2026 Independent External Review of OBSI’s operations released

Toronto, July 22, 2026 – Today, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) released the results of the 2026 Independent Evaluation of its operations and practices for both banking and investment-related complaints. The full report can be found here.

The evaluation was conducted by CRKhoury (CRK), an Australian consultancy with extensive experience undertaking independent evaluations of ombudservices, particularly those operating in the financial services industry. CRK delivered their findings to the OBSI Board of Directors, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and to the OBSI Joint Regulators Committee of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).

The report concluded that OBSI had met its obligations under the Bank Act and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the CSA.

The evaluation found OBSI to be “a well organised, professionally managed, and highly motivated financial ombudsman service”, and noted that “OBSI’s management was a significant strength” and that OBSI’s “workplace culture was highly positive”.

Overall, the evaluation concluded that OBSI’s processes are sound and well managed, and made 26 recommendations, most aimed at improving services incrementally, as well as enhancing transparency, accessibility, and stakeholder confidence. Key recommendations included:

• Recommending binding authority for OBSI decisions for all cases (banking and investments)
• Increasing the compensation limit to $550,000 with inflation indexing
• Strengthening escalation of systemic issues reporting to regulators and discussion of systemic issues in annual reporting
• Increasing information sharing in its process, such as by sharing key firm documents and facilitated settlement proposals with complainants

OBSI welcomes the evaluation and its recommendations. The Board of Directors and OBSI management have considered the evaluation carefully and will be incorporating many of the recommendations in OBSI’s 2027 to 2031 Strategic Plan to be published later this year. OBSI's preliminary response to the recommendations is available here.

“We are pleased that CRK’s independent evaluation recognizes OBSI’s strong performance and identified practical ways to further enhance our work,” said OBSI Chair Maureen Jensen. “The board thanks CRK for its thorough and thoughtful review. We look forward to implementing the recommendations to enhance our services, improve the consumer and firm experience, and further strengthen confidence in OBSI’s independent dispute resolution process.”

OBSI’s Terms of Reference, its MOU with the CSA, and Bank Act regulations require OBSI to be independently evaluated every five years. The purpose of these independent reviews is to determine whether OBSI is fulfilling its regulatory obligations and operating effectively in accordance with recognized best practices for financial services ombudsmen. Previous independent reviews can be found here.

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Canada’s Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is a national, independent, not-for-profit organization that helps resolve and reduce disputes between consumers and financial services firms in both official languages. OBSI is responsive to consumer inquiries, conducts fair and accessible investigations of unresolved disputes, and shares its knowledge and expertise with all stakeholders and the public. If a consumer has a complaint against an OBSI participating bank or investment firm that they are not able to resolve with the bank or firm, OBSI will investigate at no cost to the consumer. Where a complaint has merit, OBSI may recommend compensation up to a maximum of $350,000. 

For more information, please contact: 
Mark Wright, Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations 
416-287-2877 ext.2225 
publicaffairs@obsi.ca