Canada: OBSI and FCAC complaint data

Two bodies with different jobs

The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) reviews individual disputes. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is the federal regulator for consumer obligations of banks and other federally regulated financial entities ³.

FCAC states that it does not resolve individual complaints ¹. Its annual report says the Agency does not handle individual complaints or provide compensation to consumers ⁴. Federally regulated entities must share their complaint process information and report on consumer complaints, and FCAC uses this information to supervise them ³.

OBSI's designation as Canada's single external complaints body for banking took effect on 1 November 2024, according to the FCAC annual report ⁴. OBSI's 2024 annual report says OBSI became the sole ombudsman for all federally regulated banks on that date ². OBSI handles investment cases as well ².

The complaint route for a bank customer

• Complain to the bank. Each bank has its own complaint process and must explain each step to the customer ¹.
• The bank must give a detailed written response within 56 calendar days from when the complaint was first made ¹.
• The customer may contact OBSI when more than 56 calendar days have passed, or when the bank has given a detailed written response and closed the file, whichever comes first ¹.
• If a complaint is outside its terms of reference, OBSI must say so in writing within 30 calendar days ¹.
• OBSI must make a final written recommendation within 120 calendar days after receiving the information it needs ¹.
• OBSI can recommend compensation up to $350,000. Its recommendations are not binding, which means firms do not have to follow them ².

What OBSI case data shows

OBSI's fiscal year runs from 1 November to 31 October. Fiscal 2024 covered 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024 ⁵. The 2024 annual report gives these figures for that year ².

Recent OBSI quarters

OBSI received 16,420 public inquiries in fiscal 2024 ². The report states there were no refusals by any participating firm of an OBSI recommendation in 2024 ².

In Q4 2025 (1 August to 31 October 2025), OBSI reported that cases opened rose 112% year over year, and banking cases rose 138% ⁷. Its Q4 summary gives percentage changes and not counts ⁷.

In Q2 2026 (1 February to 30 April 2026), OBSI reported 8,540 inquiries and 1,988 cases opened, of which 1,767 were banking and 221 were investment. OBSI labels these figures preliminary ⁶. Fraud was the top banking issue with 675 cases, and e-Transfer fraud was the top banking product and issue pair with 244 cases ⁶.

What FCAC's complaint data shows

In 2025-26 (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026), FCAC received 236,324 reportable complaints from federally regulated entities, according to the text of its annual report ⁸. The report's table of products and services prints a total of 236,329 ⁸.

The 2024-25 report counted 268,718 reports from regulated entities. These are summary reports on individual complaints made to the entities ⁴.

Reading the Canadian figures with care

• The 2025-26 product rows add up to 235,861 (85,100 + 71,988 + 18,503 + 17,134 + 9,064 + 34,072), against a printed table total of 236,329 and 236,324 complaints in the text. FCAC says one complaint can be assigned to more than one product, so totals may exceed the number of complaints. It does not explain why the rows add up to less ⁸.
• The 2024-25 product table has no total row, and its six counts (88,252 accounts, 78,088 credit cards, 17,982 debit cards, 14,690 mortgages, 9,050 investments and 32,918 other) add up to 240,980, not the 268,718 reports given in the text. The report does not explain the gap ⁴.
• FCAC no longer classifies questions from the public to its own information centre as complaints, as it did in earlier years ⁴.
• A complaint to a bank, an OBSI inquiry and an OBSI case are different stages. OBSI publishes inquiries and cases opened as separate counts ⁶.
• OBSI compensation rates describe closed cases only, split by banking and investment ².
• FCAC enforcement figures are separate from complaint counts. In 2025-26 FCAC issued 210 Notices of Breach and 1 Notice of Violation following investigations ⁸. In 2024-25 it issued 190 Notices of Breach and 3 Notices of Violation ⁴.