FTX invoked by Canada banks group in call for payment safeguards

THE main lobbying group for Canada’s banking industry invoked the collapse of FTX and Celsius Network in warning that the government needs to establish better consumer protections for the country’s payments systems.

The Bank of Canada was given the power to oversee payment-service providers last year — a move the banking industry welcomed — but the absence of consumer protections in its supervision framework so far is “a significant shortcoming”, Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) president Anthony Ostler said in a speech to the Canadian Club Toronto on Thursday (Nov 24).

“We’ve all seen the spectacular collapses in the emerging finance space resulting in serious and unnecessary customer losses,” Ostler said in prepared remarks. “Let’s be clear, we don’t want the next FTX or Celsius coming from Canada’s payments ecosystem.”

The CBA represents more than 60 domestic and foreign banks in Canada. Ostler cited estimates that more than 2,000 non-bank payment-service providers are operating in the country.

“The payments marketplace is running in front of the regulatory environment,” he said. BLOOMBERG