Key measures also needed (which U.S., Australia and/or England have enacted), to stop bank gouging, discrimination and abuse and ensure banks pay their fair share in taxes – Liberals have done little since 2015

Big Six Banks gouged out $70 billion in profits in 2025 (almost $50 billion more than 2010), paid their CEOs more than $12 million each, and gave out more than $27 billion in bonuses to employees

Five of the Big 6 are in top 50 most profitable banks in the world despite being much smaller than many banks in other countries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 18, 2026

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch called on the House Finance Committee to amend budget Bill C-15 to make proposed bank account fraud measures actually effective at ensuring consumers are compensated for frauds they are not responsible for, like the measures Australia has enacted.  Democracy Watch also called on the Carney Liberals to stop protecting his Big Bank executive friends and work with all federal parties to make key changes that the U.S., Australia and/or England have already made to protect bank customers from gouging, discrimination and other abuses.

More than 120,000 voters have signed on to Democracy Watch’s letter-writing campaign or Change.org petition calling for these key changes, some of which the U.S. enacted decades ago, and some of which Australia and England have enacted in the past several years (See Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes).

The Carney Liberals re-hashed old 2021 election promises made by the Trudeau government by proposing only weak, ineffective, largely voluntary measures in the 2025 budget Bill C-15 (Part V, Division 16, sections 333-336) that only require the bank to have policies and procedures aimed at preventing account fraud.  The measures will do nothing to address the role of telecom and Internet companies in allowing fraud scam calls and websites, and will let those companies and the Big Banks off when they allow or facilitate bank account fraud.  The Conservatives promised similarly weak and incomplete anti-fraud measures in their 2025 federal election platform.

The banks often blame their customers for the fraud and refuse to compensate them for lost money even if the fraudsters do account transactions that the customer has never done in decades or if bank staff allow or facilitate the fraud.

In its submission to the federal Finance Department in response to its recent consultation paper on bank account fraud, and in its submission to the Finance Committee, Democracy Watch called for key changes to Bill C-15 to immediately require banks to compensate customers partially for fraud losses right away (given the banks are almost always partially responsible for the losses), and to require banks to compensate the customer for their entire loss unless the bank can prove to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) that they have adequate safeguards to prevent fraudulent account transactions, have fully trained their staff in those safeguards, and did their due diligence to prevent the fraud from happening.

In addition, the OBSI must be given the power to make binding orders on the banks, and the banks must be required to disclose quarterly exactly how many fraud cases their customers have suffered, and what they did in each case, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) must also be required to report on how they held the bank accountable for the fraud, and to audit the banks and penalize them with high fines for every violation.  (See details re: weak financial consumer and investor protection enforcement in Canada).

All federal parties should also work together to enact the same requirements for telecom and Internet companies.

“The Carney Liberal government’s proposed anti-bank account fraud measures amount to more hot air promises of future ineffective, mostly voluntary measures that, even if they are undertaken, are much weaker than the actual bank customer protection Australia has already imposed on banks, telecom and Internet companies that require them to pay customers back when they lose their money to fraudsters,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  (Click here to see a summary of the Australian anti-fraud measures).

“If budget Bill C-15 is not strengthened to make its bank account fraud protection measures effective, customers of Canada’s big banks will waste years and money trying to get their lost money back in the same way that customers of Canada’s big airlines waste years and money trying to get compensation for delayed or cancelled flights,” said Conacher.

The Liberals’ Budget 2025 document (pp. 116-122 and 163-164) also repeats the Liberals’ 2021 election promise to have the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) review banking fees, and says nothing about decreasing fees or credit card interest rates from their current gouging levels, or doing anything to stop gender or racial discrimination in lending.

Democracy Watch’s submissions also call for several other key bank accountability measures, neasures that the U.S., Australia and/or England enacted years ago, to stop gouging fees and interest rates, discrimination in lending and services, and other banking abuses. The U.S. measures apply to the banks that 4 of Canada’s Big 6 Banks own in the U.S. (See Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes).

“The Liberals continue to protect the big bank’s excessive gouging profits and their executives’ excessive multi-million salaries instead of making the changes needed to stop banks from gouging billions from their 28 million customers and to protect bank customers from discrimination and other abuses,” said Conacher.

“Every dollar of excessive profit for the banks, and every person and business the banks unjustifiably refuse to loan to, costs the Canadian economy because it means that the banks are overcharging for their essential services and loans, and choking off job creation and spending,” said Conacher.

Canada’s big banks recorded huge, gouging profits in 2025 of $70 billion, almost $50 billion more than in 2010.

All of Canada’s Big 6 Banks are listed in the top 300 of Fortune’s Global 2000 for 2025 (based on 2024 size, assets, profits and market value).  RBC (13th), TD (32nd), BMO (38th), CIBC (44th) and Scotiabank (48th) were also in the top 50 most profitable banks in the world in 2024 (more profitable than most other larger banks) and RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC and Scotiabank were the top five most profitable Canadian companies in 2024.

Canada’s Big 6 Banks also handed out $27.3 billion in 2025 in bonuses to their employees, 15% more than the $23.75 billion in bonuses to their employees in 2024.

Canada’s Big 6 Banks also paid their CEOs an average of $12.3 million in 2024 – 55% higher than in 2008.

See Canada’s Big Banks Backgrounder.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Bank Accountability Campaign