Federal consumer agency delays report on Canadian banks' sales practices

A federal agency won't be releasing the results of its review of business practices among Canada's major banks by the end of the year, as originally anticipated.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada announced the review in March, after the CBC reported some employees from Canada's five biggest banks felt pressured to upsell, trick and even lie to customers to meet sales targets.

All five banks have denied the claims, defending their practices and insisting that they put the needs of their clients first.

FCAC commissioner Lucie Tedesco had indicated to a parliamentary committee in June that an interim report on its review would be issued by the end of 2017 and a full report in 2018.

But FCAC spokeswoman Lynne Santerre says that the commission has since determined that the better approach would be to issue one report in the first quarter of 2018.

She says that to date, FCAC supervision staff has been reviewing thousands of consumer complaints, interviewing over 500 bank directors and bank personnel, analyzing volumes of bank documents and examining the potential impact of sales targets and incentive programs on consumers.