Canada Moves Forward On Its Consumer-Driven Banking Framework

Canada's consumer-driven banking framework is entering a pivotal phase, marking a turning point towards modernizing Canada's financial sector. Consumer-driven banking, also known as open banking, is a secure framework that allows individuals and businesses to share financial data with approved financial service providers of their choice. This provides users with greater control over their data, fosters innovation in the financial sector, and ensures the security of data. Canada's approach will use application programming interfaces (APIs) technology to provide a more secure communications connection between entities.

For small businesses, open banking will support the flow of financial information between businesses and their financial tools to increase their efficiency, better access to capital, and improved decision-making capability.

The Federal Government's 2025 Federal Budget outlined plans to implement consumer-driven banking in Canada. On November 18, 2025, the Federal Government tabled Bill C-15, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament to advance the objectives set out in the 2025 Federal Budget. The Federal Government has committed to accelerating open banking in the country through two phases:

• Phase I Data sharing: Consumers will share their financial data with accredited providers securely. Phase I is already underway.
• Phase II Transaction initiation: The framework will allow for write-access including payment initiation, account switching and other consumer-directed financial actions.

Full implementation is expected in the middle of 2027. The Bank of Canada is the primary supervisory authority responsible for accrediting participating entities, overseeing compliance, and monitoring marketing trends

The content of this article does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on in that way. Specific advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.