Opening statement to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy (BANC) by Commissioner Shereen Benzvy Miller

February 4, 2026

Ottawa, Ontario

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Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the Committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

My name is Shereen Benzvy Miller, and I am the Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, or FCAC.

I am joined by Deputy Commissioner of Research, Policy and Education, Dr. Manon Bombardier, and Deputy Commissioner of Supervision and Enforcement, Frank Lofranco.

We welcome the chance to contribute to the Committee’s study of Bill C-15.

Let me begin with a brief overview of our mandate and some of our recent work.

Our mission is to foster trust in Canada’s financial system by protecting financial consumers and empowering them to make informed decisions.

Our work helps keep the financial system safe, fair, and strong for everyone.

This is a role we share with our regulatory partners, such as the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, which is responsible for prudential regulation.

As a regulator, we supervise the compliance of federally regulated financial entities, such as banks, with consumer protection measures set out in legislation, public commitments, and codes of conduct.

In addition to our supervisory role, FCAC leads and works with stakeholders across the country on the National Strategy for Financial Literacy.

At the heart of our work is a commitment to preventing harm to consumers. This principle guides our research, policy, and financial literacy efforts, and is the focus of our proactive supervision of the industry.

We use data to identify risk, research to understand risk, supervision to address risk — and, when needed, we act swiftly.

For example, in early 2023, as many Canadians were grappling with the financial impacts of the pandemic, we issued a regulatory guideline outlining our expectations for banks to proactively contact mortgage holders showing signs of financial stress that could put them at risk of default.

As of September 2025, more than 144,000 mortgage holders had been offered relief measures. This helped Canadians avoid more than $7.52 million in penalties and fees that would have resulted from late or missed mortgage payments.

No bank should ever benefit from a negative consumer experience.

When financial institutions breach their market conduct obligations in ways that harm consumers, institutions should make those consumers whole.

As a result of FCAC’s supervision and enforcement:

• Since 2024, more than $100M has been reimbursed to consumer and business accounts.
• In addition, since 2022, regulated entities have paid nearly $27 million in penalties for violations of consumer protection provisions.  

We publish the nature of each violation, the name of the entity involved, and the amount of the penalty.

This transparency, required by the FCAC Act, promotes compliance and builds public trust in Canada’s financial system.

Beyond enforcement, our research and education collaborations with non-profit, public, and private sector partners help lead to better financial outcomes for Canadians.

For instance, we recently launched our Research and Data Exchange, an online hub gives Canada’s financial ecosystem clear, actionable data and insights, helping partners understand trends and tailor their financial literacy programs to meet the needs of Canadians.

By turning complex research into actionable evidence, the RDX strengthens stakeholders’ ability to design, target, and evaluate effective financial literacy initiatives.

Finally, Mr. Chair, I want to highlight FCAC’s readiness to take on the supervision of amendments to the Bank Act to address consumer-targeted fraud.

We welcome the new amendments. Fraud is a serious and growing threat to Canadians’ financial well-being and the economy—both in scale and sophistication.

FCAC will supervise industry compliance with these new requirements once they come into force.

Budget 2025 includes other measures that impact FCAC which will contribute to empowering consumers and advancing their interests.

These include a proposal to introduce a Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse for federally regulated banks, and a request for FCAC to prepare a report on the structure, level, and transparency of fees charged by Canadian banks.

My team has begun the fees study, which we expect to complete in 2026. Our report will support the Department of Finance’s focus on improving competition and innovation in the banking sector, including better understanding the relationship between banking fees and competition.

In closing, I will underline that our expertise in supervision and enforcement, research on consumer behaviour and the evolving digital financial landscape, positions FCAC well for this work.

I look forward to the Committee’s questions and to sharing how FCAC protects and empowers financial consumers across Canada. 

Thank you.