Privacy Commissioner Investigating Canadian Mortgage Brokers
In response to a story in The Globe and Mail, the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner has confirmed that it is reviewing the practices of mortgage brokers across Canada relating to their dealing with the personal information of prospective and actual mortgagors.
In Canada, the supervision and licensing of mortgage brokers falls within provincial jurisdiction (but varies widely from province to province), whereas both the legislation regulating banks and banking and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act fall within federal government jurisdiction.
Although about one-half of all mortgages in Canada are financed by the federally regulated banks, approximately 30% of all mortgages are arranged through provincially-regulated mortgage brokers. An example cited by The Globe and Mail journalist of the extent of possible misuse of information was the warning issued by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario that it had received a number of complaints regarding fraudulent activities by mortgage agents “who were fraudulently accessing clients’ credit information without proper authorization”.
The Privacy Commissioner hopes to have most of the review completed in time for the 2009 annual report.
For The Globe and Mail article, visit:
Summary by: Oren Weichenberg
