The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) is a financial lobbying group [1] that works on behalf of 52 domestic banks, foreign bank subsidiaries and foreign bank branches operating in Canada and their 267,000 employees. The CBA was organized in Montreal in 1891, making it one of Canada’s oldest interest groups.
The CBA works on public policy issues related to the banking system in Canada. The CBA is also a leading source of information and statistics about banks operating in Canada and the country's national banking system, which has been named the world’s soundest by the World Economic Forum for three consecutive years.[2]
The CBA is registered as a lobbying group at both the federal and provincial levels.[3][4]
The CBA operates out of offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
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Terry Campbell is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Bankers Association. In this capacity, he is the principal spokesperson for the banking industry in Canada and communicates the perspectives of the industry to all levels of government, regulators, international bodies, media and the Canadian public. He also ensures that the CBA plays a leadership role in the development of sound public policy on financial services. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Banking Federation (IBFed), a forum that addresses issues affecting banking around the world.
Mr. Campbell joined the CBA in 1997 and most recently held the position of Vice President, Policy. In this role, he was responsible for supporting the banking industry’s policy development and advocacy activities regarding federal financial services legislation reform, policy and legislation affecting banks as employers, international trade policy, and a range of regulatory issues at the provincial level.
Prior to joining the CBA, Mr. Campbell had a sixteen year career in the Ontario public service, including serving at the director level with responsibility for policy related to provincially-regulated financial services.
Mr. Campbell graduated with a Master’s degree in History from Queen's University and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Toronto. He has served on the Guelph Museums Board of Management and the Board of the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario. He is active in mentoring programs for recent immigrants to Canada.
Rejean Levesque is Chair of the CBA’s Executive Council and Executive Vice-President, Retail and Commercial Banking at National Bank.
Mr. Levesque has more than 25 years of banking experience. Since joining National Bank in 1988, Levesque has held a number of key positions and was responsible for a branch network and a commercial banking centre, and for developing a commercial loan and deposit portfolio.
Mr. Levesque holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and an MBA from the Universite du Quebec a Montreal. He is also a Fellow at the Institute of Canadian Bankers.[5]
The CBA provides information to the public about banking policies, saving and investing, and fraud prevention.
Through the CBA’s website, consumers can learn basic banking information such as opening a bank account, choosing the right account and understanding credit. The CBA also provides an overview of various banking products like Tax Free Savings Accounts, RRSPs and mortgages.
The CBA also provides information to the public about their rights and responsibilities while conducting banking transactions. Consumers can find information about codes of conduct, selling practices and customer privacy through the CBA’s website.
Canada’s banks take the issue of financial fraud seriously. In order to help make fraud prevention a habit throughout the year, the CBA, on behalf of Canada’s banks, has developed a series of Fraud Prevention Tips that cover current and emerging fraud schemes like phishing, identity theft and debit card fraud.
‘’YourMoney’’ is the CBA’s financial literacy resource for youth. Every year bankers from CBA member institutions volunteer to visit classrooms across Canada to present a seminar that covers topics such as budgeting, saving, investing, borrowing and fraud prevention. The YourMoney website also provides resources for parents to teach their kids financial literacy at home.
Developed in partnership with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada in 2000, the ‘’YourMoney’’ program has reached over 200,000 students across Canada.
Canadian banks work closely with law enforcement in order to prevent and investigate crimes against financial institutions. Every year, the CBA honours outstanding Canadian police officers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to protect Canada’s banks and their employees against financial crime.
Since 1972, the CBA has honoured 221 police officers. Winners have demonstrated exceptional bravery and resourcefulness, and have undertaken unique and complicated investigations.
The CBA currently has 52 members from domestic, foreign bank subsidiaries and foreign bank branches operating in Canada. Current CBA members are:
Schedule I Banks are domestic banks and are authorized under the Bank Act to accept deposits, which may be eligible for insurance provided by the CDIC.
Schedule II Banks are foreign bank subsidiaries authorized under the Bank Act to accept deposits, which may be eligible for deposit insurance provided by CDIC. Foreign bank subsidiaries are controlled by eligible foreign institutions
Schedule III banks are foreign bank branches of foreign institutions that have been authorized under the Bank Act to do banking business in Canada.