You went in to open an account. You came out with three products.
A bank is the custodian of a person's money and, at the same moment, is running a sales operation on them. Both things are true at once, and only one of them is obvious.
What is actually being decided.
A bank is the custodian of a person's money and, at the same moment, is running a sales operation on them. Both things are true at once, and only one of them is obvious.
What actually goes wrong.
Not a list of villains. A list of places where the record and the relationship come apart, drawn from what the regulators themselves have published.
A culture built to sell
Retail banking culture is predominantly focused on selling products and services, increasing the risk that consumers' interests are not always given the appropriate priority. That is FCAC's finding, in its own words.
Nearly half, on credit cards
Across 712 mystery shopping visits at the six largest banks, 45 per cent of credit card shoppers and 32 per cent of chequing shoppers reported an inappropriate product recommendation.
Not everybody equally
FCAC recorded that shoppers who self-identified as visible minorities, Indigenous persons and students had more concerning experiences than other shoppers.
Never written down
FCAC's 2025 review found employees who did not understand what counted as a complaint, so it was never recorded, never started the clock, and never reached anybody.
The same four moments, in this decision.
Every industry on this site gets the same four moments, because the relationship is the thing that repeats. Only the decision changes.
Before the branch
The person knows what they came in for, and has it written down, so a conversation that widens is visibly a conversation that widened.
At the recommendation
What was offered, what need it was said to answer, and what the person actually agreed to, captured as it happens.
On consent
Express consent for each product, recorded separately, because the law now requires each product to be its own agreement.
On a complaint
It is recorded as a complaint the moment it is one, which is the only way the fifty-six day obligation means anything.
Better financial decisions start with better relationships.
The person understands what they are deciding. The firm can show how it was handled. Both of those come out of the same conversation.