Thanks, Romit.
Promoting competition and maintaining stability are key goals for a healthy financial sector. In the digital era, this means that smaller innovation-driven companies have a place from which to succeed within the existing financial services ecosystem. It also means that consumers can access all products and services in the marketplace without artificial barriers, gather important data to make informed decisions and be able to control the uses of their personal data.
To these ends, we recommend that budget 2024 allocate funding to the ministry of housing, infrastructure and communities to study and improve Canada's housing and real estate data ecosystem. Measures to ensure real estate data transparency, open access and the promotion of sector innovation and competition are also needed. These will benefit Canadians and spur related digital ecosystems to develop across Canada to empower Canadians at every stage of their housing journey.
Our third recommendation for budget 2024 is to allocate resources and establish a clear plan for the swift implementation of a comprehensive open finance strategy so that Canada catches up with its global counterparts and delivers savings to Canadians. This strategy should ensure that, by the end of 2025, Canadians can access a modernized, cost-efficient, interoperable, secure and principles-based open financial ecosystem, enhancing their financial futures.
The cornerstones of an open finance ecosystem include implementing open banking, real-time payment rails, consumer data rights and portability, and an unbiased technological framework. As Mr. Dodge observed this past June, Canada is seemingly complacent in bringing key elements of its financial system into the digital age, which is perhaps the “result of a lack of political will, regulatory silos and the incumbent interests entrenched in our evolving economy”, which is not very good. He said, “At a time when budgets are stretched for both consumers and small businesses, these costs are difficult to bear and [remain] inequitable.”
As industry partners, we are committed to working with you—all of you—to fulfill the promises made over the past nine years. The time to act is now.
Romit.