Minister Champagne highlights Spring Economic Update measures to fight financial crimes

From: Department of Finance Canada

News release

May 6, 2026 - Toronto, Ontario - Department of Finance Canada

The Government of Canada is taking bold action to counter criminal threats, protect Canadians, and ensure that crime doesn’t pay. The exploitation of the financial system to launder illicit proceeds supports and perpetuates crimes such as fraud, theft, and extortion, while fueling the drugs, gangs, and violence that threaten the safety of our communities.

Today, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, attended the Payments Canada Summit where he highlighted new measures in the Spring Economic Update designed to fight financial crimes and protect Canadians and their hard-earned money.

As first announced in Budget 2025, the government is proposing the creation of the Financial Crimes Agency, Canada’s first-ever federal law enforcement agency dedicated to investigating sophisticated financial crimes like fraud and money laundering, and to recovering illicit proceeds. On April 27, 2026, legislation to enact the new Agency was tabled, and funding was proposed in the Spring Economic Update.

Law enforcement needs accurate and timely financial intelligence to fight rising levels of extortion that threaten the safety of our communities and the livelihood of small business owners. As the government continues to step up its focus on this issue, and building on measures announced on February 19, 2026, the Spring Economic Update proposed to provide $17.9 million in new funding for the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to prioritize the detection, deterrence, and disruption of the illicit financing that supports extortion.

The Spring Economic Update also proposed to ban crypto ATMs to protect Canadians from fraud, crack down on scammers, and fight the financial crimes that support and enable drug trafficking, extortion, and other economically motivated crimes. The government is moving to target the highest risk tool for criminals, while also recognizing that blockchain technologies have exciting use cases for consumers and businesses. For example, the government remains committed to its goal of facilitating the responsible adoption of stablecoins by implementing the Stablecoin Act. Canadians can continue to use brick-and-mortar and online regulated platforms for cryptocurrency, which offer a safer and more transparent environment where “know your client” controls intended to identify and report on suspicious transactions can be better ensured.  

The government is also developing Canada’s first-ever National Anti-Fraud Strategy, which aims to advance anti-fraud efforts across the financial and telecommunications sectors, and digital platforms. New consumer protections were introduced in the Bank Act, giving consumers more control over their bank accounts, and a public consultation was recently held to gather feedback on potential measures. Updates on the development of the Strategy will follow in the coming months.

Together, these actions build on broader federal measures to combat organized crime and protect Canadians, including significant investments to strengthen RCMP investigative capacity, and enhanced coordination with law enforcement and intelligence partners. 

Quotes

“Too many Canadians—especially seniors and vulnerable people—are being targeted by scams and financial crime. The Spring Economic Update takes bold steps to protect people, crack down on criminals, and promote safer futures, financial security, and independence for Canadians.”

- The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue 

Quick facts

  • To stand up the new Financial Crimes Agency, the Spring Economic Update 2026 proposed to provide:

    • $352.7 million over five years starting in 2026-27, with $57.8 million in remaining amortization, and $82.1 million ongoing to the Financial Crimes Agency;
    • $46.2 million over five years and $11.5 million ongoing to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada; and
    • $19.6 million over five years and $1.5 million ongoing to the Department of Finance Canada.

  • As part of the National Anti-Fraud Strategy, in addition to general prevention requirements, organizations could be required to take fraud prevention measures specific to their industry, for example:

    • providing specific warnings about the risk of fraud when individuals initiate large-scale transfer payments (e.g., wire transfers, international money transfers);
    • blocking or flagging calls that “spoof” legitimate enterprises, government institutions, and law enforcement; and
    • implementing screening for fraudulent profiles and pages, and blocking malicious ads.

  • Bill C-15, which recently received Royal Assent, makes amendments to the Bank Act that require banks to:

    • have policies and procedures in place to detect and prevent consumer-targeted fraud and mitigate its harms;
    • obtain the express consent of personal deposit account holders before enabling prescribed account capabilities which fraudsters can use to steal consumers’ money, including transfer and payment capabilities, and to permit account holders to disable prescribed capabilities they do not want;
    • allow personal deposit account holders to adjust their transaction limits to protect themselves; and
    • collect fraud-related data and report it to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

  • On February 19, 2026, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue directed FINTRAC to help combat extortion and support law enforcement investigations by:

    • prioritizing financial intelligence resources to tackle extortion;
    • launching the Countering Extortion Partnership with financial institutions, government, and law enforcement;
    • assigning financial intelligence experts to support police;
    • providing financial institutions with clear guidance on how to detect extortion transactions; and
    • publishing intelligence on how criminals move and hide extortion money.

  • Crypto ATMs have become a primary method for scammers to extract cash from victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime in Canada. Studies have found that between 85 and 98 per cent of crypto ATM transactions are linked to illicit activity. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre conservatively estimates that between 5 and 10 per cent of fraud is reported, meaning that Canadians are estimated to have lost between $142 million and $284 million due to fraud facilitated by crypto ATMs in 2024. The details of the ban on crypto ATMs will be provided in legislation expected to be tabled shortly. 

  • Budget 2025 announced $1.7 billion in funding to strengthen the RCMP’s response to a wide range of threats related to transnational organized crime, financial crimes, and money laundering, while enhancing its intelligence and national security capacity, fulfilling the government’s commitment to hire 1,000 RCMP personnel. 

  • Since 2019, the government has invested close to $379 million in combatting financial crimes. These investments have strengthened supervision and financial intelligence functions at FINTRAC, increased resources and tools to support financial crime investigations, and enhanced Canada’s ability to combat trade-based financial crime. 

Associated links

Contacts

Media may contact:

John Fragos
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Finance and National Revenue
john.fragos@fin.gc.ca

Media Relations
Department of Finance Canada
mediare@fin.gc.ca
613-369-4000

General enquiries

Phone: 1-833-712-2292
TTY: 613-369-3230
E-mail: financepublic-financepublique@fin.gc.ca

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2026-05-06