The federal government has made Gina Byrne the acting president and CEO of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and Martin Glynn the chair of its board. This strengthens CDIC’s leadership at a time when protecting depositors is getting more attention.
Glynn will start his five-year term as chair on October 1, 2025, and Byrne will start his term on that date. François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, made the announcement in Ottawa on September 8.
The minister thanked Leah Anderson, who has been the agency’s president and CEO since 2023, and Robert Sanderson, who was chair for nine years.
The government said that the changes were part of its normal process for choosing qualified candidates through the Governor-in-Council.
CDIC is a federal Crown corporation that protects deposits of up to 100,000 Canadian dollars for each of nine account types at its member institutions. It also acts as the resolution authority for those businesses.
The government says that its coverage fully protects about 95% of eligible deposit accounts.
Byrne takes over after almost 20 years at CDIC. This year, she was the chief operating officer. Before that, she was in charge of Member Risk and Resolution, the group that plans and carries out interventions when a bank fails.
She worked as an accountant and auditor at KPMG and MD Management before joining CDIC in 2007. She has an MBA from Dalhousie University, an honours bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, and is a Chartered Accountant.
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Those credentials suggest that the insurer will continue to use the same technical and operational methods as it works on resolution planning and reaching out to depositors.
Glynn has a different point of view because he has worked in banking and running institutions for a long time.
He was president and CEO of HSBC Bank Canada and then HSBC Bank USA. He has also been the chair of the board of PSP Investments, one of Canada’s biggest pension managers.
He has also been a director at big Canadian companies and worked in academic and investment advisory settings.
His appointment gives CDIC a chair with a lot of experience in both managing and overseeing banks. This is important when markets are unstable or when the agency has to deal with complicated problems.
Ottawa is currently reviewing the federal deposit insurance system in a formal way. This includes a public consultation that started on July 22 and asks for feedback on possible changes to the scope and coverage.
The Department of Finance says the review is meant to make sure that the system still works for depositors and helps keep the economy stable as banking changes.
CDIC has also been changing the rules about what information must be made public to help people understand what is and isn’t covered.
During a review, leaders can make decisions that affect how policy is put into action, such as how premiums are calculated and how quickly insured funds are paid out when a member institution fails.
At each member institution, CDIC coverage is $100,000 per depositor per category. There are different types of accounts, such as individual and joint accounts, as well as registered plans like RRSPs and TFSAs.
The government thinks that level fully protects most Canadian depositors. People are often surprised by how these groups can be put together to make accounts and institutions safer.
The agency’s calculator shows how coverage stacks, and it has stressed the importance of keeping trust and beneficiary records up to date so that payments don’t get delayed in a failure.
Byrne’s background in resolution is in line with CDIC’s main goal of protecting depositors and getting ready for stressful situations.
Glynn’s experience in the boardroom and at banks may be relevant to the industry as CDIC sets clearer expectations for its members, such as being ready with data and being open with clients.
The current round of updates to by-laws and guidance shows that there is a push for everything from better methods to better ways to show customers deposit insurance information.
If things get worse or if Ottawa’s review leads to technical changes to coverage, having both an internal operator and an external veteran could make it easier to make decisions.
There hasn’t been a major retail bank failure in Canada in decades, but last year’s banking shocks abroad and the speed of new financial products have kept regulators focused on building trust.
The government’s reminder that about 95% of eligible accounts are fully insured is meant to set expectations before any stressful event.
With a new chair and an acting CEO in place, CDIC will have to make the results of the policy review easy to understand for both banks and savers.
The transfer of work from Anderson and Sanderson to Byrne and Glynn is meant to keep things on track.
