Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate and I’m asking it on behalf of Senator Colin Deacon, our colleague from Nova Scotia.

On Wednesday evening, the Finance Canada Advisory Committee on Open Banking sent an email to its stakeholders saying that consultations on open banking would not proceed this spring and will be delayed until the fall, at the earliest. The reason given was the current restrictions on public gatherings, despite the explosion of evidence that virtual meetings can proceed quite effectively. As a result, the reason is being interpreted as an excuse.

Our financial technology — or fintech — firms were demonstrating global competitiveness and exciting progress pre-COVID. They have demonstrated the ability to rapidly, accurately and cost-effectively serve under-banked and un-banked segments of the population, as identified in the June 2019 Open Banking report from our own Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce. Yet, our fintechs have been barred from being involved in the delivery of any federal financial support to SMEs or other groups. The Business Development Bank of Canada, BDC, and Export Development Canada, EDC, are working with our banks and credit unions but are not working with fintechs, despite solid proposals being presented to Finance Canada.

What can these enormously promising fintech firms do to, first of all, be provided the opportunity to assist under-served Canadians and, second, not to be left at a huge competitive disadvantage relative to their global competitors in the U.S., which have been brought into that government’s relief efforts?