Our Role and Mandate

FCAC derives its role and mandate from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act. The Act outlines our functions, administration and enforcement powers, and lists the sections of federal consumer-oriented laws and regulations (called "consumer provisions") under our supervision.

Mandate

Our mandate consists of two key responsibilities:

• Consumer protection. This involves overseeing and reporting on the compliance of federally regulated financial institutions with legislative requirements. It also involves monitoring self-regulatory initiatives that are designed to protect consumer interests. These institutions include all banks and all federally incorporated or registered insurance, trust and loan companies and co-operative retail associations.
  
  
• Consumer education. This includes activities to help build financial knowledge and consumers' awareness of their rights.

Role

FCAC has five objectives:

• Supervise financial institutions to ensure they comply with federal consumer protection measures that apply to them.
  
  
• Promote the adoption by financial institutions of policies and procedures designed to implement the consumer provisions.
  
  
• Monitor if financial institutions follow their own voluntary codes of conduct and respect the public commitments they have made to protect the interests of consumers.
  
  
• Promote awareness of the obligations of financial institutions.
  
  
• Foster an understanding of financial services and issues relating to financial services.
  
  

As a regulatory agency, FCAC can exercise its enforcement powers to ensure that financial institutions comply with the consumer provisions of the various federal acts relating to financial services, including:

• the Bank Act;
  
  
• the Insurance Companies Act;
  
  
• the Trust and Loan Companies Act;
  
  
• the Co-operative Credit Associations Act; and
  
  
• the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act.
  
  

In cases of contravention or non-compliance, we notify the financial institution of a violation. We may also, depending on the severity and frequency of the problem:

• seek a commitment from the financial institution to remedy the issue within a short time frame
  
  
• impose a monetary penalty
  
  
• impose criminal sanctions
  
  
• take other actions as necessary
  
  

Reporting requirements

FCAC reports to the Minister of Finance on the Agency's activities and the legislative framework for consumer protection. In addition, each year FCAC prepares an annual report for Parliament. It describes:

• the Agency's operations;
  
  
• the performance of financial institutions in complying with consumer protection provisions;
  
  
• the procedures that financial institutions have in place for dealing with complaints; and
  
  
• the number and nature of complaints that have been brought to the Agency's attention.