Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
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Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca

 

The numbers

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General consumer complaints not related to compliance

(excludes general inquiries and compliance cases)

General consumer complaints not related to compliance
Nature of complaints Number of complaints
Credit 237
Credit cards 922
Deposit accounts 779
FCAC 13
Financial institutions or other companies 414
Financial literacy 7
Insurance 273
Investments 273
Lines of credit 75
Loans 173
Mortgages 374
Payday loans 21
Publications 3
Referrals to other departments or organizations 794
Miscellaneous 47
Total 4,405

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Compliance-related consumer and merchant complaints

(excludes complaints reported by federally regulated financial institutions and compliance issues first raised by FCAC)

Compliance-related consumer and merchant complaints
Nature of complaints Number of complaints
Consumer provisions
Branch closures 5
Cheques 9
Coercive tied selling 1
Complaint-handling procedures 11
Compliance of affiliate 1
Cost of borrowing—credit cards 66
Cost of borrowing—general 0
Cost of borrowing—lines of credit 9
Cost of borrowing—loans 3
Cost of borrowing—mortgages 29
Credit business practices 11
Deposit accounts 19
Disclosure of charges for services 0
Disclosure of interest rates 1
Failure to inform how to reach FCAC 0
Index-linked deposit accounts 0
Principal protected notes 0
Public Accountability Statements 1
Codes of conduct
Authorized insurance activities 11
Credit and debit card code 12
Debit card code 10
Protection for e-commerce 0
Small Business Banking Code 2
Public commitments
Accessibility of complaint-handling process 1
Agreement to offer low-cost accounts 0
Credit cards—general 0
Guidelines for the transfer of registered plans 5
Hold period on cheques 0
Interac 0
Mortgage plain language 0
Online security 1
Undertaking on unsolicited services 1
Visa E-promise 1
Zero liability—credit cards 12
Zero liability—prepaid cards 0
General 0
Total 222

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Internal audit activities

Internal audit activities
Name Type Status Actual completion date
Review of correspondence services Program activity Completed Review was completed in March 2011.

Implementation of action plan is in progress.

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Performance summary

This section tracks FCAC's performance against the expected results and targets we established in our 2009–2011 Business Plan. The following "performance scorecards" summarize last year's results, giving a clear, concise picture of how successful we were.


Compliance Supervision and Enforcement

Compliance Supervision and Enforcement
Financial resources
($ millions)		 Human resources
(full-time equivalents)
Planned spending Actual spending Planned Actual
3.11 3.04 20.0 20.0
Expected results Performance indicators Targets Performance
status		 Performance summary
FCAC has an appropriate risk-based compliance model in place that allows it to identify compliance risk levels among federally regulated financial institutions. Capacity to report more integrated findings/ conclusions about federally regulated financial institutions' levels of compliance with the federal consumer provisions FCAC will develop and fully implement the five components of its modernized Compliance Framework by March 31, 2011. These components are:
  • expanded information gathering
  • a risk assessment model
  • a research and investigation protocol
  • ladders of compliance
  • enhanced compliance reporting.
 Met all

Completed technical work to develop and implement the FCAC Risk Assessment Model (RAM).

Finalized RAM data collection tool (RAM Questionnaire) and successfully collected the required data from regulated entities.

Improved Annual Examination Questionnaire for federally regulated insurance companies, and carried out information collection and analysis.

Documented all procedures related to FCAC's modernized Compliance Framework, including those managing follow-up actions stemming from compliance assessment initiatives.

Created clearer information to better explain our ladders of compliance.

Initiated work on an improved online compliance tool, designed to enhance usability as well as transparency in our processes.

Launched a project to improve the "For the Industry" section of FCAC's website, with the goal of enhancing our reporting capabilities and making the section more user-friendly and accessible.

Modified supervisory procedures, processes and systems to integrate new oversight responsibilities for payment card network operators.
FCAC implements appropriate compliance measures with federally regulated financial institutions to rectify compliance issues. Percentage of compliance issues corrected Compliance and enforcement actions lead to 100% correction of compliance issues identified in cases related to consumer provisions. Met all

Investigated 860 cases for potential violations and carried out a record 77 measures to address situations of non-compliance.

Completed all compliance actions scheduled to end within the fiscal year.

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Consumer Education

Consumer Education
Financial resources
($ millions)		 Human resources (full-time equivalents)

* Each target was set based on annualized data, using the only data available (covering six months) from the new Web metric software. Six months of data was not sufficient to balance any seasonal peaks from the annualized targets; and since the six months happened to fall within our busiest time of year for Web traffic, the targets were overestimated.
Planned spending Actual spending Planned Actual
4.24 4.13 23.7 23.7
Expected results Performance indicators Targets Performance status Performance summary
Canadians have access to impartial information on financial products and services. Increase in the use of FCAC's materials and tools By March 31, 2011, FCAC will complete the implementation of its Web Content Management Solution. Somewhat met Not completed because FCAC was unable to secure a suitable vendor through the Request for Proposals process. Revised target date of September 30, 2011.
By March 31, 2011, FCAC will complete the implementation of its Web strategy, including enhancements to its website. Mostly met Completed website enhancements were slightly behind schedule as of mid-May 2011. The delay was for the same reason cited above.
  By March 31, 2011, there will be an increase of at least 10% from March 31, 2009, in
  • the number of visits to FCAC's websites
  • the number of FCAC publications printed and downloaded
  • the use of FCAC's Web-based interactive tools.
 Mostly met Achieved 87% of the website visits commitment.*

Achieved 82% of the commitment related to electronic publication downloads.* Consumer demand for print publications decreased last year but partner requests increased by 15%. Over 467,000 
publications were requested through our partner channels.

Achieved 87% of the commitment related to interactive tool use.*
The use of clear language makes FCAC's materials and tools easy to understand. By March 31, 2011, the Agency will apply clear language principles to FCAC's remaining publications and interactive tools. Mostly met Completed review/revision of 36 out of 41 publications (87.8%). In addition, public opinion research for 1 of the remaining 5 publications confirmed that the language is clear and easy to understand. As well, all interactive tools now meet clear language targets, with user feedback ratings on every tool exceeding 4.0 out of 5 on the criterion relating to clear language.
Financial consumers find FCAC's materials and tools useful and relevant to their needs. The Agency maintains or increases its positive feedback from consumers. Average satisfaction rating in relation to usefulness is at least 3.5 on a scale of 5 for FCAC's print and Web publications and interactive tools. Exceeded Scored 4.69 out of 5 for print publications.

Scored 3.84 out of 5 for Web publications.

Scored 4.05 out of 5 for interactive tools.
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Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy
Financial resources ($ millions) Human resources (full-time equivalents)

* Each target was set based on annualized data, using the only data available (covering six months) from the new Web metric software. Six months of data was not sufficient to balance any seasonal peaks from the annualized targets; and since the six months happened to fall within our busiest time of year for Web traffic, the targets were overestimated.
Planned spending Actual spending Planned Actual
2.00 1.80 4.5 4.5
Expected results Performance indicators Targets Performance status Performance summary
Financial literacy materials and tools are being accessed by the selected target audiences and the financial education providers that work with them. Increase in the usage of FCAC's financial literacy education materials and tools:
  • The City: A Financial Life Skills Resource
  • The Money Belt (Web portal)
  • teacher training modules and workshops.
 Increase of 50% in the number of students registered for The City: A Financial Life Skills Resource, compared to fiscal year 2009–10 Mostly met Achieved 85% of our target, with 16,896 new
students registered.
Increase of 25% in the number of financial education providers that promote/teach The City: A Financial Life Skills Resource, compared to fiscal year 2009–10 Exceeded Achieved 228% of our target, with 2,337 new teachers registered.
Increase of 10% in the number of visits to The Money Belt, compared to fiscal year 2009–10 Mostly met Achieved 86% of our target, with 109,807 visitors to the website.*
The use of clear language makes FCAC's financial literacy materials and tools easy to use and understand. By March 31, 2011, the Agency will apply clear language principles to FCAC's new financial literacy materials and tools. Met all Clear language principles were incorporated in development of Your Financial Toolkit and Financial Basics workshop resources.
Individuals from the selected target audiences and the financial education providers that work with them find FCAC's financial literacy materials and tools useful and relevant to their learning needs. Maintain or increase positive feedback from selected target audiences and financial education providers using FCAC's financial literacy education materials and tools:
  • The City: A Financial Life Skills Resource
  • The Money Belt (Web portal)
  • teacher training modules and workshops.
 Qualitative baselines will be established by March 31, 2011, to be followed by target setting. The Money Belt (Web portal) was launched on July 31, 2008. The City: A Financial Life Skills Resource was launched on September 4, 2008. The related teacher training modules and workshops were launched on September 10, 2008. Somewhat met Online feedback was not collected for The City since evaluation forms were not ready for posting. Revised evaluation forms will be posted online before the start of the 2011–12 school year.

Online feedback was not collected for The Money Belt since the site was being integrated into FCAC's main site. A new online evaluation form will be developed and posted in 2011–12.

146 teachers underwent training via Web conference through Service Canada, 22 fewer than in 2009–10. Participation dropped partly because sessions were scheduled during teachers' busy season.

Achieved excellent participant satisfaction ratings for Web conferences:
  • practicality of information provided: 81% strongly agreed
  • effectiveness of delivery: 92.5% strongly agreed
  • overall quality: 92.5% strongly agreed.
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Internal Services

Internal Services
Financial resources
($ millions)		 Human resources (full-time equivalents)
Planned spending Actual spending Planned Actual
2.77 2.69 11.4 11.4
Expected results Performance indicators Targets Performance status Performance summary
FCAC has in place good practices to manage and deliver its programs effectively and efficiently. Independent assessment of the Management Accountability Framework elements related to FCAC For relevant items related to the Treasury Board's independent assessment of the Management Accountability Framework, FCAC is rated at least acceptable. Not applicable Since it is a micro-agency, FCAC was not part of Treasury Board's Management Accountability Framework assessment in 2010–11. Micro-agencies are only assessed over a three-year cycle.


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Date Modified:
2012-01-20