The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) says the results publicly of its 2004-05 mystery-shopping exercise were generally positive.

FCAC monitors the compliance of the federally regulated financial services industry with the federal laws designed to protect consumers.

Mystery-shopping is an important tool FCAC uses to gather information and to identify issues in the financial services marketplace.

“We work to support a fair and competitive market place. Mystery shopping helps us achieve this objective by providing us with key information”, said FCAC Commissioner Bill Knight in a release..

“While there is always room for improvement, the overall results are positive,” Knight said.

The purpose of this year’s mystery-shopping exercise, which took place between November 2004 and March 2005, was to gather information and identify any problems related to access to basic banking services. The Access to Basic Banking Services Regulations, introduced in 2003, allow Canadians to cash a federal government cheque for less than $1,500, free of charge, and to open a retail bank account, with no minimum deposit.

Overall, the banks that were shopped attained a 84% success rate with respect to the legislative requirements for the opening of basic retail deposit accounts and a 91% success rate when cashing federal government cheques.

Knight said the exercised highlighted a problem with banks providing notices of refusal to customers.

However, this exercise did point to a problem with banks providing notices of refusal to consumers. “The Regulations clearly state that a bank must provide consumers, in writing, with a notice of its refusal to open an account or to cash a federal government cheque. In addition, consumers should also receive, in writing, instructions on how they can contact FCAC if they wish to report their situation. This process is crucial for keeping consumers informed of their rights, and is essential when it comes to FCAC monitoring the industry’s compliance with federal consumer protection measures,” Knight said.

To view the results of the mystery- shopping exercise, visit FCAC’s Web site at: www.fcac.gc.ca and go to the Compliance section.