Recent Canadian judicial decisions have established that a bank owes a duty of care to non-customers once it has actual knowledge of, or is wilfully blind to, the use of its services for fraudulent purposes. In Ontario in particular, the possibility is still open that a bank may owe such a duty even where it does not have actual knowledge (or is not wilfully blind or reckless to the existence) of a fraud.

Authored by Lincoln Caylor, Ilan Ishai, Martin Kenney, Yves Klein, Kathy Bazoian Phelps and published online by the International Association for Asset Recovery. This is a summary of an article published in Business Law International, Vol 12 No 2, May 2011, and is reproduced in its amended form by kind permission of the International Bar Association, London, UK. © International Bar Association 2011.