Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act

Marginal note:Establishment

• 3 (1) There is hereby established an agency of the Government of Canada called the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada over which the Minister shall preside and for which the Minister shall be responsible.

• Marginal note:Objects

  (2) The objects of the Agency are to

  • (a) supervise financial institutions and the external complaints body to determine whether they are in compliance with

    • (i) the consumer provisions applicable to them, and

    • (ii) the terms and conditions or undertakings with respect to the protection of customers of financial institutions that the Minister imposes or requires, as the case may be, under an Act listed in Schedule 1 and the directions that the Minister imposes under this Act;

  • (b) strive to protect the rights and interests of consumers of financial products and services and the public, taking into account the need of financial institutions to efficiently manage their business operations;

  • (b.1) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 338]

  • (c) promote the adoption by financial institutions of policies and procedures designed to implement provisions, terms and conditions, undertakings or directions referred to in paragraph (a) — as well as voluntary codes of conduct that are adopted by financial institutions, and any public commitments made by them, that are designed to protect the rights and interests of their customers — and monitor the implementation of those voluntary codes and public commitments;

  • (c.1) promote the adoption by the external complaints body of policies and procedures designed to implement the provisions, terms and conditions, undertakings or directions referred to in paragraph (a);

  • (c.2) monitor and evaluate trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of financial products and services, and make information on those trends and issues public;

  • (d) strengthen the financial literacy of Canadians and promote consumer awareness about the obligations of financial institutions and the external complaints body under the consumer provisions applicable to them and about all matters connected with the protection of consumers of financial products and services; and

  • (e) foster, in co-operation with any department, agency or agent corporation of the Government of Canada or of a province, financial institutions and consumer and other organizations, an understanding of financial services and issues relating to financial services.

  • (f) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 338]

  • (g) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 338]

• Marginal note:Objects — payment card network operators

  (3) The objects of the Agency are also to

  • (a) supervise payment card network operators to determine whether they are in compliance with the provisions of the Payment Card Networks Act and its regulations;

  • (b) promote the adoption by payment card network operators of policies and procedures designed to implement the provisions of the Payment Card Networks Act and its regulations;

  • (c) monitor the implementation of voluntary codes of conduct that have been adopted by payment card network operators and that are publicly available, and to monitor any public commitments made by them regarding their commercial practices in relation to payment card networks; and

  • (d) promote public awareness about the obligations of payment card network operators under a voluntary code of conduct or under the Payment Card Networks Act.

• Marginal note:Objects — consumer-driven banking

  (4) The objects of the Agency in relation to consumer-driven banking are to

  • (a) supervise the participating entities, the external complaints body and the technical standards body to determine whether they are in compliance with

    • (i) the provisions of the Consumer-Driven Banking Act that are applicable to them, and

    • (ii) any terms and conditions or undertakings with respect to consumer-driven banking that the Minister imposes or requires, as the case may be, under an Act listed in Schedule 1 and the directions that the Minister imposes under this Act;

  • (b) monitor and evaluate trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of consumer-driven banking, including the trends and issues in respect of products, services and market developments, and make information on those trends and issues public;

  • (c) foster — in co-operation with any department, agency or agent corporation of the Government of Canada or of a province, financial institutions and consumer and other organizations — participation in consumer-driven banking; and

  • (d) foster an understanding of consumer-driven banking and related issues among consumers.