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TORONTO — Security risks are rising as geopolitical and technological landscapes shift and industry needs to adapt quickly, the head of Canada’s banking regulator warned on Thursday.
Superintendent of Financial Institutions Peter Routledge, speaking at an Institute of International Finance forum in Toronto, said the heightened risks are coming in multiple emerging forms.
“That could be cyberthreats, could be third party risk, it could be attacks from transnational criminal organizations, which often are called money laundering threats, it could be foreign interference,” he said.
“You know, on June 30, 2021, when I took the job, those weren’t on my radar screen, and they’ve emerged, and we’ve had to adapt.”
Canada is already a leader in some ways in responding to the threats, he noted, pointing to the government’s move in 2023 to expand the regulator’s mandate to include monitoring integrity and security threats.
Banks have also been working to boost security, but Routledge said it’s important to keep up with the scale of the risks
“The threats, the incoming attacks are rising in intensity and frequency, so invest to build up your defences.”
His warning came a day after the RCMP confirmed that a former RBC employee faces criminal charges after allegedly accessing the personal information of Prime Minister Mark Carney. RBC said it flagged the violation and worked closely with police in the investigation.
It also comes as TD Bank Group continues to work to boost its anti-money laundering defences after criminals laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through the bank in the U.S.
Routledge said boards of directors are coming to understand the reputational risks and are making the needed investments to maintain the respect and trust of their clients.
“They realize they have to defend it, cause what took 100 years to build can disappear in days.”
The rise of artificial intelligence, and how that might affect cyberthreats, is another key worry, said Routledge.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has taken its own measures to protect against those risks, including shutting off internal access to public AI models because he doesn’t want any OSFI information in them, he said.
The combination of threats means the financial sector is entering a new era, he said.
“For the last 35 years since the end of the Cold War, the threats weren’t that great, and now they’ve ticked up.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.
Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
