Financial Services

PIAC submits its views to the Ontario Expert Committee to Consider Financial Advisory and Financial Planning Policy Alternatives. The Expert Committee was appointed by the Ontario Minister of Finance to provide advice and recommendations to the Ontario government regarding whether and to what extent financial planning and the giving of financial advice should be regulated in Ontario.

PIAC submits an analysis to the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services as part of a consultation on how to strengthen consumer financial protection for consumers of alternative financial services. These services consisted of payday loans, instalment loans, money transfers (remittances), cheque cashing, pawnbroking, debt collection and rent-to-own.

In a new report, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) called for a payment system framework designed and implemented to oversee all retail payment-related activities, all types of payment instruments and all payments system providers in Canada. PIAC also recommended a dedicated body be established to monitor and regulate the Canadian payments ecosystem. The report, entitled “Innovative Oversight: strengthening the Canadian payments system,” was submitted to the federal Department of Finance as part of a consultation on the oversight of national payment systems.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) questions the logic employed by the Minister of Finance that the two voluntary credit card proposals he accepted yesterday, “should ultimately result in lower prices for consumers.”

Canadian Deal Sites Need to Meet Consumer Expectations

PIAC is pleased to provide public access to its submission to the Department of Finance on: Canada’s Financial Consumer Protection Framework: Consultation Paper.

Banking codes from other countries may be a good model for a Canadian Financial Code

Make sure you’re not paying too much with Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s interactive Cost of Banking Guide

Comment on the federal government’s Canada’s Financial Consumer Protection Framework: Consultation Paper

Today the federal Government announced broad public consultations as a first step towards a Consumer Code for financial consumers.