Senator Gold, a recent CBC article shared a story of a widow whose late husband’s pension was mistakenly deposited into another person’s account. Her bank, CIBC, initially claimed that it could only recover $3,200. It was not until the matter was investigated by the CBC that the bank issued a full repayment, but the bank still insisted that it had followed standard procedure.

This case highlights that Canada’s largest banks are still not doing enough to protect customers from payment errors and fraud. Meanwhile, Canadians continue to pay some of the highest bank fees in the world.

Senator Gold, I asked you this in the last Parliament and I’ll ask you again now: When will banks be held to higher standards of accountability in protecting Canadians from fraud? Currently, they have no incentive to invest in fraud protection at a level that matches the growing risks. Will the finance minister commit to following the leadership of other jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, where banks, rather than consumers, are responsible for bank fraud —