The Canadian Bankers Association has published its submission for the federal government's upcoming budget, setting out six recommendations on financial crime, Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-terrorist Financing, prudential capital, corporate tax, account transfers and internal trade barriers in financial services. The package combines calls for a more coordinated anti-fraud and AML/ATF framework with changes to prudential, tax and account transfer rules affecting lending, investment and the consistency of treatment across financial institutions. On financial crime, the association points to reported fraud losses of more than CAD 704 million in 2025 and estimated total annual losses above CAD 13 billion. It recommends centralized reporting through the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre with direct links into law enforcement workflows, support for a Financial Crimes Agency, wider public education, cross-sector and international cooperation, privacy and confidentiality changes to enable investigations, and taxpayer-consented Canada Revenue Agency income verification to address mortgage fraud. For the AML/ATF regime, it calls for a review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act focused on suspicious transaction reporting, threshold reporting and client due diligence, clearer accountability for outcomes, more sector-specific supervision, proportionate penalties and expanded public-to-private information sharing. On prudential and market structure issues, the association welcomes the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions' proposed 2027 Capital Adequacy Requirements change to reduce the standardized risk weight for small and medium-sized enterprise exposures to 75 percent from 85 percent, but seeks further changes including a higher firm-size adjustment scalar under the Internal Ratings-Based Approach, a higher aggregate limit for retail small business exposures, lower risk weights for investments in Canadian venture companies and zero risk weighting for all federal loan guarantees. It also urges a review of sector-specific taxes on the financial sector, argues that the Income Tax Act is the appropriate vehicle to ban registered plan transfer fees across all providers rather than using Bank Act powers, and calls for federal-provincial alignment on AML/ATF, privacy, oversight of payment services providers engaged in bank-like activities, and over-the-counter derivatives participation fees to reduce internal trade barriers.
Canadian Bankers Association 2026-04-30
Canadian Bankers Association submits six budget recommendations on fraud AML capital tax and transfer rules
The Canadian Bankers Association’s federal budget submission outlines six recommendations covering financial crime, AML/ATF, prudential capital, corporate tax, account transfers and internal trade barriers. It urges a more coordinated anti-fraud and AML/ATF framework with centralized reporting, better information sharing and a review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, plus targeted capital changes such as lower risk weights for SME exposures. It also calls for reform of sector-specific taxes, a statutory ban on registered plan transfer fees, and stronger federal‑provincial alignment on AML/ATF, privacy and payment services oversight.