Experts say Canada’s open banking framework could slowly affect big banks’ market share while also giving lenders more access to customer information with consent.
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As Canada moves toward implementing open banking, experts say the change could present both risks and opportunities for the country’s biggest banks.
Open banking, also called consumer-driven banking, would allow individuals and businesses to securely share their financial data across lenders to build a fuller picture of their balance sheets, savings and investments, and to view their overall financial health.
Mark Schofield, a managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, said the goal is to make it easier for consumers to consolidate and see their financial situation through a dashboard.
He noted the policy is intended to drive competition by easing switching between financial institutions.
John Aiken, an analyst at Jefferies, said he does not view open banking as an immediate “tidal wave,” adding it could slowly erode market share over time but is not an immediate concern for investors.
Aiken said the big banks appear to be adapting, but that none are “fully up to speed, even on stage one,” and that implementation depends on the Big Six banks being ready.
A federal open banking process is already underway: Ottawa began moving forward through legislation in the 2024 federal budget, while in June the Department of Finance published proposed regulations and held a 60-day comment period that ended in August.
The Department of Finance estimates that implementing the proposed regulations would cost about $457.7 million over a 10-year period and project $13.2 billion in benefits to consumers and businesses over the same timeframe.
In the absence of a secure framework, the department said about nine million Canadians currently share financial data through “screen scraping,” a practice it said creates security and privacy risks.
Aiken said banks could also benefit, including by obtaining information such as investments customers hold at other institutions, and then encouraging customers to bring those holdings in-house.
Henry Kim, a professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, said Canada’s highly concentrated banking system could make it easier for major lenders to adjust, including by buying successful fintechs or replicating their offerings.
Kim said Statistics Canada figures for the fourth quarter of 2025 show the Big Six banks held more than 90 per cent of all banking assets.
Kim said he is optimistic that once the industry adapts, open banking will expand consumer options and choice.
An executive director of the Financial Data and Technology Association, Steve Boms, said after a 2026 Global Open Finance Summit last month that the earliest consumers could access open banking tools would be toward the end of 2027.
Boms said that in markets where open banking is further along, early defensive responses evolved into more offensive approaches, including using customer permission data to create additional tools and credit opportunities.
He said lenders with resources to invest in technology development and marketing could benefit from consumer-driven banking changes.
Boms said banks would not only provide data, but also receive it because third parties must share data with customer consent.
Ethan Teclu, a spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association, said in a statement the group is committed to fostering innovation and competition in Canada’s financial sector responsibly and supports learnings such as a phased approach, regulatory efficiency, and moving to more secure, interoperable ways to share data.
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