MONTREAL — Officials from the Department of Finance have been canvassing the tech and financial-services sectors for months, seeking candidates to be the government’s open banking lead—an appointment that would be the next major step in implementing the system in Canada.

Several members of the fintech industry, including John Pitts, global head of policy for Plaid, and Steve Boms, executive director for the Financial Data and Technology Association North America, a trade association representing fintechs, told The Logic the department has sought industry input as it conducts its search.

“We’ve certainly not been shy about suggesting folks who we think would fit the bill,” Boms said.

The job is still vacant six months after a federal advisory committee first recommended creating the position—a delay that has rankled some in the industry and raised questions about the Liberal government’s ability to meet the committee’s recommendation to implement open banking by January 2023. Privately, some industry insiders have suggested it could be difficult for Finance to find someone who has both the right profile and the willingness to take on the assignment.

After fall’s snap federal election, the search is likely to ramp up once Chrystia Freeland is sworn in again as finance minister on Oct. 26. The department has put together a shortlist of names for the position, according to one person briefed on the search who spoke on the condition they not be named because the details aren’t public. The list is preliminary and hasn’t yet been reviewed by political staff.

Finance’s search began even before it released the final report from a federal advisory committee on open banking in August. A fintech-industry source who spoke on the condition they not be named said an official from the department had reached out early in the summer asking for suggestions on who might suit the role.

“Finance is diligently surveying industry stakeholders for recommendations, as is appropriate for such a critical role,” Pitts said. “But there is no public signal on timing, and if there is a delay in filling this role, it could potentially impact the overall implementation of consumer-directed finance, a key pillar of the government’s platform in the election.”

One name that has been floated for the position is Bilal Khan, an executive at cloud-computing startup Snowflake and a former managing partner at Deloitte, two people familiar with the matter said. Khan, a lawyer with experience working at the intersection of tech and politics, previously worked in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario government and was the founding CEO of the OneEleven accelerator. He didn’t respond to The Logic’s request for comment.

Finance Canada declined to comment on its search process. “Next steps on open banking will be shared in due course,” spokesperson Kevin Maillet wrote in an email.

The department’s financial-services-innovation branch has been eyeing candidates from both the public and private sectors in the hopes of finding someone who can work well with executives in tech and in financial services, said the person briefed on the search. Part of the challenge has been finding someone willing to work inside the department for an 18-month term to get things up and running before handing oversight to a body composed of industry and consumer representatives, this person said.

Appointing an open banking lead was one of the key recommendations from the advisory committee, which was launched in 2018 to study the issue on behalf of the government. In April, the committee submitted a report with recommendations on how open banking should be implemented in Canada, but the findings weren’t made public until August.

Asked what they think the government should be looking for in a candidate, members of the fintech industry who spoke with The Logic suggested a highly specific—and somewhat contradictory profile. The ideal candidate should be able to liaise with senior government officials and banking executives, they said, while also maintaining clout in the startup and technology worlds. This person should also have an understanding of the nitty-gritty details of open banking and financial services while being comfortable with big-picture implementation.

“It should be somebody who’s got gravitas, somebody who is respected on all sides of this issue in the marketplace, somebody who understands technology and financial services,” Boms said. “It’s a pretty specific skill set.”

Other countries have looked to executives at large international firms in areas such as law or consulting firms as natural choices to lead their own open banking efforts. The U.K., for instance, appointed Imran Gulamhuseinwala, a former global fintech lead at EY with a long history in the fintech sector, to implement its open banking system. Australia tapped Scott Farrell, a partner at Hong Kong-based multinational law firm King & Wood Mallesons.

“An ideal candidate would be somebody with experience in a place like the United Kingdom, which has been a world leader on open banking, and someone who understands the economic imperative open banking presents for Canadian fintech companies,” said Patrick Searle, director of cyber initiatives for the Council of Canadian Innovators. “We would be disappointed if Ottawa simply appoints someone who accepts the status quo and allows the file to further stagnate while Canada falls even further behind.”

Canada’s push toward open banking isn’t yet backed by any legislation, which could make the lead’s job more difficult, said Alex Vronces, executive director of Paytechs of Canada, a fintech lobbying group.

The Liberals haven’t said to what degree they plan to follow the recommendations outlined in the advisory committee’s report—another reason why recruiting for the role could be challenging, Vronces said. In practice, Canada’s open banking system could differ significantly from the committee’s vision, with less power for the government to mandate changes to the banks’ practices.

“If you’re so special, you’re likely at a rockstar organization with a high-performance culture making the world a better place,” Vronces said. “It’s hard for me to imagine someone leaving all that behind to convince Canada’s biggest banks to do something they don’t want to do.”

The Canadian Bankers Association, a lobbying group that represents the country’s largest banks, said it welcomed dialogue with the federal government and key stakeholders, including fintechs, to develop a framework for open banking. It declined to comment on the search for the lead, saying it wasn’t involved.