The regulator must be feared, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard said on Monday during an event marking the 20th anniversary of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF).
The minister made his comment in front of some 400 business people gathered at the Palais des congrès de Montréal while the Quebec stock market watchdog presented a discussion paper containing 30 best practices for responsible use of artificial intelligence in the financial sector.
The regulator is not there to please the financial institutions it regulates, emphasized Eric Girard.
“It is very important that our financial institutions are well capitalized, that they have high levels of liquidity, and transparency in their financial statements. But today, financial institutions are technology companies. There is no financial institution that is not at the cutting edge of technology. Insurers have research laboratories and insurance companies know more than many climatologists about climate change. »
Eric Girard emphasizes that the added value of financial institutions is beneficial for the economy, but that to ensure long-term stability, it is necessary to have a solid and feared regulator. “A healthy fear,” he specifies.
“When you have 20 emails in your inbox, including one from the AMF, that’s the one you should respond to first. You must not leave your regulator waiting until Monday,” he said to illustrate his point.
The CEO of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), Yves Ouellet, assured the minister that everything was going well on this side. “The answers come quickly,” he said into the microphone with a smile.
Called by The Press to react further to the comments made by Eric Girard, the big boss of the AMF said he was convinced that the AMF is sufficiently feared. “I understand very well what the minister means. There is a regulatory framework and it is important that the players follow this framework,” said Yves Ouellet in an interview on the sidelines of the event.
“We are very concerned about artificial intelligence. There are many possibilities,” added Louis Morisset’s successor at the AMF.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard and AMF CEO Yves Ouellet in discussion Monday during an event at the Palais des congrès de Montréal
Taming the beast that artificial intelligence can become is one of the main challenges to be taken up by the organization led for six months by Yves Ouellet, along with cryptoassets, climate change and financial education.
Regarding financial literacy, Eric Girard also maintains that there are indeed more efforts to be made to help people better manage their savings and credit.
I am one of the chief popularizers of economics and finance for citizens, and the more our citizens are financially educated, the more able they will be to face the vagaries of life.
Eric Girard, Quebec Minister of Finance
The information is available. The problem, says Eric Girard, is that it does not reach out to citizens. “We must find a way to reach citizens before taking out a mortgage, before having a first credit card, before a first car loan. »
In search of solutions, the minister openly questions himself: does it take a book Living better with your mortgage Or Live better with your student loans ?, he asks with a touch of humor in reference to the guide Living better with our child, from pregnancy to two years designed for parents.
At the same time, Eric Girard adds that the hours devoted to teaching in our establishments remain limited. “Can the education system do everything when we are already asked to provide sex education, economic education, citizenship education? That’s a lot of responsibility for our education system. »