Budget 2025: Tech & finance leaders urge fintech reforms

Industry leaders from Canada's technology and financial sectors have highlighted the importance of open banking, simplified regulatory processes, and sustained investment in innovation as key considerations ahead of the federal government's budget announcement for 2025.

Open banking - a system that enables consumers to securely share their financial data with third-party providers - is being closely monitored for its impact on competition, productivity, and fraud reduction in the Canadian marketplace.

Open banking potential

Justin Basini, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of ClearScore, a global financial marketplace with millions of users, drew on his experience from the United Kingdom to explain open banking's potential implications for Canada.

"ClearScore was an early proponent of the value of Open Banking in the UK and has played a major role in creating conditions where consumers and lenders can embrace the power of these data," said Justin Basini, CEO of ClearScore. "We firmly believe that empowering consumers with control over their data will create a more resilient, open and competitive financial ecosystem in Canada, because we've seen this play out in the UK over the last seven years."

He indicated that similar policies in Canada could stimulate competition among banks and fintech companies. He also highlighted the potential for open banking to contribute to improved national productivity, adding, "Open banking can help people get better deals, encourage responsible lending, and make financial markets work more efficiently."

Regulatory hurdles and business growth

Alfred Nader, co-founder and CEO of Mark Lane, an entrepreneurial platform for FX professionals, praised the relative simplicity of Canada's regulatory framework, particularly in the financial technology sector. Nader noted that launching a fintech business is markedly more feasible in Canada compared to jurisdictions such as the United States.

"Canadians are already grappling with tariffs and economic uncertainty. It's pushing many of them into entrepreneurship. It's important that the federal government supports them by removing barriers that slow startups down, especially when many of them only have a short time frame before they need to start making profits," said Nader. "If the federal government accelerates open banking, Canada can shrink fraud losses and move money faster than many of its G7 peers. When data is locked in silos, fraud thrives. Open banking breaks those silos and makes it harder for fraudsters to hide."

Investment in talent and technology

The budget's implications for information technology, artificial intelligence, and the fintech sector have also drawn attention from major workforce solution providers.

Carolyn Levy, President of Consulting at Procom, commented on the role of strategic investment in maintaining Canada's competitiveness in digital industries.

"Today's federal budget announcement signals a promising step toward bolstering Canadian innovation. Organisations like Procom have seen firsthand how strategic investments in IT, AI, and fintech can fuel economic growth. As the pace of technological change accelerates, long-term support for these industries will be more vital than ever," she said.

Procom and similar organisations are monitoring how the government's economic and skills policies will affect growth opportunities in sectors that are shaping the future of work and commerce in Canada.