The payment services industry has grown with many technology companies such as Shopify, Square, and PayPal. More recently, the industry has seen tremendous growth in buy-now-pay-later services.
Even though the competition is good, Anthony Ostler noted that the payments market is ahead of the regulatory environment and consumers are not sufficiently protected.
“Let’s be clear, we don’t want the next (a la) FTX or Celsius crash to come from Canada’s payments ecosystem. »
He said the federal government should add consumer protections to the retail payment oversight framework as it prepares next steps.
Anthony Ostler also said the government should do more to boost productivity and raised concerns about federal tax proposals that specifically target the banking sector.
These measures include a one-off 15% tax on the profits of large banks and life insurers made during the pandemic, as well as a permanent increase in the tax rate for both, from 15.0% to 16, 5%.
The new tax measures would not only increase the cost of capital for the banking sector, but also for businesses across the country, as they add another variable for potential investors in Canada. A technology company could choose to look elsewhere, Anthony Ostler indicated as an example, where it would not be “randomly attacked”.
“So we are increasing the cost of capital for all Canadian companies by creating uncertainty about who might be next. »
In September, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that the two tax measures could generate $5.3 billion over the next five years.