OTTAWA – 24 February 2022 – Today the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) joined leading Canadian consumer groups in an Open Letter to Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, requesting the Minister designate the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) as Canada’s only consumer banking complaints Ombuds service.
“We have been asking for the Department of Finance to ensure independent, fair and expeditious resolution of consumer banking complaints by creating a single ombudsman service for over ten years,” said John Lawford, PIAC Executive Director and General Counsel. “We almost gave up hope, but in the Finance Minister’s Mandate Letter, it directed the Minister to create ‘a single, independent ombudsperson, with the power to impose binding arbitration, to address consumer complaints involving banks.’ So, we are requesting the Minister go ahead and right this historical consumer problem.”
PIAC recently recorded an episode of its “We Fight for That” podcast discussing consumer banking complaints in Canada in detail.
For more information, please contact:
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
(613) 447-8125
jlawford@piac.ca
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