On December 15, 2021, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (“FCAC”) issued a proposed Guideline on Whistleblowing Policies and Procedures for Banks and Authorized Foreign Banks (the “Guideline”). The proposed Guideline sets out FCAC’s expectations with respect to banks’ and authorized foreign banks’ implementation of the new whistleblowing provisions in Part XVI.1 of the Bank Act as they relate to the new Financial Consumer Protection Framework (“FCPF”) (see our blogpost series on the FCPF), which is scheduled to come into force on June 30, 2022.
Banks should also ensure that any third parties subject to the requirements in s. 627.15 of the Bank Act comply with the Bank’s whistleblowing policies and employees of third parties should be able to report wrongdoing as if they are employees of the Bank or the third party. FCAC is also encouraging other federally regulated financial entities, such as trust and loan companies and insurance companies, to review the proposed Guideline and develop or improve their whistleblowing policies and procedures.
This is the third consultation in a series of consultations on guidelines that FCAC has developed in support of the FCPF, the two previous consultations being related to Complaint-Handling Procedures for Banks and Authorized Foreign Banks and Appropriate Products and Services for Banks and Authorized Foreign Banks (please refer to our earlier blog post for more details regarding these two guidelines).
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