Investors seek greater control over financial data
Canadian securities regulators say giving investors more control over their financial data could ease the process of switching firms, but industry participants remain divided on how such a system should work.
Collaboratory project results
Members of the Canadian Securities Administrators said in a report issued Tuesday that enhanced data portability could benefit investors by making it easier for them to switch firms or open accounts with multiple firms, and that such portability would reduce friction and improve investor choice. The report caps an 18-month project by the CSA’s Collaboratory, a body examining new technologies and business models in the investment market.
The project centred on Know Your Client data – the personal and financial information firms collect to assess suitability – and whether it could be securely transferred between investment firms and fintech companies at an investor’s request. Work included a discussion paper, two industry roundtables and one-on-one meetings between regulators and firms.
While the project found no industry consensus on which data-portability model would work best, the report notes that market participants agreed increased portability could be incentivized through legislation, regulation or guidance. Some participants suggested the CSA clarify how KYC obligations would apply as investor data becomes more portable, citing uncertainty around delegation and meaningful interaction as a potential barrier to implementation.
Regulators hold off on testing
CSA chair Stan Magidson, who is also chair and chief executive of the Alberta Securities Commission, said the project has laid groundwork for future work. “As investor demand for data portability develops in Canada, this project has established a solid foundation of knowledge and stakeholder networks that will help regulators and firms work through the new terrain,” Magidson said. “We’ll continue to proactively explore emerging technologies and business models, and the complex regulatory questions they pose, through structured stakeholder engagement.”
Regulators wait on federal framework
The CSA said it decided against running a live data-portability test for now because most participants want to see details of the federal government’s consumer-driven banking framework first.
That framework, established under the Consumer-Driven Banking Act, received royal assent in March 2026 and will be overseen by the Bank of Canada. Oversight was originally assigned to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada under 2024 legislation, but the federal government proposed shifting that role to the Bank of Canada in its November 2025 budget update, citing the central bank’s existing supervision of payment service providers.
The Department of Finance has said the act addresses risks tied to “screen scraping,” a practice in which roughly nine million Canadians share financial data by handing over their banking credentials to third-party apps, exposing them to security, liability and privacy risks. Draft regulations published in the Canada Gazette in June 2026 set out requirements for accreditation, security, consent, liability and technical standards for the new system, though that framework applies to banking data rather than investment accounts.
CSA regulators involved in the Collaboratory project said they will continue monitoring the federal framework’s development, along with related industry standards, before deciding on next steps for investment-sector data portability.
Scope of participation
Not every CSA member took part in the initiative. The Ontario Securities Commission did not participate in the data portability project, according to the CSA.
The CSA is the umbrella council representing securities regulators from Canada’s provinces and territories, and coordinates and harmonizes capital markets regulation nationally.
