Mr. Speaker, the big banks would like to sell insurance directly to their customers.
Many Canadians are worried about concentrating economic power in the hands of a few large banks, putting the safety of the financial system at risk.
In changing the Bank Act, the government should be careful not to reduce competition. Consumers would suffer from reduced choice in the financial industry. Banks selling insurance would have an unfair advantage over insurance companies. Insurance companies are not entitled to have the same government guarantees the banks have, including Canada deposit insurance. Banks will also have an unfair advantage if they are allowed to use confidential client information to help sell insurance.
Any changes to the Bank Act must be fair to the insurance companies and must protect the consumer. Banks should stick to their mandate and start lending money to small businesses, the engine of the country's economy.
Rather than letting the banks expand into insurance, we should tax their record profits and force them to lend more money to small businesses.