The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that in the 2018 federal budget, the government announced its intention to pursue a made-in-Canada approach to open banking. Guest columnist Steve Boms writes that meant a system that would allow consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises to have control over their financial data and the ability to safely and securely use third party tools to help manage their finances. Yet what followed has been a paragon of bureaucracy: a two-part, four-year advisory committee study, the 18-month appointment of an open-banking czar in 2022 to provide recommendations to the Minister of Finance and years of consultations with industry. After nearly seven years of delays, Canadians still do not have a financial services system that lets them safely share their financial information with trusted apps to help manage money, find better deals and switch banks more easily. The government announced in its fall economic statement Monday a one-year delay in Canada's open-banking journey. That means Canada is well behind the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Singapore, where open banking has brought lower fees, better services and more options.