Dear Minister Flaherty:
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is a non-profit organization that provides legal and research services on behalf of consumer interests, and, in particular, vulnerable consumer
interests, concerning the provision of important public services.
PIAC is deeply disappointed and alarmed by TD Bank Group’s (TD) decision this week to withdraw its unresolved banking disputes from the resolution by the Ombudsman for Banking
Services and Investments and instead to use a private alternative dispute resolution provider.[FN1]
Created in 1996, the OBSI acts as a neutral, impartial dispute resolution entity in the entire financial sector (banking and investments) and has recently been reviewed and assessed to be
operating “favourably with international EDR [external dispute resolution] services and we found no substantive basis for the level of local criticism” by the industry.2 More importantly, OBSI
offers Canadians a free, fair and effective way to resolve disputes with their banks and other financial institutions. Without the OBSI, many Canadians would be left without an independent,
effective way to resolve their banking- and investment-related disputes.
Read the full text:
PIAC Letter to Minister of Finance re TD Bank Group Withdrawal from OBSI
Download File: piac_letter_finance_minister_obsi_td_withdrawal.pdf [size: 3.09 mb]