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A review of budgets, staffing and legal powers at the disposal of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the primary financial consumer watchdog, shows the regulator lacking the firepower of its U.S. and British peers.

The FCAC has a budget of C$18 million for the 2016/17 financial year and employs 89 staff. In contrast, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions that oversees the safety of the entire banking system employs 700 with an annual budget of C$144 million.

By comparison, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority had an annual budget of 519 million pounds (C$858 million) and 3,337 staff at the end of its last fiscal year. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had a budget of $606 million (C$808 million) last year and 1,623 employees.

The FCAC’s fines are also capped at C$500,000 per violation and since its formation in 2001, the FCAC has issued fines totalling just C$1.7 million. In contrast, Britain’s FCA has dished out over $3 billion pounds since its creation in 2013 while the CFPB has handed out fines worth over $5 billion since its creation in 2011.

“MYSTERY SHOPPERS”

One consequence of the tight budget is that the FCAC has not carried out a “mystery shopper” exercise since 2005.

“They demand a lot of resources and are not always necessary,” FCAC’s Deputy Commissioner Brigitte Goulard told Reuters in an interview.

“There are better ways to make sure the banks actually comply with the legislation,” she added. “The banks are required to self-reveal, self-assess their own compliance with legislation and I think it’s worked fairly well.”