Banks and CanDeal pilot shared risk utility aimed at easing supplier compliance burdens
Canada’s largest banks are pooling resources with market infrastructure provider CanDeal to tackle one of financial services’ most persistent operational headaches: third-party risk management.
The collaboration will introduce a centralized industry solution designed to standardize vendor due diligence and reduce overlapping compliance work across institutions and suppliers. A pilot is expected to launch in the first half of 2026.
The initiative reflects mounting regulatory scrutiny of outsourcing arrangements and supply-chain exposure, pressures that have significantly increased documentation and monitoring demands across the sector.
According to the announcement, the CanDeal Third-Party Risk (TPR) platform aims to replace fragmented, bank-by-bank review processes with a shared framework that allows participants to rely on common assessments. The goal is to streamline compliance obligations while lowering administrative costs for vendors serving multiple financial institutions.
Banks have traditionally conducted independent due diligence on the same suppliers, creating repetitive data requests and extended onboarding timelines. By mutualizing oversight activities, the new infrastructure is intended to eliminate duplicated effort while maintaining regulatory safeguards.
An initial group of suppliers selected by participating banks is already involved in development, a move intended to ensure broader industry input as the model evolves.
Jayson Horner, co-founder, president and CEO of CanDeal, framed the effort as a response to growing regulatory complexity.
"The regulatory requirements are complex, and the due diligence process can be demanding, stifling access and innovation. This initiative changes that dynamic entirely. It's about making the process more efficient, inclusive, and beneficial for everyone involved while maintaining the necessary risk oversight required,"
The platform will incorporate artificial intelligence and machine-learning capabilities to support ongoing monitoring, data updates and supply-chain transparency, according to the release. These tools are expected to help both banks and vendors maintain current information while reducing manual review workloads.
Participants argue the approach could shorten onboarding cycles and lower compliance costs — particularly for smaller suppliers that often face multiple overlapping audits from large financial institutions.
The shared infrastructure is also positioned as a way to improve data quality across the ecosystem, helping institutions track risk exposure more consistently.
The project follows earlier Canadian industry efforts to build shared utilities around compliance and market infrastructure, reflecting a broader shift toward cooperative solutions in areas where regulatory demands are rising faster than individual firms’ efficiency gains.
CanDeal, owned by Canada’s major banks and TMX Group stakeholders, has increasingly focused on mutualized services alongside its electronic trading and data businesses.
Backers say the model could eventually extend beyond Canada if successful, potentially serving as a template for global adoption.
Whether competitors and regulators ultimately embrace a shared due-diligence approach will likely determine how far the initiative reshapes supplier oversight across capital markets.
