In the recent federal budget, Ottawa laid out, in its most unequivocal terms to date, the core pillars that will guide its approach to a “made in Canada” consumer-driven banking (a.k.a. “open banking”) framework. Draft legislation is expected to arrive later this spring and this fall.

Despite this step forward, industry watchers – particularly fintech companies yearning for the myriad opportunities to innovate and collaborate that open banking will afford – say Canada has been dragging its feet on the framework, and now risks falling behind other G7 nations in the next fintech space race.

Following the budget announcement, Parna Sabet-Stephenson, partner and leader of Gowling WLG’s FSxT Group, was invited by CBC and Radio-Canada to discuss Canada's six-year journey toward open banking and speak to the risks of current financial data sharing methods, namely “screen scraping.”

“[D]efinitely a game changer,” Parna said of Ottawa’s recent moves to enact open banking legislation and allow financial institutions to access customer data from competitors. 

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