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Frequently Asked Questions
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Question:
Bank legislation refers to both retail deposit accounts and personal deposit accounts. Are these the same?
Answer:
Yes. A retail deposit account it is a type of personal deposit account, which you can open with a deposit of less than $150,000.
A personal deposit account is a deposit account that is in the name of one or more “natural persons” and is kept by that person (or those persons) for a purpose other than conducting business.
“Natural person” is a legal term. Although there are different ways of interpreting this term, it usually means a “human being” or an “individual”, as opposed to an “artificial person”, such as a corporation, which is created by law. It is this definition that the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) uses when it considers issues or complaints about personal deposit accounts.
To open a bank account, there are different combinations of identification you can use. To find out what pieces of identification you can use to open an account, click here.
If you attempt to open a bank account and the bank refuses, even if you present proper identification, you can make use of the bank’s complaint-handling process, and also contact FCAC. We can investigate to determine if the bank has complied with its legal obligations.
Federal financial consumer protection legislation requires all federally regulated financial institutions to have a complaint-handling process in place to help resolve disputes between consumers and their financial institutions. This process includes a third-party dispute-resolution body.
FCAC publishes the complaint-handling process for all federally regulated financial institutions on its Web site. To find the complaint-handling process for your financial institution, click here . If you are having difficulty finding this information, call our Consumer Contact Centre at 1-866-461-3222 (toll-free).
Please note that it is not the mandate or the policy of FCAC to provide advice to individuals about, or to comment on, the interpretation of legal statutes. If you have any further questions on the interpretation of the term “retail deposit account”, you can either seek legal advice, or you can contact the Department of Finance, which is responsible for the Bank Act and its regulations. The contact information for the Department of Finance is listed below.
Resource(s):
-
Department of Finance Canada
Consultations and Communications Branch
19th Floor, East Tower
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G5
Telephone: 613-992-1573
E-mail: consltcomm@fin.gc.ca -
Opening a Personal Bank Account: Understanding Your Rights: What identification (I.D.) do you need?
Classification of this FAQ:
| Category | Sub-category |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Opening |
Related Question(s):
- Can a financial institution refuse to open a personal bank account for me?
- If I haven't changed the address on my driver's licence to my new address, is it still considered to be a valid piece of identification for opening an account?
- Can a financial institution ask for my social insurance number when I open an account?
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