URGENT: in 3 hours the House of Commons finance committee is meeting to decide how to address accusations of fraud, forgery and shady sales practices against Canada’s big banks because the federal watchdog that’s supposed to keep an eye on the banks (the FCAC) is clearly not doing its job. [1]

It took a CBC investigation blowing the lid off allegations of widespread and systemic signature forgery and shady pressure tactics for the Financial Consumers Agency of Canada (FCAC) to start taking this seriously  — and in the meantime banks were getting away with doing things like signing up customers for services they didn’t want — putting ordinary Canadians hard earned cash at risk.[2]

So why isn’t the FCAC doing its job properly? Part of the reason might be that banking regulators and watchdogs are far too TO cozy with the banks. In fact, the Deputy Commissioner of the FCAC is one of the most lobbied officials in Ottawa by the banking industry— and lobbying by the big banks has almost doubled in the past 18 months.[3-4]

What’s clear is that Canada’s current regulatory system is a mess. Banks aren’t being held accountable and ordinary people are paying the price. We need a stronger, more robust and independent federal watchdog to ensure the banks are complying with the law — and paying the price when they aren’t.

The finance committee is meeting tomorrow to decide what to do. Banking industry reps have lobbied every single member of this committee except one, while bank execs have severely downplayed the seriousness of the allegations against them.[5-6] We need to make sure the committee hears loud and clear that the public wants reform.?

With only 3 hours to go before the committee makes its decision, we have to act fast. Send a message to the finance committee asking them to recommend the government take steps to put in place a new, independent body to protect consumers and hold the big banks accountable.

 

[1] Finance committee hearings, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/banks-finance-committee-hearing-1.4156699
[2] Allegations against Canadians bans spark investigation https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/03/15/allegations-against-canadian-banks-spark-federal-investigation.html
[3-5] Banking industry has lobbied officials, MPs hundreds of times, http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/banks-finance-lobbying-government-1.4155703
[6] Bank executives defend oversight of sales practices in testimony to MPs, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/banks-finance-committee-hearing-1.4156699