Information & Ethics committee  I think the CBA agrees with the thoughts that Ms. Shea has laid out. We do a lot of work within our association on financial literacy. Arguably, there's some need for similar education on data and digital literacy, just so Canadians understand what is happening when they're handing over information, whether it's personal financial information or health information, etc.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. I want to underscore that on the public skepticism point, I agree one hundred per cent. We talk a lot about innovation these days, definitely in the banking industry, and obviously this committee has been looking at digital transformation in the government context. Crucial to consumer trust is knowing that primarily, the privacy data security will be protected.

Information & Ethics committee  I couldn't find much information on it. It seems to be a fairly closed pilot project that's just beta testing the technology on both sides: the New Brunswick government's technology as well as the SecureKey Concierge, which has been in place for a while. I'm sorry. I didn't quite respond to the pilot project point.

Information & Ethics committee  Exactly.

Information & Ethics committee  What's extremely important is the work being done by DIACC on the pan-Canadian trust framework, PCTF. For a lot of the questions that have been asked so far by this committee and the things we have spoken to—privacy, data security, standards that operate across borders, transparency of governance, open standards—the intent is to have them be worked out and put in place through the pan-Canadian trust framework.

Information & Ethics committee  I can add to that. I completely agree that is a great idea. It's a way to iteratively test without putting customer information at risk. To flag a couple of places where it's happening, in New Brunswick the government has rolled out digital IDs—I'm specifically talking about the technology around digital ID—only on a pilot project basis.

Information & Ethics committee  On the data point as it ties into digital ID, I want to make sure we understand. I know you've heard from SecureKey, and I'm using SecureKey as an example because they are a live, private-public sector partnership that is in market. The triple-blind authentication they talked about means no one has actually seen data.

Information & Ethics committee  I think you've hit on, absolutely, what our key concerns were as the Canadian Bankers Association around cybersecurity and financial crime more broadly in the context of open banking, where, as you know, the customer consents to have their personal and financial information transferred to another provider, whether it's a bank or perhaps a fintech that's not as stringently regulated as banks.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  As I'm sure you know, the government issued its first formal consultation paper on open banking in January. We put in a submission, along with other stakeholders, in February. I'll get into that in a second. Since the deadline in February, we've been in conversations. I would say it's very early days on open banking.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that biometrics would be somewhat challenged, from a legislative barrier perspective, on the email front. There are no commercial bank initiatives around digital ID and authentication that rely on biometrics, to my knowledge, not in Canada for sure, but even—I'm trying to think—globally.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that fundamentally, it absolutely has to be a public-private partnership in Canada. As I indicated in my earlier response, government owns the foundational documents proving identity, so I don't see stand-alone solutions, at least none that are in flight in the market right now.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you for the question. I know that the CBA's white paper, for those of you who have had a chance to review it, does talk about two countries in particular, Estonia and India, which are quite different for a number of reasons from Canada. We thought, as I think this committee did as well, that Estonia is sort of a model example within the specific context and culture of that country.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon. It's always a pleasure to appear before the committee. My name is Marina Mandal, and I'm joined today by the CBA's general counsel and vice-president, Angelina Mason. Before I continue my opening remarks, I just want to apologize in advance if my voice drops during my comments.