The federal government has clarified that its new anti-fraud measures, announced ahead of the 2025 budget, will initially apply to banks – not insurers – but could expand as Canada’s forthcoming National Anti-Fraud Strategy takes shape.
In a statement to Insurance Business Canada, a Department of Finance official said the proposed legislative amendments to strengthen fraud-related consumer protections in the Bank Act “do not apply to insurers.” The government will, however, “continue to evaluate further measures to fight fraud in the context of its Anti-Fraud Strategy work.”
The clarification helps delineate the scope of Ottawa’s new framework, which was announced last week as part of a broader pre-budget package aimed at countering rising online scams, financial exploitation, and money laundering.
Central to the plan is the creation of a Financial Crimes Agency, which the government says will become Canada’s lead enforcement body for complex and sophisticated financial crimes.
“As a law enforcement agency, it will have the necessary authorities to begin investigations, accept referrals, and work collaboratively with partners, including the private sector, to investigate and counter these crimes,” the Finance Department said.
The agency will be established through legislation expected by spring 2026, introduced jointly by the ministers of Finance, Justice, and Public Safety. Its mandate will include investigating financial crimes such as money laundering, large-scale fraud schemes, and illicit fund transfers – areas that increasingly intersect with the insurance sector.
While insurers are not explicitly part of the new framework, the agency’s emphasis on coordination with private-sector partners suggests potential touchpoints with insurance fraud investigations. Experts have long noted that organized fraud often crosses sectoral lines – from staged auto claims and synthetic identities to investment and payment fraud schemes.
For insurers and brokers, the development signals that cross-industry cooperation may soon become a policy priority, even if the regulatory focus remains on banking for now.
For the moment, insurers will not be directly impacted by the government’s new consent and payment control requirements. The proposed Bank Act amendments will compel financial institutions to obtain explicit customer consent before enabling certain transfer and payment functions – capabilities frequently exploited in scams such as account takeovers or unauthorized wire transfers.
Consumers will also gain the ability to disable unwanted features or set transaction limits to reduce exposure to fraud. While these provisions don’t extend to insurance accounts or claims processes, analysts say the same principles – customer authentication, secure payment channels, and clear consent mechanisms – could eventually shape insurance industry best practices as well.
Fraud prevention tools in financial services increasingly overlap with those used in underwriting and claims verification, particularly as identity theft and cyber-enabled scams become more sophisticated. The insurance industry has already begun investing in advanced analytics, behavioural risk monitoring, and document verification to combat both opportunistic and organized fraud.
The government also confirmed that its forthcoming Voluntary Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse will apply only to banks. The code aims to protect individuals whose access to funds or credit is being controlled by another person, often within domestic or family relationships – a form of coercive financial control that disproportionately affects women and seniors.
While insurers are not directly covered, the underlying issue is not foreign to the sector. Policy manipulation, unauthorized beneficiary changes, and coerced claim withdrawals can all fall under similar patterns of abuse. Industry observers suggest that if the new code proves effective in financial services, a comparable framework could eventually emerge for insurance and financial intermediaries.
Beyond the immediate legislative measures, the government’s National Anti-Fraud Strategy remains under development. The Department of Finance said details of future consultations “will be forthcoming.”
For insurers, that leaves open the question of whether they will be invited to participate in the next phase of planning. With insurance fraud estimated to cost Canadians more than $1 billion annually, industry leaders have consistently called for more coordination between regulators, law enforcement, and private-sector investigators.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada has previously advocated for stronger data-sharing mechanisms and unified reporting standards to help identify emerging fraud networks across claims and payment systems.
While no immediate regulatory changes are expected for insurers, Ottawa’s new framework could ultimately influence how the sector approaches fraud detection, data governance, and consumer protection.
Industry experts note that increased transparency, stronger identity verification, and consent-based transaction models may help reduce the human-error component of fraud – the factor most often cited as the root cause of cyber and financial losses.
If the federal plan succeeds in raising awareness and tightening fraud prevention standards across financial services, insurers could benefit indirectly through improved consumer vigilance and reduced exposure to identity-based claims.
Still, much depends on how the Financial Crimes Agency and National Anti-Fraud Strategy evolve in practice. Until then, insurers are watching from the sidelines – aware that in an increasingly digital economy, financial crime no longer respects sector boundaries.
