Thank you Mr. Chair.
Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
I have a question about the banks and the credit card companies. That relationship is more complicated than people realize.
There is a belief that the banks are responsible for several of the steps in a credit card transaction, but in fact, it is the credit card company that is responsible.
The Privacy Commissioner shared concerns about the fact that the credit card company servers are located elsewhere, such as in the United States. The legal protections conferred on clients by citizenship are not necessarily the same. There is also the fact that an ill-intentioned actor could pose additional risks, should the relationship between two countries deteriorate. From that perspective, the servers that contain our data, for instance the ones in the United States, could become a target.
Do the banks that deal with those enterprises have a role to play in this? Can the Government of Canada do anything to protect the data and transactions of Canadians?
According to what I understand, credit card companies are independent from the banks. Nevertheless, the banks deal with those enterprises for certain important aspects of their activities.