Dominique Samson is Flinks' Chief of Staff. He makes sure visions are shared, teams are aligned, and problems get solved.

White Paper: The State and Future of Financial Data Connectivity in Canada

By Dominique Samson on May 5th, 2020

Reading Time: 2 min

Open banking will modernize Canada’s financial services sector with a digital infrastructure enabling consumers to easily transfer their bank data to third parties, thus paving the way for greater consumer choice in terms of financial services.

That being said, financial data connectivity — a core function of the open banking infrastructure — already exists in Canada.

Using a technology known as “screen scraping”, it currently powers hundreds of businesses servicing 3.5 to 4 million Canadians, over 15% of the country’s adult population — and adoption is on the rise.

This white paper examines the claims against screen scraping, and in doing so provides a more balanced account of this technology and the role it plays in Canada.

We hope to show that open banking needs to expand on the current benefits of screen scraping as much as it needs to overcome its shortcomings.

Key takeaways

  • Screen scraping currently serves a significant purpose in Canada
  • The fact that connectivity currently relies on screen scraping doesn’t pose a particularly new or significant security risk — quite the opposite
  • Focusing on screen scraping is a waste of energy — and more importantly, a waste of time
  • Open banking is not defined by a specific technology, be it screen scraping or API

You might also like


Security at Flinks FAQs: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know

FAQ about security at Flinks. When our clients have questions about security — such as how Flinks handles and protects data — we provide straight answers.

As more and more consumers connect their bank accounts to apps and other services, some wonder what technology is enabling them to do so.

What Your Customers Are Thinking About When They Get Asked to Connect With Flinks

As more and more consumers connect their bank accounts to financial apps and services, some want to learn more about the technology enabling them to do so.

Stay up to date