposed regulations reflect amendments to the Bank Act requiring banks to have policies and procedures to detect and prevent consumer-targeted fraud and to mitigate its impacts. The comment period runs for 30 days, to July 27.