Banking in Canada

Banking in Canada is widely considered one of the safest banking systems in the world,[1] ranking as the world's soundest banking system for the past six years according to reports by the World Economic Forum.[2] Released in October 2010, Global Finance magazine put Royal Bank of Canada at number 10 among the world's safest banks and Toronto-Dominion Bank at number 15.[3] Canada’s banks, also called chartered banks, have over 8,000 branches and almost 18,000 automated banking machines (ABMs) across the country.[4] In addition, "Canada has the highest number of ABMs per capita in the world and benefits from the highest penetration levels of electronic channels such as debit cards, Internet banking and telephone banking".[4]

History

Origins

View of a Scotiabank facade in Amherst, Nova Scotia. This structure was erected in 1907.

Banking in Canada began to migrate in earnest from colonial overseas banking operations to a local banking system with the founding of the Bank of Montreal in 1817. Other banks soon followed and began business, and after a lengthy approval process began unregulated banking business. These institutions issued their own local currency until amendments in the British North America Act allowed federal and provincial governments to begin to introduce their own notes starting in 1866. Official Canadian currency took the form of the Canadian dollar in 1871, overriding the currency of individual banks. The establishment of the Bank of Canada in 1935 was also an important milestone in banking and monetary governance.

Despite various loss events (such as the Latin American debt crisis, the collapse of Olympia and York, Enron-related liabilities, and the U.S. Subprime mortgage crisis), the big five banks have thus far proven to be safe and stable companies. For example, in securities prospectuses the Royal Bank of Canada says it has paid a common share dividend in every year since 1870, the year after it received its banking charter.

According to the Department of Finance, two small regional banks failed in the mid-1980s, the only such failures since 1923, which is the year Home Bank failed. There were no bank failures during the Great Depression compared to 9000+ in the US.

Recent history

In the 1980s and 1990s, the largest banks acquired almost all significant trust and brokerage companies in Canada. They also started their own mutual fund and insurance businesses. As a result, Canadian banks broadened out to become supermarkets of financial services.

After large bank mergers were ruled out by the federal government, some Canadian banks turned to international expansion, particularly in various U.S. markets such as banking and brokerage.

Two other notable developments in Canadian banking were the launch of ING Bank of Canada (which relies mostly on a branchless banking model), and the slow emergence of non-bank mortgage origination companies.

A survey conducted by the World Economic Forum called the Global Competitiveness Report of twelve-thousand corporate executives, in 2008, concluded that Canada has the best banking system in the world, receiving a score of 6.8 out of possible seven.[5]

Canadian banks

First Canadian Place

In everyday commerce, the banks in Canada are generally referred to in two categories: 1) the five large national banks and 2) smaller second tier banks (notwithstanding that a large national bank and a smaller second tier bank may share the same legal status and regulatory classification.

The five largest banks in Canada are:

Notable second tier banks include ATB Financial, Canadian Western Bank, National Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank, the Desjardins Group (technically not a bank but an alliance of credit unions), HSBC Bank Canada, and Tangerine Bank (Formerly ING Bank of Canada). These second tier organizations are largely Canadian domestic banking organizations. Insurance companies in Canada have also created deposit-taking bank subsidiaries. For a complete list of institutions see: List of banks in Canada

"Big Five" banks

Unlike the smaller Canadian banks, the Big Five are not just Canadian banks, but are instead better described as international financial conglomerates, each with a large Canadian banking division. In fiscal 2007, RBC's Canadian segment called "Personal Financial Services" (the segment most related to what was traditionally thought of as retail banking) had revenue of only CAD$5,082 million (or 22.6%) of a total revenue of CAD$22,462 million.[6] Canadian retail operations of the Big Five comprise other activities that do not need to be operated from a regulated bank. These other activities include mutual funds, insurance, credit cards, and brokerage activities. In addition, they have large international subsidiaries. The Canadian banking operations of the Big Five are largely conducted out of each parent company, unlike U.S. banks that use a holding company structure to hold their primary retail banking subsidiaries.

Brands used by the big five by major financial service*

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) Bank of Montreal (BMO) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Year Founded 1864 - Halifax, Nova Scotia 1955; Bank of Toronto 1857 and Dominion Bank 1869 - Toronto, Ontario 1832 - Halifax, Nova Scotia 1817 - Montreal, Quebec 1961; Canadian Bank of Commerce 1867 and Imperial Bank of Canada 1875 - Toronto, Ontario
Original Name Merchants' Bank of Halifax Bank of Toronto, Dominion Bank Bank of Nova Scotia Bank of Montreal Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada
Head Office Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario
Parent legal name Royal Bank of Canada Toronto-Dominion Bank Bank of Nova Scotia Bank of Montreal Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Group brand RBC TD Bank Financial Group Scotiabank Group BMO Financial Group CIBC
Canadian retail banking RBC Royal Bank TD Canada Trust Scotiabank BMO Bank of Montreal CIBC
U.S. retail banking RBC Bank *Note: Sold in June 2011 TD Bank None Harris Bank None - Amicus Bank's Amicus FSB joint venture Marketplace Bank/Safeway Select Bank 1999-2002
Other major international retail banking operations RBC Royal Bank of Canada and RBTT (Caribbean branches) Scotiabank International FirstCaribbean
Private banking RBC Wealth Management TD Waterhouse Private Banking Scotia Private Client Group BMO Private Banking CIBC Private Banking
Canadian mutual funds RBC Funds and PH&N Funds TD Mutual Funds Scotia Mutual Funds BMO Mutual Funds and Guardian Group of Funds CIBC Mutual Funds
U.S. mutual funds Tamarack Funds
Canadian brokerage RBC Direct Investing and RBC Dominion Securities TD Waterhouse ScotiaMcLeod and Scotia iTRADE BMO InvestorLine and BMO Nesbitt Burns CIBC Investor's Edge and CIBC Wood Gundy
U.S. brokerage RBC Wealth Management formerly RBC Dain Rauscher TD Ameritrade (45%) BMO Harris Investor Services
International Brokerage West Indies Stockbrokers Limited TD Waterhouse (UK), TD Direct Investing International (LU)
Canadian insurance RBC Insurance TD Insurance Scotialife Financial BMO Insurance CIBC Insurance
U.S. insurance RBC Insurance TD Insurance
Capital markets RBC Capital Markets TD Securities Scotia Capital BMO Capital Markets CIBC World Markets
Major custodial operations RBC Dexia (June 27, 2012, RBC purchased the remaining 50% from Dexia) CIBC Mellon (50%)
Precious metals ScotiaMocatta

*Marketing brands are shown rather than division names. For example, for internal and investor relation purposes, CIBC uses CIBC Retail Markets as a division name, but this does not normally appear in advertisements and does not feature prominently on account statements. Brand names are sometimes used across legal entities within a financial group. Intermediate umbrella brands (such as RBC Investments that includes the brands RBC Funds, RBC Action Direct, and RBC Dominion Securities) are not shown.

Regulation

Canada's federal government has sole jurisdiction for banks according to the Canadian Constitution, specifically Section 91(15) of The Constitution Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Victoria, c.3 (UK)), formerly known as the British North America Act, 1867. Meanwhile, credit unions/caisses populaires, securities dealers and mutual funds are largely regulated by provincial governments.

The main federal statute for the incorporation and regulation of banks, or chartered banks, is the Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c.46), where Schedules I, II and III of this Act list all banks permitted to operate in Canada under these three distinct categories:

The bank regulator is the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (best known as OSFI), whose authority stems from the Bank Act. The financial groups are also governed by regulatory bodies (bank regulators, securities regulators, insurance regulators, etc.) in each country in which they operate.

Financial crisis of 2008

During the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, the Bank of Canada, along with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the US Federal Reserve provided up to $114 billion of liquidity support to Canadian banks. Of this amount, $69 billion was part of the CMHC mortgage insurance program, a facility set up in 1954 to handle such situations.[7][8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ World Economic Forum - Global Competitiveness Report, World Economic Forum, In the 2010-2011 report Canada is ranked 1st in the "Soundness of banks" indicator
  2. ↑ "Canadian banks remain soundest according to World Economic Forum, six years in a row". Cba.ca. 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  3. ↑ The world's 20 safest bank http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/oct/04/slide-show-1-worlds-20-safest-banks.htm
  4. 1 2 "Canada's Banks" Canadian Ministry of Finance, 2002
  5. ↑ "Canadian banks are the soundest in the world: report". Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  6. ↑ http://www.rbc.com/investorrelations/pdf/ar_2007_e.pdf
  7. ↑ Banks got $114B from governments during recession, CBC News, 30 April 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2013
  8. ↑ Did Canadian banks receive a secret bailout? Financial post, 30 April 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2013

Further reading

References

External links

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