Thank you, Tanya.
As a financial services company committed to providing Canadians with low-cost solutions, we have long advocated for greater competition and fairness for the financial services sector, expanded consumer transparency and diversified financial literacy efforts.
I've run Questrade for the last 25 years and in this time have witnessed tremendous innovation in the financial services industry. I've also been at the forefront of introducing digital low-cost products and services to Canadians, as well as government-initiated products like the first home savings account, which we were first to launch last year to support Canadians.
Over the years, I've been increasingly aware of avoidable costs and low competition in many corners of the financial services industry. This ultimately impacts Canadians, many of whom find it difficult to understand what they really pay for in their products and services.
Some of you may have seen our commercials and are aware that you can retire up to 50% wealthier by not paying high and historically hidden mutual fund trailer fees. These fees are some of the highest in the world and, for a long time, were not well understood by consumers. Interchange fees in Canada maintain a similar status. They are high and not well understood by many Canadian consumers.
We support the recommendations to increase the overall transparency of direct and indirect hidden fees impacting Canadians' overall financial well-being. Clear language and simplified disclosure of the terms and conditions related to financial services and products should also be prioritized, with current regulatory rules on this subject to be reviewed for improvements leading to enhanced consumer knowledge and accessibility so that Canadians are empowered to make the best decisions for their needs and goals.
We believe it's time to innovate from a regulatory and product perspective to drive more value back to Canadians. Improving competition and creating overall cost reductions for Canadians will take more than improvements to transparency. It's important to recognize that financial services and product providers continue to operate in an environment that perpetuates challenges to cost efficiency and competition, ultimately increasing costs for Canadians.
Regulatory requirements frequently lack harmonization between federal and provincial levels, leading to higher compliance costs. Rules and frameworks are not always tailored to the realities of smaller organizations, resulting in disproportionate financial impacts or discouraging them from competing altogether. Additionally, systemic improvements like RTR are slow to reach the market, delaying cost savings for both consumers and businesses.
The pace of global innovation further challenges this environment, as legislative and policy processes struggle to keep up with the rapid demands of novel solutions. Moreover, new payment and financial services frameworks and systems are being developed today in Canada and risk further entrenchment of these challenges. These new frameworks and systems include modernized payment solutions, real-time rails and consumer-driven banking. In these cases, details, including pricing and certain framework elements, are not yet established, making this opportunity for review critical and timely.
If these considerations are not systematically reviewed, the new frameworks and systems could impede fair and enhanced competition and make it difficult for non-incumbent market participants to offer innovative solutions and lower-cost solutions to Canadians.
As such, we recommend that the committee propose a competition review framework to protect Canadians and industry challengers from being negatively impacted where incumbents and dominant market players have notable control and influence. This could include a regular review of all core framework elements, including technological requirements, standards and design choices, restrictive customer experience requirements, and pricing for participants.
It should also include a review of chosen or dominant ecosystem intermediaries to determine if they are governed and operating in the system as truly independent commercial players or positioned with an unfair advantage to operate more as a public utility, with little or no competition but a clear mandate to enable core financial services for Canadians and industry competitors.
Establishing a review of this nature will help to enhance the competition in Canada's financial services ecosystem, uncover disproportionate and unfair fees charged to industry stakeholders by dominant intermediaries, level the playing field for competitors and, ultimately, work to reduce costs for Canadians.
We believe that a transparent, fair and competitive payments and consumer-driven financial services ecosystem is essential for a healthy Canadian economy and is in the interests of Canadian consumers.
We thank the committee for providing us with this opportunity and look forward to next steps.