Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c. 46)

Marginal note:Information on contacting Agency

• 456 (1) A bank shall, in accordance with the regulations, at the prescribed time and place and in the prescribed form and manner, provide a person requesting or receiving a product or service from it with prescribed information on how to contact the Agency if the person has a complaint about a deposit account, an arrangement referred to in subsection 452(3), a payment, credit or charge card, the disclosure of or manner of calculating the cost of borrowing in respect of a loan or about any other obligation of the bank under a consumer provision.

• Marginal note:Report

  (2) The Commissioner shall prepare a report, to be included in the report referred to in section 34 of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act, respecting

  • (a) procedures for dealing with complaints established by banks pursuant to paragraph 455(1)(a); and

  • (b) the number and nature of complaints that have been brought to the attention of the Agency by persons who have requested or received a product or service from a bank.

Miscellaneous

Marginal note:Charges for prescribed products or services

457 A bank shall not, directly or indirectly, charge or receive any sum for the provision of any prescribed products or services unless the charge is made by express agreement between it and a customer or by order of a court.

Marginal note:Prepayment protected

• 458 (1) A bank shall not make a loan to a natural person that is repayable in Canada, the terms of which prohibit prepayment of the money advanced or any instalment thereon before its due date.

• Marginal note:Minimum balance

  (2) Except by express agreement between the bank and the borrower, the making in Canada of a loan or advance by a bank to a borrower shall not be subject to a condition that the borrower maintain a minimum credit balance with the bank.

• Marginal note:Non-application of subsection (1)

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a loan

  • (a) that is secured by a mortgage on real property; or

  • (b) that is made for business purposes and the principal amount of which is more than $100,000 or such other amount as may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Government cheques

  (4) A bank shall not make a charge

  • (a) for cashing a cheque or other instrument drawn on the Receiver General or on the Receiver General’s account in the Bank of Canada, in any bank or other deposit-taking Canadian financial institution incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament or in any authorized foreign bank that is not subject to the restrictions and requirements referred to in subsection 524(2), in respect of its business in Canada;

  • (b) for cashing any other instrument issued as authority for the payment of money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund; or

  • (c) in respect of any cheque or other instrument that is

    • (i) drawn in favour of the Receiver General, the Government of Canada or any department thereof or any public officer acting in the capacity of a public officer, and

    • (ii) tendered for deposit to the credit of the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Deposits of Government of Canada

  (5) Nothing in subsection (4) precludes any arrangement between the Government of Canada and a bank concerning

  • (a) compensation for services performed by the bank for the Government of Canada; or

  • (b) interest to be paid on any or all deposits of the Government of Canada with the bank.

Marginal note:Cashing of government cheques

• 458.1 (1) Subject to regulations made under subsection (2), a member bank shall, at any branch in Canada at which it, through a natural person, opens retail deposit accounts and disburses cash to customers, cash a cheque or other instrument for any individual, if

  • (a) the cheque or other instrument is drawn on the Receiver General or on the Receiver General’s account in the Bank of Canada, or in any bank or other deposit-taking Canadian financial institution incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament, or is any other instrument issued as authority for the payment of money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund;

  • (b) the individual makes the request to cash it in person and meets the prescribed conditions; and

  • (c) the amount of the cheque or other instrument is not more than the prescribed amount.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) respecting circumstances in which subsection (1) does not apply;

  • (b) for the purposes of subsection (1), prescribing the maximum amount of a cheque or other instrument; and

  • (c) prescribing conditions to be met by an individual referred to in subsection (1).

  • (d) [Repealed, 2012, c. 5, s. 46]

Marginal note:Regulations respecting the holding of funds

458.2 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the maximum period during which a bank may hold funds in respect of specified classes of cheques or other instruments that are deposited into an account at a branch or prescribed point of service in Canada before permitting the customer in whose name the account is kept to access the funds.

Marginal note:Regulations — activities

458.3 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting any matters involving a bank’s dealings, or its employees’, representatives’, agents’ or other intermediaries’ dealings, with customers or the public, including

• (a) what a bank may or may not do in carrying out any of the activities in which it is permitted to engage, or in providing any of the services that it may provide, under section 409 and any ancillary, related or incidental activities or services; and

• (b) the time and place at which and the form and manner in which any of those activities are to be carried out or any of those services are to be provided.

Marginal note:Regulations re customer information

459 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) requiring a bank to establish procedures regarding the collection, retention, use and disclosure of any information about its customers or any class of customers;

• (b) requiring a bank to establish procedures for dealing with complaints made by a customer about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information about the customer;

• (c) respecting the disclosure by a bank of information relating to the procedures referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b);

• (d) requiring a bank to designate the officers and employees of the bank who are responsible for

  • (i) implementing the procedures referred to in paragraph (b), and

  • (ii) receiving and dealing with complaints made by a customer of the bank about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information about the customer;

• (e) requiring a bank to report information relating to

  • (i) complaints made by customers of the bank about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information, and

  • (ii) the actions taken by the bank to deal with the complaints; and

• (f) defining information, collection and retention for the purposes of paragraphs (a) to (e) and the regulations made under those paragraphs.