Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1295479
www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse 19 is because, as a global company, it's hard to stay on top of everything that's written," says Abbott. "Really, the most useful thing is to start reading the internal tea leaves to get a sense of where the regulators are going." She also relies heavily on external counsel partners. At Vancouver-based credit union Coast Capital Savings, meeting major provincial regulatory changes relating to the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation and the federal Financial Consumer Protection Frame- work are key priorities for Lisa Skakun, general counsel and chief corporate develop- ment officer. Skakun and her legal team also closely monitor developments relating to privacy and data protection and the develop- ment of open banking and payments modernization in Canada. Skakun says the FCPF is well aligned with Coast Capital's objectives as a member-focused organization. While she welcomes the measures created to protect Canadians, she says certain aspects of the new regulations have posed capacity restraints for the team. "Increased regulatory oversight and the increase in information requests does pose a practical issue around resourcing," says Skakun. "The COVID-19 pandemic drastically shifted the way everyone operates. Layer on top of that new requests for information, different timelines, new products and new ways to service customers." Ensuring the legal team is seen as a strong business partner that delivers regulatory expectations and protects the organization is also at the top of Skakun's list, together with breaking complex rules down and putting them into a clear and simple document. "How do we take something that is intimidating for non-lawyers and make it tangible and relevant to the organization? It's important that the legal team understands regulatory expectations, but you've also got to be able to engage with the business to ensure that the regulatory environment is captured in the front and back office," she says. Coast Capital's legal team partners closely with business units and the compliance team to ensure that the organization is effectively managing regulatory risks. "On large projects, we do our best to be true business partners and embed ourselves into projects to ensure that we are compliant by design and not as an afterthought," says Skakun. In the year ahead, she anticipates seeing further development of the open banking framework, payments modernization and the implementation of the FCPF. Garellek agrees that the pandemic may expediate the rise of an open banking environment in Canada and more technolog- ical solutions for consumers. "I think we will definitely see policy development start to ramp up again in the fall on the consumer side," he says. "Increased regulatory oversight and the increase in information requests does pose a practical issue around resourcing." Lisa Skakun, Coast Capital Savings