How Open Banking Works
Consumer-Driven Banking gives Canadians and businesses a secure, permission-based way to share financial information with approved service providers.
It is commonly called open banking in other countries. In Canada, the official term is Consumer-Driven Banking.
Your data, shared with your permission
Open banking does not mean that your bank account becomes open to everyone.
It means that you can instruct a participating financial institution to share approved financial information with another approved service provider.
The information may include items such as account details, balances, transactions or product information, depending on the scope of the framework and the authorization you provide.
The receiving service can then use that information for the purpose you approved, such as helping you understand spending, compare products or manage several accounts in one application.
How Consumer-Driven Banking works
The exact screens and wording may differ by provider, but a typical authorized data-sharing journey follows these stages.
Choose a service
You select a participating application or financial service that you want to use.
Example: a budgeting or account-comparison applicationReview the request
You review what information is being requested, why it is needed and which organizations are involved.
Example: account balances and recent transactionsGive permission
You provide express authorization through the required consent and authentication process.
You do not give the receiving app your banking passwordData is shared
Your bank and the approved service exchange the authorized information through a secure technical connection.
Only the approved information should be transferredManage access
You can review the authorization and withdraw access through the available consent-management process.
Remove access when you no longer use the serviceSee multiple accounts in one place
Imagine that you have accounts at two different financial institutions.
You choose a participating money-management application and authorize both institutions to share selected account and transaction information with it.
The application can then show the authorized information together in one dashboard, helping you understand your complete financial position without manually downloading and combining statements.
What could it help people do?
The services available will depend on participating providers and the development of Canada’s framework.
Manage money
Bring authorized account information into one tool to understand balances, transactions and spending patterns.
Compare products
Use relevant financial information to compare accounts, fees, rates or other available products more easily.
Build a budget
Automatically organize authorized transactions and build a more complete view of income and expenses.
Support small businesses
Reduce manual financial administration and improve access to tools that use business account information.
Enable innovation
Give financial institutions and fintechs a consistent framework for building consumer-authorized services.
Make switching easier
Data portability may reduce some of the work required to evaluate or move between financial providers.
API sharing versus screen scraping
The regulated framework is intended to move financial data sharing toward standardized, permission-based connections.
Screen scraping
A service may ask for banking credentials and use them to sign in and collect information from the banking website.
- May involve credential sharing
- Can provide broad account access
- May break when a banking website changes
- Can be harder to monitor and control
API-based sharing
Approved systems exchange authorized data through a controlled technical connection.
- Designed to avoid sharing banking passwords
- Data access can be more specifically defined
- Activity can be recorded and monitored
- Consumers receive a consent-management process
Who is involved?
Consumer-Driven Banking connects consumers, financial institutions, approved service providers and regulatory bodies.
Consumers and businesses
Choose whether to share their information and select the participating provider that may receive it.
Financial institutions
Hold financial information and respond to authorized data requests through the framework.
Fintechs and service providers
Build products and services that use authorized financial data for an approved purpose.
Government of Canada
Establishes policy, legislation and regulations supporting the framework.
Bank of Canada
Administers the framework and supervises participating organizations under its mandate.
Designed around permission and protection
Participating organizations must operate within the legal, regulatory, privacy and security requirements that apply to them.
Open banking FAQ
Quick answers to common questions about how Consumer-Driven Banking works.
01 Does open banking mean anyone can see my bank account?
No. Consumer-Driven Banking is based on your authorization. You decide whether to share information with a participating provider.
02 Will I have to share my banking password?
The regulated API-based framework is intended to allow data sharing without giving the receiving service your online-banking credentials.
03 What information can be shared?
The available data will depend on the framework’s scope and the specific authorization. It may include information such as account details, balances, transactions or financial-product information.
04 Can I stop sharing my data?
The Canadian framework includes consent-management and revocation requirements. The applicable service should provide a process to review and withdraw authorization.
05 Who supervises the framework?
The Bank of Canada is responsible for administering Canada’s Consumer-Driven Banking Framework and supervising participating organizations under its mandate.
View Bank of Canada information06 Is Consumer-Driven Banking available in Canada now?
Canada is developing and implementing its regulated framework. Availability will depend on the implementation schedule, regulations, accreditation, technical readiness and participation of financial service providers.
Follow official implementation updatesExplore Canada’s Consumer-Driven Banking Framework
Learn about the legislation, regulatory oversight, security, privacy and terminology behind Canada’s developing system.