Banking regulator warns of rising risks as geopolitical winds shift

Bank towers are shown from Bay Street in Toronto's financial district, on Wednesday, June 16, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrien Veczan

TORONTO — The head of Canada’s banking regulator is warning that security risks are rising as the geopolitical landscape shifts, and says industry needs to adapt quickly.

Superintendent of Financial Institutions Peter Routledge, speaking at an Institute of International Finance forum in Toronto, says the risks the financial sector faces today are not the ones he expected when he took on the job in 2021.

He says shifts in geopolitics and technology mean banks and other financial institutions face heightened integrity and security risks.

Routledge says Canada is already a global leader in its response to the threats by making those types of risks just as important to manage as sound financial conditions.

But he says banks and others still need to keep investing in their defences, whether it’s against money laundering, cyber threats or other security risks.

He says the rise of artificial intelligence, and how that might affect cyber threats, is a key worry for him.

Routledge says 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.