FCAC Commissioner publishes decisions on financial institutions not meeting disclosure requirements on credit products 

August 20, 2020
Ottawa, Ontario 

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC) role is to protect financial consumers by strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians and ensuring that regulated entities comply with their legislative obligations, codes of conduct and public commitments.

Today, FCAC published three decisions. Commissioner’s Decisions are an important aspect of FCAC’s oversight of financial institutions to promote compliance with their consumer protection obligations. The publication of these Decisions is an example of how FCAC protects financial consumers and reflects FCAC’s commitment to transparency in its supervision and enforcement work.

All three decisions published today relate to compliance failures with the cost of borrowing disclosure requirements. Federally-regulated financial institutions must provide consumers with a clear and consistent standard of disclosure on the charges and fees for credit products. Accurate information is important to enable consumers to make informed financial decisions.

Decisions and their publication address past failures and promote future compliance. All federally-regulated financial institutions are expected to review the findings of the Decisions and apply them to their own practices, as appropriate, in an effort to achieve the highest levels of compliance with protections for financial consumers. 

Commissioner’s Decisions also provide an opportunity to increase the awareness and understanding of financial consumers of what they can expect when dealing with their financial institutions. Consumers are reminded of the importance of reading the terms and conditions of credit products and carefully reviewing any charges or fees that apply. For details on the type of disclosure that consumers should expect on credit products, such as, credit cards, mortgages or lines of credit, please refer to the FCAC web site.