Open Banking Terms and Conditions

By giving EQ Bank your consent for us to share your EQ Bank Data with one or more Third-Party Providers, you accept and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions. This Agreement is in addition to any other agreements or disclosure documents you may have with us and all such agreements and disclosure documents are hereby incorporated by reference.

Please ensure you review this Agreement and all other related or referenced agreements and documents carefully as they affect your rights and set out certain obligations and expectations on your part. If you have any questions related to the agreements or documents, please contact us. Please retain a copy of this Agreement for your records.

Please note that this type of secure data sharing is currently unavailable to residents of the Province of Quebec.

Definitions in this Agreement

“Account” means any and all EQ Bank online accounts;

“Agreement” means these open banking terms and conditions;

“Electronic Device”: means any electronic device that we allow you to use to access our Services (for example, certain personal computers, cellular phones, telephones, smart phones, tablets, or other similar devices);

“Electronic Identification” or “Login ID” mean the email address you used when creating your profile at time of application. It is used in combination with your password to access EQ Bank’s products and services;

“EQ Bank”, “the Bank”, “Bank”, “our”, “we” or “us” means Equitable Bank;

“EQ Bank Data” means the data that EQ Bank holds about you, which you have consented for EQ Bank to share with Third-Party Providers;

"Flinks” means Flinks Technology Inc. and its affiliates;

“includes” or “including” means includes or including, as applicable, but not limited to;

“Joint Account” means an Account with more than one Account holder;

“Message Centre” means a secure messaging inbox, accessible through EQ Bank Online or Mobile Banking;

“Mobile Banking” or “Mobile” means the mobile application through which you may sign on to the Services;

“Online Banking” or “Online” means the Website through which you may sign on to the Services;

“Service(s)” means Mobile and Online Banking, which can be accessed by an Electronic Device;

“Third-Party Provider” means a third-party provider that is accredited with Flinks to be a recipient of your data from data providers, such as EQ Bank;

“TPS” or “Third-Party Services” means products and services provided by Third-Party Providers;

“Website” means eqbank.ca; and

“you”, “your”, “client”, “customer” or “Account holder” refers to you as an owner of an Account.

Authorization

If you choose to use any TPS and consent for EQ Bank to share your EQ Bank Data with the relevant Third-Party Provider(s), EQ Bank is authorized and directed to do all things necessary to facilitate your use of the TPS, including for EQ Bank to access, retrieve, consolidate, organize, present, and exchange information, including your EQ Bank Data, to and from the Third-Party Provider(s) providing the TPS. You confirm that you have the right to give EQ Bank this authorization and direction.

Third-Party Services

Your use of any TPS is subject to your agreement with the relevant Third-Party Provider(s) and not this Agreement. We do not control and have no liability for TPS, including their security, functionality, operation, availability, or interoperability or how the TPS or the Third-Party Provider(s) use or disclose your EQ Bank Data.

We may, at any time, without notice, terminate the sharing of your EQ Bank Data with Third-Party Providers, even if you have given consent.

Consent for Data Sharing

You agree to review your consents for data sharing regularly to ensure they are up to date.

We will accept instructions for data sharing directly from an Account holder only. We are not obligated to take instructions from anyone other than the Account holder with respect to data sharing nor are we required to gain permission from any other person, including other Joint Account holders, if applicable.

You may not delegate someone to share data on your behalf.

Security of Login Id and Password

You may not disclose your Electronic Identification (Login ID and password) to any Third-Party Providers. You are responsible for the safe keeping of your Login ID and password and for not sharing either with anyone. Please ensure they are kept private and strictly confidential. EQ Bank will not be accountable for any loss or damages you may suffer if you fail to protect your Electronic Identification (Login ID and password). For more information, please see the EQ Bank Mobile and Online Banking Terms and Conditions, which form part of this Agreement.

Flinks

Once you consent to share your EQ Bank Data with a Third-Party Provider, we use Flinks to provide your data to the Third-Party Provider. Your data is then subject to the Third-Party Provider's terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Liability

EQ Bank is not responsible for your access to or use of any TPS, including (i) any losses caused by any action or omission of the Third-Party Provider; (ii) any errors that may occur during the performance of TPS; and (iii) any loss, theft, destruction, unauthorized disclosure, or delay in delivery of any information, including EQ Bank Data, while in process or in the possession of a Third Party Provider. EQ Bank is not responsible for the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information, including EQ Bank Data, provided to or from the Third-Party Provider. EQ Bank does not make any representations or warranties with respect to the quality of any TPS, or the Third-Party Provider’s reputation, credit rating, solvency, or privacy or security standards.

You expressly understand and agree that in no event shall we be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever, including damages for loss of profit, arising out of your use of or any malfunction, cancellation, restriction, or inability to use your Accounts, other services provided by EQ Bank, or any TPS. EQ Bank shall not be liable for any third-party claims or losses of any nature, including lost profits, punitive or consequential damages. For greater certainty, you agree that we may take any action authorized or permitted by this Agreement, or any other agreement you may have with us, without being liable to you, even if such action causes you to incur a loss.

Indemnity

You acknowledge and agree to indemnify (protect), and hold us, our officers, directors, employees, agents and affiliates harmless (innocent) from and against any loss, liability, cost or expense of any kind that any of the aforementioned parties may incur in connection with any product or service we may provide you or that may result from any dealings between you and us, including any claim or liability as a result of your access to or use of any TPS. You acknowledge that we will not be liable for any losses or liabilities that you may suffer as a result of your access to or use of any TPS, including if the TPS is not available for any reason.

Reporting an Issue

We are committed to delivering a high standard of service to our customers. If you have a concern or a complaint about how we handle your EQ Bank Data or any service we provide, we want to hear from you so that we can try to make things right as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our Customer Complaint Handling Procedures set out full details of our process and are available on our Website and in our offices. You may also request a copy of these procedures by contacting Customer Care.

Changes to this Agreement

We may update this Agreement from time to time, particularly as additional phases of an open banking framework are implemented by the Canadian Federal Government. You can always find the most up-to-date version on our Website, and you can ask us to send you a copy of the latest version by contacting Customer Care.

Changes to this Agreement may be made by us at any time, without prior notice unless advance notice is required by law. When changes are made, notice of the change will be posted on the Message Centre or on the Website. If you consent for EQ Bank to share your EQ Bank Data with Third-Party Providers after we post the notice, or maintain consent that you gave prior to the posting of the notice, then you are deemed to agree to and accept this Agreement, as amended.  If you do not agree to a change in this Agreement, you must notify us and immediately revoke your consent for EQ Bank to share your EQ Bank Data with Third-Party Providers in accordance with the instructions in the “Stop sharing your EQ Bank Data” subsection below.

Communicating With You

If available, we may send you, from time to time, information about renewing your consent and upgrades to our services.

Your Privacy and Security

Your privacy and the security of your information is important to us. We protect your information and aim to be clear and open about what we do with it. We adhere to relevant security and privacy regulatory requirements and maintain appropriate controls and capabilities to keep your information safe. If you want to know more about how we handle your personal information at EQ Bank, see our Privacy Agreement at www.eqbank.ca/legal/Privacy-Agreement.

The Privacy Agreement may be amended or replaced from time to time and we will post the revised Agreement on our Website.

The Privacy Agreement forms part of this Agreement, and your acceptance of the terms of this Agreement indicates that you have also agreed to the terms of the EQ Bank Privacy Agreement.

What data will be available under the initial scope of the open banking framework?

As a data provider in the Canadian open banking ecosystem, we may make available specific sets of data for sharing, such as the following, depending on the functionality of the TPS:

Name, occupation, and contact details

Account numbers

Account balance and features of deposit and investment products you have with us

Transaction details, statements

Direct debits and scheduled payments

Saved payees

Information about our deposit and investment products and services

Before you consent to share your EQ Bank Data, we will disclose to you which sets of data are requested by the Third-Party Provider to be shared for their TPS.

Sharing your EQ Bank Data

We share your EQ Bank Data only with your consent and we don’t charge a fee for sharing your data. At this time, the flow of data is in one direction, from data provider to data recipient. This means only you can choose to share your EQ Bank Data with a Third-Party Provider so they can provide you with a product or service (like a budgeting tool) that you have requested.

To share your EQ Bank Data with a Third-Party Provider:

You need to give your consent to the Third-Party Provider to collect your EQ Bank Data (on their site or app), then they’ll redirect you to EQ Bank.

We’ll need to identify you first. For Online and Mobile Banking, we’ll ask you to log in to make sure it’s really you. Then we’ll send you a One Time Password via email or text for additional verification.

Important: We’ll never ask you to share your Login ID or password details with a third party. If you provide your Login ID or password to a third party, they gain access to more than your EQ Bank Data. They could view or transact from your Accounts. Sharing your Login ID or password is a breach of our agreements with you so you could be liable for unauthorized transactions and may not receive the benefit of our EQ Bank Mobile and Online Security Guarantee.

We’ll remind you what EQ Bank Data will be collected by the Third-Party Provider via Flinks and ask you to choose which Accounts you’d like to share with them.

You’ll be asked to authorize us to share your EQ Bank Data with the Third-Party Provider for a period of time. Your consent will be valid for one year from the date of authorization, after which you will required to provide consent again if you want EQ Bank to continue to share data with the Third-Party Provider.

Once you have provided consent to share your data, your EQ Bank Data will be transmitted to the Third-Party Provider through a secure connection. 

Sharing data from a Joint Account

Any Account holder is able to share data from a Joint Account with Third-Party Providers without further approval from the other Account holder(s). Any Account holder is also able to choose to stop sharing data from the Joint Account at any time. To the extent that any approval from other Joint Account holders is required, you confirm that you have obtained the required agreement and approval of such other Joint Account holders before sharing data from a Joint Account with Third-Party Providers.

Stop sharing your EQ Bank Data

You can choose to stop sharing data with a Third-Party Provider at any time by logging into EQ Bank Online or Mobile Banking.

You may wish to review a Third-Party Provider’s policy on deleting or de-identifying your data. If you are unsure of their policy, or how this may affect you, contact the Third-Party Provider before stopping your data sharing arrangement.

How to correct your EQ Bank Data

If any EQ Bank Data is incorrect, contact Customer Care to ask us to correct it.

You can see your latest data sharing details anytime by logging into EQ Bank Online or Mobile Banking. If we identify that we shared incorrect EQ Bank Data with a Third-Party Provider, we’ll let you know as soon as possible. We’ll also tell you who we shared the incorrect data with, the date it was shared and how to ask us to share the corrected EQ Bank Data.

You also have the right to access and correct personal information EQ Bank holds about you. Refer to our Privacy Agreement for more information.

Technical specifications and standards

EQ Bank uses TLS1.2 encryption, OAuth 2.0-based authentication and authorization, plus secure application programming interface (APIs) based data sharing. This protects you and your data by allowing access without revealing your Login ID and password or doing any screen-scraping.  

Conflict of terms

If there is any conflict or inconsistency between the terms of this Agreement and the terms in any other agreement between you and us, the terms of this Agreement will prevail for the purposes of the data sharing contemplated herein and the parties shall take any necessary steps to conform the inconsistent terms to the terms of this Agreement for such purposes.

Arbitration

Arbitration is an efficient and cost-effective way to resolve claims. You agree that any claim, dispute, or controversy that arises from or relates to (a) your use of data sharing, (b) advertisements, promotions, or oral or written statements related to your use of data sharing, or (c) and other benefits or services related to your use of data sharing will be resolved by way of binding arbitration.

Arbitration will follow the National Arbitration Rules of the ADR Institute of Canada Inc., or its successors (the “Arbitrator”). We reserve the right to change or replace the Arbitrator, at our sole discretion. Arbitration will take place in the province or territory where you reside and any decision rendered will be final and binding. Each party has the right to appeal the Arbitrator’s decision to an appeal panel administered by the Arbitrator provided it gives the Arbitrator notice of its intention to appeal within 30 days from the date of the written arbitration decision. The appeal decision will be final and binding, there will be no further appeal and you acknowledge that it will be considered as a final award.

If you do commence arbitration proceedings you acknowledge that it will only relate to your claim and cannot be on behalf of anyone else or anyone else’s claim and that the Arbitrator will have no jurisdiction or authority to consider any claim you commence if it appears that it is in any way on behalf of any other person or group or persons.

Severance

If any part of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable for any reason, the unenforceable portion of this Agreement will not affect the enforceability of the remainder of this Agreement, which will continue in full force and effect as if this Agreement had been executed without the unenforceable portion.

Language

You and we expressly requested that this Agreement, and all related documents, be drawn up in the English language. Les parties ont expressément demandé que la présente convention et tout document y afférent soient rédigés en langue anglaise.

Jurisdiction

This Agreement and your use of the data sharing contemplated herein will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada. You hereby submit to and are bound by those laws and the courts of Ontario.

Trademarks

Content such as words and symbols are trademarks and the property of the party(ies) listed below.

EQ Bank is a trade name of Equitable Bank.