Mastercard, Block back group to lobby for Canada finance reforms
BNN Bloomberg
Payment firms including Mastercard Inc. and Block Inc. are banding together with fintech companies to press Canada to move faster on rules that may boost competition in financial services.
More than 40 companies have joined forces to launch Fintechs Canada, a lobby group that will push for so-called open-banking rules and other regulations they say would enable more innovation in a financial sector that’s dominated by a handful of domestic banks.
Open banking is a regulatory system that makes it easier for consumers to share their financial data with third parties -- reducing barriers to switching from one financial provider to another. Many countries, including Australia and the U.K., offer some form of it. In the U.S., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is trying to move ahead with long-awaited measures in that direction.
Canada has been slowly moving ahead with consultations on an open-banking framework. Data protection and consumer privacy are key issues. In March, the federal government named lawyer and consultant Abraham Tachjian as its czar on the topic. But the process is moving too slowly for some firms.
