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Canadian banks all managed to lose billions on US subprime. Conservative they were not. It is true that a handful of regulations kept Canadian banks out of tru
by gyardley 15y ago
Canadian banks all managed to lose billions on US subprime. Conservative they were not.
It is true that a handful of regulations kept Canadian banks out of truly severe trouble in spite of themselves - mortgage insurance, capital requirements, federal gov't guarantees through CMHC - but none of these regulations have anything whatsoever to do with the number of Canadian banks or the amount of competition in the Canadian banking industry.
When I moved to the United States I was astounded by the lower fees and better service here - and banks down here aren't particularly known for their low fees or good service. The Canadian public's "at least we're not America" nationalism is being used to rip you off.
- tomwalsham 15y agoTechnically not all - Toronto-Dominion (TD) dumped all subprime in 2005 and weathered the storm considerably better than the rest of the big 5. Much kudos was given to Edmund Clark at the time for driving a fundamental change based on his view that "I don't think you should do something you don't understand, hoping there's somebody at the bottom of the organization who does." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aeAsOI6GUU1Y http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a...
- afterburner 15y agoUS bank losses due to subprime is about $1 TRillion, vs $2 Billion in Canada among the big 5. That's a factor of 500. That, and Canadian bank stocks bounced right back to their pre-crisis levels afterwards. I think Canadian banks managed to dodge the crisis quite well. I don't pay monthly fees, and I pay maybe $5 in bank fees a year total. http://thebankwatch.com/2007/11/17/canadian-banks-write-of-21bn-in-us-sub-prime-mortgages/ http://thebankwatch.com/2007/11/17/canadian-banks-write-of-2...