According to reports, the Royal Bank of Canada's CEO has claimed that allowing Canadian banks to sell insurance directly would benefit the industry as a whole.
As it stands, Canadian laws allow banks to maintain insurance operations but not advertise or recruit for those operations through their branches.
In an article reported by Reuters, Gord Nixon, RBC’s chief executive said that this was harming customers and competition, arguing that by denying the bank’s financial expertise and services the industry was denying customer need.
However, the article goes on to quote a study by Advocis which suggests that many Canadian consumers are unsure about the prospect of banks being freed from current restrictions. The report suggests that over 90% of those surveyed were concerned about the amount of information a bank would have on them.