Philippe Kuhn

Quincecare and the liability of receiving banks: the Canadian story

This article analyses a line of Canadian case law that addresses the liability of a receiving bank in negligence to a third party payor. The decision of the Ontario Court of Justice, Royal Bank of Canada v Stangl [1992] 32 ACNS (3d) 17 (Stangl), suggested that the bank may in some circumstances owe a duty of care to the payor in crediting and paying out sums it receives. This article concludes that the ratio in Stangl is not supported by other Canadian or English case law, nor sound in principle, and therefore unlikely to be followed.