Partnership will focus on trusted data for lending and risk, sustainability data harmonization, geospatial data for real estate finance, and data capability-building for CLA members
Toronto, Canada and New York, NY, May 28, 2026 / The EDM Association and the Canadian Lenders Association today announced a strategic collaboration to strengthen the role of trusted data, standards, and analytics across Canada’s lending and risk ecosystem.
The collaboration brings together two organizations already serving many of the major national banks in Canada. The EDM Association is a global, member-driven trade association dedicated to advancing data management, advanced analytics, standards, software, and systems, with more than 700 member firms and 30,000 professionals across industries. The CLA is Canada’s largest finance organization, representing banks, credit unions, fintechs, non-bank lenders, specialty finance companies, and service providers across consumer, commercial, automotive, real estate, and SMB finance.
The partnership comes at a critical moment for Canadian financial services. Lenders are being asked to make faster decisions, manage more complex risk, respond to evolving regulatory expectations, and support the transition to a more sustainable economy. At the same time, the quality, lineage, governance, and interoperability of data have become central to credit adjudication, fraud prevention, climate risk, capital allocation, and real estate finance.
Through this collaboration, the EDM Association and the CLA will focus on four priority areas:
- Trusted data for lending and risk: The organizations will work together to promote stronger data governance, data quality, common standards, and trusted analytics across the lending lifecycle, including underwriting, portfolio monitoring, fraud prevention, model governance, and enterprise risk management.
- Sustainability data and standards harmonization: The collaboration will support industry dialogue on sustainability, ESG, and climate-related data challenges, including the need for common practices that can improve comparability, auditability, and usefulness for lenders, borrowers, investors, and regulators. EDM Association’s ESG and sustainability data work has focused on helping organizations apply established data management capabilities to improve sustainability data and reporting.
- Geospatial data and real estate finance risk: The organizations will explore how geospatial data, property-level data, climate exposure data, and location intelligence can support better risk assessment in mortgage, real estate, construction, and commercial lending. This work will focus on how lenders can better understand collateral, concentration, environmental exposure, and regional market vulnerability.
- Training and capability-building for CLA members: The EDM Association and the CLA will develop opportunities for CLA members to access data management training, education, certification pathways, and executive learning. EDM Association’s public training programs include best practices education including for the DCAM and CDMC data management frameworks, professional certification, and corporate eLearning programs.
“As financial institutions become more data-driven, the question is no longer whether data matters. The question is whether the data can be trusted, governed, understood, and used responsibly across the enterprise,” said John Bottega, President of the EDM Association. “Data management is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing institutional capability. Our collaboration with the Canadian Lenders Association will help bring global best practices in data management, standards, and education to the lending and risk community in Canada.”
“This partnership is harmonizing data frameworks” said Gary Schwartz, President & CEO of the Canadian Lenders Association. “Canadian lenders are operating in a more complex environment, with rising expectations around credit performance, fraud prevention, sustainability, real estate exposure, and regulatory transparency. Working with the EDM Association allows us to help our members move from fragmented data to trusted intelligence, and from isolated risk management to shared industry capability.”
The collaboration will also extend to the upcoming RISK Reimagined Summit, taking place in New York on September 8, 2026, where the CLA, EDM Association, and other North American financial services leaders will convene to examine how risk is evolving from a defensive control function into a strategic leadership discipline. The summit will focus on practical executive dialogue across resilience, fraud, cyber, AI governance, operational risk, data governance, and financial sector transformation.
“Risk is now a data problem, a governance problem, and a leadership problem,” added Schwartz. “The institutions that succeed will be those that can convert trusted data into timely decisions. That is why this collaboration matters.”
“Standards are the foundation for transparency, interoperability, and trust,” added Bottega. “Whether the issue is lending risk, climate data, regulatory reporting, or real estate exposure, organizations need a common language and a disciplined approach to data. This partnership is designed to help the market build those capabilities together.”
About the EDM Association
EDM Association is the only global trade association connecting the data, software, systems, and standards disciplines to accelerate industry innovation and our members’ business success. The Association provides a neutral forum for developing and implementing best practices, frameworks, standards and comprehensive training programs to advance data management, AI optimization, digital twins, augmented reality and more. Today, our membership community—comprising over 700 organizations from the Americas, EMEA and Asia, and over 50,000 professionals—collaborates to build trust and confidence in the data that powers their AI, digital transformation, innovation, regulatory initiatives and business goals. Join the data driven. Learn more at https://edma.org.
About the Canadian Lenders Association
The Canadian Lenders Association is the national voice of Canada’s financial ecosystem, representing banks, credit unions, non-bank lenders, fintech companies, and service providers across consumer, automotive, real estate, commercial, and SMB finance. The CLA advances industry standards, policy development, market education, and innovation to support responsible lending, financial inclusion, and a more competitive Canadian credit market. Learn more at https://www.canadianlenders.org/.
