I'll answer Mr. Julian's question by working backwards. Think about all those millions of small businesses in Canada that millions of Canadians work for and run and put their efforts into every day. Open banking allows them to utilize products that allow them to be more efficient, to utilize their resources better. For example, PayPal's been invented, and people use it every day. E-transfer of funds is used within our banking institutions.
It's basically the development of products, financial innovation, that users can utilize with their traditional banks, but these products have been developed by third-party providers. It's really meant for ease of use in terms of the transfer of data. When I use the word “data”, I don't use it in terms of names, but in terms of financial data. For small and medium-sized businesses, it allows them to be more efficient. It allows them to use their resources better, and it gives them better, more up-to-date information.
In fact, Tom, with regard to your example of mortgages, open banking of financial data would allow, and in some places is allowing.... Say consumers wish to know mortgage rates, how much they can borrow from a financial institution—and we'll exclude the stress test right now. They can have that information at the tip of their hands without even going to the traditional schedule I bank or credit union or another provider or lender. They could have that information in their hands, because there are apps out there that allow them to do that. But they could do it only if the app or the provider is synched in with where their financial data is maintained or contained.
The term really speaks about innovation, Mr. Julian. It's something that is very important for Canadian consumers and people who run small businesses.