The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the federal budget provides long-awaited regulatory certainty needed to bolster investment in financial services. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that Mr. Champagne hopes to end years of delays to new regimes that would boost competition in Canada's highly concentrated banking sector. Prime Minister Mark Carney's first federal budget issued the country's most significant steps yet toward levelling the playing field for small lenders and fintech companies eager to take on the Big Six banks' dominant market share. At the same time, the budget lacked measures to ease previous tax hikes and reduce regulatory burden on Canada's biggest banks. Mr. Champagne said during an event Thursday in Toronto, "Some people have been waiting for a long, long time to be provided certainty on open banking." Canada's banking regulator has been caught between maintaining the stability of the financial system and loosening rules to allow new platforms and players into the system. The budget included a commitment to introduce legislation regulating stablecoins and rule changes to make it easier for smaller banks and credit unions to grow.