{"id":33384,"date":"2026-05-05T22:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/33384\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T22:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:28:17","slug":"ottawa-should-move-faster-to-improve-banking-competition-eq-bank-ceo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/33384\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa should move faster to improve banking competition, EQ Bank CEO says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

EQ Bank CEO Chadwick Westlake in February. He spoke in Toronto on Tuesday the need for reforms in Canada’s banking sector.Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

EQ Bank EQB-T<\/a> chief executive officer Chadwick Westlake said Canada\u2019s banking sector<\/a> is not putting the needs of consumers and businesses first, urging Ottawa to move faster on measures to bolster competition and productivity. <\/p>\n

As the federal government redraws trade routes and rebuilds relationships with global partners, Canada has a \u201crare time-sensitive opportunity\u201d to revive financial services, Mr. Westlake said at an event Tuesday held by Canadian Club Toronto. Ottawa has targeted competition in the country\u2019s highly concentrated banking sector in a bid to address concerns over affordability and gaps in lending for certain businesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur economy also relies heavily on our financial system, a system which is not currently delivering for everyday Canadians in the way it could or should,\u201d Mr. Westlake said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur banking system provides economic infrastructure, enables capital allocation and directly shapes our national productivity. This is not a sector on the margins. This is an essential system, and right now, that system is not working as well as it should for everyday Canadians.\u201d <\/p>\n

Banking contributes to about 8 per cent of Canada\u2019s gross domestic product, one of the highest ratios among any developed economy. The country\u2019s lenders are also among the most profitable, posting a significantly higher average return on equity compared with U.S. counterparts, he said. <\/p>\n

And yet small and medium-sized businesses struggle to get access to loans and consumers pay some of the highest banking fees in the world, according to Mr. Westlake. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, trade turmoil and economic uncertainty are putting pressure on households and businesses. Mr. Westlake believes these issues will continue to weigh on people at the lower end of the \u201cK-shaped\u201d economy \u2013 those lower-income Canadians who are struggling while upper-income earners thrive. <\/p>\n

He said customers at EQ Bank, Canada\u2019s seventh-largest bank, save about $200 each year in banking fees, and that the lender is focused on banking for Canadians who are priced out of larger lenders. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s banking sector is dominated by six major lenders \u2013 Royal Bank of Canada RY-T<\/a>, Toronto-Dominion Bank TD-T<\/a>, Bank of Nova Scotia BNS-T<\/a>, Bank of Montreal BMO-T<\/a>, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM-T<\/a> and National Bank of Canada NA-T<\/a> \u2013 that hold more than 90 per cent of market share. <\/p>\n

Mr. Westlake pointed to plans by Canada\u2019s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, to shave years off the application process to become a bank, in order to bring more competitors into the market. <\/p>\n

In an interview, OSFI head Peter Routledge said the regulator will need to become more comfortable<\/a> with certain financial institution failures to introduce more innovators and credit unions into the federally regulated system. <\/p>\n

Mr. Routledge has \u201cactually opened people\u2019s minds to the fact that maybe it\u2019s okay if a few institutions fail along the way, when we make a more prosperous country,\u201d Mr. Westlake said. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, EQB Inc., owner of EQ Bank, said it secured final regulatory approval to take over PC Financial<\/a> from Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T<\/a> The $800-million deal, which was first announced in December, will boost EQ Bank\u2019s customer base to 3.3 million from around 800,000. <\/p>\n

In recent bank deals, the federal government has taken several months to approve takeovers. Mr. Westlake said the speed with which Ottawa approved EQ Bank\u2019s acquisition is an indication that it is picking up the pace. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is moving at a pace probably more four to six months\u201a\u201d Mr. Westlake said. \u201cIf you think of when our application went and when this was approved, we\u2019re talking three months and change. What the government is saying is, \u2018This is an example we\u2019re making of how competition is going to be improved and supported in our country.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: EQ Bank CEO Chadwick Westlake in February. He spoke in Toronto on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[483,61,7753],"class_list":{"0":"post-33384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-nodelphi","9":"tag-ottawa","10":"tag-streetwise"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}