Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
| Agence de la consommation en matière financière du Canada | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2001 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Canada |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Ontario |
| Employees | 75 |
| Annual budget | $13M (CAD) |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | www |
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is an independent agency of the Government of Canada that enforces consumer protection legislation, regulations and industry commitments by federally regulated financial entities. It also provides programs and information to help consumers understand their rights and responsibilities when dealing with financial institutions and promotes financial literacy.
FCAC has a dual mandate, set out in the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act. Broadly, these two main elements are:
Under its compliance mandate, FCAC is responsible for:
Under financial literacy, FCAC is responsible for:
FCAC monitors and supervises financial institutions and external complaints bodies that are regulated under federal legislation. These entities include all banks and federally incorporated or registered insurance, trust and loan companies, retail associations, federal credit unions and external complaints bodies. FCAC also supervises payment card network operators to determine whether they are in compliance with the provisions of the Payment Card Networks Act.
FCAC does not regulate foreign bank representative offices, fraternal benefit societies or cooperative credit associations.
A complete list of federally regulated financial institutions is available from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
As a regulatory agency, FCAC can exercise its enforcement powers to ensure that federally regulated financial entities comply with the consumer provisions of the various federal acts relating to financial services, including:
In cases of contravention or non-compliance with legislation, FCAC notifies the federally regulated financial entity of a violation. Depending on the severity and frequency of the problem, the Agency may also:
The Agency was established in 2001 by the federal government to strengthen oversight of consumer issues and expand consumer education in the financial sector.
FCAC’s creation was one in a series of initiatives resulting from an extensive period of study and public consultation on financial sector reform.
In December 1996, the Government of Canada launched the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector, one of several initiatives following extensive debate and consultation on reform of the financial sector.
In September 1998, the Task Force presented the federal government with its report, Change, Challenge, Opportunity (known as the MacKay Report). One of the Task Force’s findings was that “the current framework for consumer protection is not as effective as it should be in reducing the information and power imbalance between institutions and consumers.” Two parliamentary committees reviewed the Task Force Report, held public consultations across the country and presented their own recommendations.
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