Our Year in Review 2025
Michael Rothe, President & CEO - December 19, 2025 - Featured Content Area
Dear friends,
As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on a year defined by collaboration, innovation, and resilience. Together, we navigated challenges and seized opportunities that strengthened our industry and set the stage for an even brighter future.
Let’s take a moment to celebrate the achievements that shaped our year.
Winnipeg, Manitoba — Insights and Inspirations at Our Annual Conference
This year’s CFLA Annual National Conference welcomed over 380 enthusiastic delegates to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Highlights included a powerful fireside chat with keynote speaker Mark Chipman, a thought-provoking panel on anti-money laundering, and a political update from Andrew Coyne. Delegates enjoyed an exciting welcome reception at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where the energy was contagious, followed by engaging workshops and an insightful panel on combating industry fraud and theft. The conference concluded with an enlightening economic update from Arnaud Franco and a powerful closing keynote from Anna Maria Tremonti, leading into our Chair’s Banquet.
At the banquet, we proudly announced Shahan Khan, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Bennington Financial Corp., as the recipient of the CFLA David Powell Member of the Year Award—a recognition of outstanding leadership and contribution to our industry.
We also celebrated the Industry Fraud Taskforce as the CFLA GOAT Committee of the Year, honouring their exceptional work in advancing fraud prevention and safeguarding our members.
Empowering Events Across Canada
Beyond the conference, we hosted a series of impactful events that brought our community together.
Our Empowering Women in Leadership (EWL) International Women’s Day program spanned multiple cities with in-person, hybrid, and virtual options. The keynote in Calgary, AB, and watch parties in Burlington, ON, and Winnipeg, MB, drew more than 180 members.
We launched our inaugural Legal Forum, bringing together 30 professionals—attorneys, senior credit officers, and CFOs—for focused discussion and networking.
In partnership with the Technology Committee, we held a sold-out Innovation & Technology Summit, where peers and experts explored the transformative role of technology in asset finance. Members also gathered for the CFLA Golf Tournament, enjoying a day of friendly competition and conversation.
This year also marked the introduction of our first Anti-Money Laundering Summit, which drew 50 professionals from AML, Legal, Risk, and Compliance to discuss compliance strategies and share best practices.
Regional networking events, Future Leaders mixers, and hybrid webinars further expanded access to timely, informative content and fostered meaningful connections across the country.
Strengthening Our Advocacy Impact
Our advocacy efforts in 2025 were the busiest on record. We held over 100 meetings with policy- and decision-makers at provincial and federal levels, dozens of meetings with partners in the policy community and our industry, and participated in several media appearances. Two advocacy days, on the Hill in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park in Toronto, gave us the opportunity to champion our industry priorities directly with policymakers.
We kicked off the year with a press conference in Ottawa to launch our signature report, Canada’s Economic Rocket Fuel: How a Switch in Canada’s Financing Paradigm Could Help Solve Its Productivity Problem, which offers practical recommendations to address Canada’s productivity challenge. We also achieved success raising awareness at the highest levels of the Ontario government—including with Premier Ford—on modifications to the Repair and Storage Liens Act, protecting businesses and consumers from costly abuses.
To lay the groundwork for standardizing the regulation of vehicle protection products across provinces, we created an OEM Protection Products Working Group and published a national table of concordance. The CFLA continued to play a leadership role in combating the illegal export of stolen vehicles, recommending changes to the vehicle export process and advocating public-private partnerships to address this crisis.
Data, Tools, and Trends Shaping Our Future
In collaboration with member firm KPMG, we published our landmark AML Toolkit, designed to assist members on their path to compliance with new anti-money laundering obligations.
Continuing our fight against rising fraud, we deepened our partnership with member firm Equifax to launch the CFLA FraudIQ Manager™, an affordable, member-only solution that combines advanced analytics and consortium-based fraud protection.
We also conducted our unique Industry Compensation Survey, enabling members to benchmark their compensation structures against the broader market.
Further strengthening our fraud response, we created the Auto Finance Fraud Roundtable—a forum for in-house fraud experts to exchange best practices and discuss emerging trends.
Expanding Our Network & Elevating Our Expertise
This year marked the launch of the Canadian Certified Lease & Finance Professionals (CLFP) course, enrolling 11 candidates in its first cohort, which began in November.
CFLA Fundamentals Online has been completely redesigned and is now available on a newly enhanced, streamlined, and user-friendly learning platform.
We welcomed 24 new members to the CFLA and introduced our new member logo page to showcase our growing community.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The year ahead brings exciting opportunities to deepen collaboration and deliver even greater value to our members. In 2026, we’ll continue to champion your interests, provide cutting-edge insights, and create spaces for learning and connection.
Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a prosperous year ahead. We look forward to connecting with you at the many exciting events and initiatives planned for 2026.
For a deeper look at our achievements and impact this year, I invite you to explore our 2025 Annual Report.
Yours sincerely,
