G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2021-06-01)
Stephen Poloz had only been Governor of the Bank of Canada for a few months in the late summer of 2013, when he gave a speech that defined his unique communication style and signalled a new era for a traditionally staid institution.
Bloomberg - Patrick Winters and Marion Halftermeyer (2020-12-17)
Colleagues say the Pakistan-born executive is enthusiastic, energetic and talented. Former associates have described him as confident, even overly so. That said, he knows the business from several angles: Khan was a UBS auditor at Ernst & Young and a key competitor at Credit Suisse.
Insurance Business - Bethan Moorcraft (2020-12-07)
Enter, rate comparison websites. They’re all the rage in the UK and the USA, where consumers use comparison sites to shop for insurance much like Canadians do when comparing travel costs on sites like Expedia and Trivago. But Canadians are slowly starting to catch on to the insurance comparison trend. They’re searching for and finding platforms like LowestRates.ca, which is enabling consumers to compare insurance premium prices across a number of product lines, primarily in auto and home insurance.
FP - Barbara Shecter (2020-10-20)
Boaz Manor, a former Canadian hedge fund manager who served jail time following the collapse of Portus Alternative Asset Management Inc. in 2005, was indicted Friday on fresh criminal charges in the United States in connection with an alleged securities fraud scheme at an entirely different venture: a New York-based blockchain technology startup.
Bloomberg - Ferdinando Giugliano (2020-06-20)
Nevertheless, Lagarde and her colleagues would be wise to read the staff paper closely. Among all the carefully worded language, one can clearly see the contours of a monetary framework that would work for the ECB’s third decade. These include changing the inflation target to 2%, and maintaining all of the instruments — asset purchases, long-term loans to the banking system and negative interest rates — that the central bank used throughout the presidency of Lagarde’s predecessor, Mario Draghi.
The argument for a symmetric inflation target is rooted in the power of expectations. The ECB at the moment aims to reach an inflation rate “close to but below 2%.” This means that, as price pressures start climbing toward 2%, investors and consumers expect the ECB to react aggressively, tightening monetary policy to push inflation back. The authors believe this served the ECB well during its first decade, when it had to establish its reputation and fight off inflationary forces.
However, the objective has been less useful in today’s era of persistently low inflation. It may even be counterproductive. Consumers and investors don’t expect the central bank to act so decisively to counter deflation.
G&M - Clare O'Hara (2020-06-01)
Canadian travellers may be unwilling to leave the country even as international travel is resuming because most major travel insurers say they are continuing to exclude COVID-19 from their out-of-country medical coverage until the risks become clearer.
CBC - Don Pittis (2020-06-01)
But just as when Poloz replaced media darling Mark Carney, who set off to an even more glamorous and demanding job at the Bank of England only to be replaced by a relatively stodgy and unknown replacement, changes of leadership style at the top matter.
CBC - Pete Eves (2020-06-01)
Canada's 5 biggest banks took in nearly $5B in profit last quarter, but set aside twice that for bad loans
CBC - Pete Evans (2020-06-01)
Statistics Canada reported Friday that the slowdown was the sharpest quarterly drop since the financial crisis of 2009, as measures to contain the pandemic such as school and business closures, border shutdowns and travel restrictions brought economic activity grinding to a halt.
CBC - CBC (2020-06-01)
The Montreal-based lender said Friday its profit fell by 79 per cent to $8.9 million, and its provisions for credit losses — the amount of money the bank is setting aside to cover loans that may go bad — soared to $54.9 million. That's up from $9 million in the same period a year ago.
FP - Geoff Zachodine (2020-06-01)
“At the outset of this pandemic, it was clear to us, based on the inbound calls and based on the economics that we saw out there, that clients were feeling anxiety and hardship,” Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce chief executive Victor Dodig said on a conference call Thursday morning. “Some was real financial hardship, some was perceived financial hardship, and we wanted to deal with them as expeditiously as possible.”
Reuters - Reuters (2020-06-01)
“April SAMA data offers the first indication of the magnitude of the curfew with consumer spending tumbling 35% y/y despite 2x surge in food spending on Ramadan season and household stocking,” Arqaam Capital said in a research note.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-06-01)
Citigroup Inc Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason, one of the few black executives on Wall Street, published a personal essay on Friday expressing his “horror, disgust and anger” over the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-06-01)
The bank has had to contend with a federal investigation, a dozen consent orders and an unprecedented Federal Reserve cap on its balance sheet growth as the fallout of a 2016 sales practices scandal.
Bloomberg - Steven Frank, Sandra Mergulhao, and Doug Alexander (2020-06-01)
To get an idea of the long recovery ahead for Toronto’s financial district, take a walk through the vast subterranean pathways that connect the city’s skyscrapers.
Bloomberg - Doug Alexander (2020-06-01)
The Montreal-based regional bank chopped its dividend by 27 Canadian cents to 40 cents, a 40% reduction. The move came as Laurentian posted fiscal second-quarter results Friday that missed analysts’ estimates, the result of higher provisions for loan losses to brace for the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg - Kait Bolongaro and Shelly Hagan (2020-06-01)
In the first release of data that covers the pandemic’s spread into Canada, the number of permanent residents who came to the country in March dropped by 29% from the same period last year, falling to 19,115 during the month. Temporary foreign workers were down 35% to 5,635, while international student visas plunged 45% to 11,130, according to the immigration department.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-06-01)
Canada’s large banks are bracing for major losses on energy-sector loans over the coming quarters, as producers and oil field service companies continue to struggle with low oil prices.
G&M - Greg Mcarthur (2020-06-01)
A few months after the Ontario Securities Commission ordered a receiver to take control of Paramount Equity Financial Corp., which sold pooled mortgage products, the company’s chief executive officer, Marc Ruttenberg, asked one of his largest investors for an unsettling favour.
G&M - Peter Hobson (2020-06-01)
The world’s 12 biggest investment banks cashed in on commodity price volatility caused by the coronavirus in the first quarter, with big increases in income from oil offsetting a tumble in precious metals, consultancy Coalition said.
G&M - Christopher Reynolds (2020-06-01)
Bombardier Inc. has completed the sale of its regional jet business to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for US$550 million, cementing the plane maker’s departure from commercial aviation following a three-decade run.
G&M - CP (2020-06-01)
HSBC Bank Canada says Linda Seymour has been appointed as the lender’s president and chief executive, effective Sept. 1.
CBC - Erica Johnson (2020-06-01)
When the pandemic hit Ontario, Kristina Barybina's income as a real estate agent dried up and she knew the writing was on the wall — she'd have to sell her own house.
FP - Geoffrey Morgan (2020-06-01)
Athabasca’s banking syndicate reduced its credit facility to $42 million after a review, which represents a 65 per cent cut from $120 million previously, the company said.
FP - Nichola Siminather (2020-06-01)
Canadian banks’ exposure to the beleaguered energy industry contributed to plunging profits in the second quarter, but investors said that as oil prices recover, the tenfold boost in loan-loss provisions lenders made from a year earlier may be enough to absorb any losses.
Bloomberg - Ed Hammond and Jennifer Surane (2020-06-01)
Western Union Co. is seeking to acquire MoneyGram International Inc. in a transaction that would bring together two of the largest U.S. providers of money-transfer services, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg - Bloomberg (2020-06-01)
People in China are no strangers to digital payments—if anything, it’s easier to move around and shop in Shanghai or Beijing with an Alipay or WeChat Pay smartphone app than it is bearing a pocketbook filled with yuan notes. Now the Chinese government has begun a pilot program for an official digital version of its currency—with the likelihood of a bigger test at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. Some observers think the virtual yuan could bolster the government’s power over the country’s financial system and one day maybe even shift the global balance of economic influence.
Investment Executive - James Langton (2020-06-01)
The self-regulatory organization issued a consultation paper on Monday that seeks industry feedback on the problems firms face regarding client account transfers.
Investment Executive - IE (2020-06-01)
Scotiabank said consumer borrowing slowed as government relief efforts such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit took effect and consumers became more cautious amid economic uncertainty.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-06-01)
Canada’s economy has been slowing in growth for a few quarters, even before the pandemic. It got much worse after the economic lockdown. Stat Can reported GDP fell 2.11% in Q1 2020, when compared to the previous quarter. Pre-pandemic growth in Q4 2019 also wasn’t very impressive though, coming in at the weakest level since the 2015 oil crash. With the exception of some noise in Q2 2019, GDP growth has been trending lower since the back half of 2017. This view gets even worse if you’re looking at the issue on a per capita basis.
Libro Credit Union - Libro (2020-05-30)
Scott Ferguson, Libro’s Executive Vice President, Information Systems, said: “Everyone at Libro is thrilled to be leading the way on bringing this service to Canada’s financial services industry. We’re happy to say it’s another example of Libro making sure we are involved in the latest trends in payments, and being ready to meet the demands of customers.
RichardsonGMP - Hilliard MacBeth (2020-05-30)
A large correction in house prices is forecast by many non-bank analysts. Even the CMHC forecasts average price declines of 9 to 18 percent. Other macroeconomic researchers expect price declines of 30 to 40 percent, in line with past crashes in Canada and other countries. According to MRB Partners the average decline in housing bear markets is 36 percent:
Press Release - Cdn Govt (2020-05-30)
Due to the pandemic’s effects on the economy, some federally regulated pension plan sponsors are facing significant financial constraints. To provide temporary relief to sponsors of federally regulated, defined benefit pension plans, on April 15, 2020 the government announced a moratorium on solvency special payments.
G&M - Jeffrey Jones (2020-05-29)
The bidders for Torstar Corp. plan to push the struggling newspaper publisher’s transformation into a digital news and information provider, which they say is an effort best accomplished outside the glare of public markets.
CBC - Reuters (2020-05-29)
The massive jump in provisions took the total amount set aside by Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal , Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank of Canada , CIBC and TD Bank to $10.93 billion.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-05-29)
The main business lines at both CIBC and TD were hit hard by COVID-19. TD said net income at its Canadian retail unit was approximately $1.2 billion, which was down 37 per cent year over year, as loan-loss provisions jumped by $873 million as a result of a bleaker economic forecast. Its U.S. retail banking line was hit even harder, with net income falling 73 per cent from a year earlier to $336 million.
Reuters - Clara Denina, Davide Barbuscia (2020-05-29)
Although Morgan Stanley was one of Aramco’s top advisers on its initial public offering last year, three local banks - NCB, Samba and HSBC Saudi Arabia - ended up controlling most of the process when the listing was scaled down.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-05-29)
“Following declines in 2020, housing starts, sales and prices are expected to start to recover by mid-2021 as the pandemic recedes,” Bob Dugan, chief economist at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., wrote in a market outlook report Wednesday. “Sales and prices are still likely to remain below their pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of 2022.”
Bloomberg - Marcus Ashworth (2020-05-29)
Don’t fight the U.S. Federal Reserve — repeat that mantra until it sticks.
FT - Daniel Dombey, Stephen Morris (2020-05-29)
BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank by market capitalisation, said it would cut its internal financial targets for this year and called for the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions to help kick-start the economy.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-05-29)
Sample faq question: What does OSFI mean when it says banks can treat mortgage borrowers who apply for payment relief as performing loans? When does a bank now have to designate a mortgage loan as non-performing?
BOC - BOC (2020-05-29)
A broad discussion/explanation of the factors the contribute to individual mortgage rates.
BOC - Stephen S. Poloz (2020-05-29)
In the face of this uncertainty, our priorities are helping people and the economy and sticking with our inflation target.
G&M - Ian Tam (2020-05-28)
Over this period the strategy produced an annualized total return of 11.7 per cent while the Morningstar Canada Gross Return Index advanced 7 per cent over the same time frame. On a one-year trailing basis ended April, 2020, the strategy lost 6.1 per cent while the index lost 8.3 per cent. The stocks that meet the requirements to be purchased into the model today are listed in the table below.
G&M - Robert Fife, Steven Chase (2020-05-28)
The federal government said a B.C. judge’s refusal on Wednesday to end an extradition case against Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou was entirely out of its hands as it braced for economic retaliation from Beijing.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-05-28)
The capital markets divisions at the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada did little to prop up earnings this quarter, as losses due to market volatility overshadowed strong fixed income trading activity and debt underwriting.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-05-28)
Royal Bank of Canada’s second-quarter profit fell 54 per cent as the bank built up massive reserves to cover potential losses on loans as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-05-28)
Bank of Montreal reported a 54-per-cent plunge in second-quarter profit as it earmarked more than $1.1-billion to cover potential losses on loans amid the coronavirus pandemic.
G&M - Rachelle Younglai (2020-05-28)
Canadian home building could drop by as much as 75 per cent and prices could decline by up to 25 per cent in oil-producing provinces, the country’s housing agency said in its outlook that predicts a long recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
G&M - Rob Carrick (2020-05-28)
The pandemic has revealed a big but fixable hole in our financial planning for emergencies.
CBC - CBC (2020-05-28)
Canada's national housing agency says the number of new homes being built and sold will remain below the levels they were at before COVID-19 until 2022 at least, and prices won't get back to where they were for another two years either.
CBC - Pete Evans (2020-05-28)
A big reason for the profit plunge is a spike in loan loss provisions. That's the amount that banks set aside to cover bad loans. Royal hiked its provisions to $2.8 billion in the quarter, a huge jump from $426 million last year.
CBC - Kyle Bakx, Tony Seskus (2020-05-28)
One of those details is a built-in safeguard for taxpayers which requires participating companies to give the government either an ownership stake or cash equivalent of 15 per cent of the principal loan amount.
CBC - CP (2020-05-28)
The Montreal-based bank said after markets closed that its net income amounted to $379 million for the period ended April 30, compared with $558 million in the same quarter last year.
CBC - Bethany Lindsay (2020-05-28)
Those professional groups allegedly included Silver International Ltd., the Richmond company at the centre of a high-profile money laundering probe that collapsed in 2018. The company and two directors were criminally charged, but the charges were later stayed in court.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-05-28)
“We would describe the current environment … as going where no one has gone before,” said Louis Vachon, chief executive of Montreal-based National Bank of Canada, during a conference call Tuesday evening. “So this is Star Trek finance.”
FP - Geoff Zachodine (2020-05-28)
“I would like to point out that requests for payment deferrals peaked in the first week of April here in Canada, and we are now tracking at significantly lower levels,” said Brian Porter, president and CEO of Scotiabank, during a conference call Tuesday morning.
FP - Barbara Shecter (2020-05-28)
“I don’t expect as good returns in the next 10 years as they have been in the last 10 years,” Machin said in an interview after the CPP fund posted a 3.1 per cent annual return for the year ended March 31, a period that also contained punishingly low oil prices and deep interest rate cuts.
BNN - BNN Video (2020-05-28)
Two-thirds of the trading losses on that day were tied to the firm’s equity-linked note-related business, according to Flynn. The business sells notes to investors that give them returns linked to equities. The other third of the day’s trading losses were from hedging around Bank of Montreal’s derivative book, he said.
BNN - Ferdinando Giugliano (2020-05-28)
The Commission president outlined a 750 billion-euro ($825 billion) rescue program to help the bloc cope with the fallout from Covid-19. EU governments still have to agree to the plan, and some northern member states — especially the Netherlands and Austria — are likely opponents. But if the final deal looks even close to Von der Leyen’s proposal, it will mark a radical transformation of Europe.
Reuters - Elizabeth Dilts Marshall (2020-05-28)
However, the crisis has created unexpected growth in some of Goldman’s newer businesses. Deposits in Goldman’s Marcus savings accounts rose to $80 billion as of late May, up from $72 billion on March 31. The bank also now has over 175 large and medium-sized corporate clients using its cash management platform, Waldron said.
Bloomberg - Doug Alexander (2020-05-28)
The company, in its presentation Wednesday, offered an explanation: “In March, markets experienced unprecedented asset price declines, record volatility, extreme liquidity challenges and dislocations, and significant widening of corporate bond spreads. Given certain trading activities and positions, we experienced negative trading revenue during the most volatile days.”
Better Dwelling - Daniel Wong (2020-05-28)
The Altus benchmark price for new homes increased, but with some confusing metrics. The benchmark for a new single-family unit reached $1,117,955 in April, down 0.2% from a month before. The condo apartment benchmark reached $984,369, up a massive 29.8% from last year. Detached prices are still about 10% lower than peak, while condo apartments are at a new high.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-28)
As previously discussed, risk firms forecast in ranges – which depend on various factors. TransUnion analysts looked at over 40 different metrics, including forbearance and credit. The “base case” before the pandemic saw slowing credit growth, and rising delinquencies. As the pandemic set in, analysts from the firm began to think the medium case was likely. However, due to recent developments, metrics now show we’ve entered the “severe scenario.”
G&M - Andrew Willis (2020-05-28)
A Toronto-based fund manager has emerged as the lender of choice and potential kingmaker at Canadian print media companies, pledging $50-million for the planned takeover of Torstar Corp. after previously backstopping two of the publisher’s biggest rivals.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-05-28)
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s second-quarter profit fell 52 per cent as Canada’s most retail-focused lender suffered from a surge in expected loan losses and a slowdown in consumer activity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
G&M - James Bradshaw, Mark Rendell (2020-05-28)
Credit card spending has begun to rebound and consumers are starting to take out new loans, even as Canadians remain cautious with personal finances as physical distancing measures relax.
G&M - Eric Atkins (2020-05-28)
Canadian National Railway Co. is making deeper cuts to its work force amid a plunge in rail traffic and economic demand stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
G&M - Andrew Willis (2020-05-27)
Canadians can take comfort from knowing their pension plan was well-managed during a brutal market meltdown. However, Albertans have new reasons to worry about poor performance from their government-owned fund manager.
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2020-05-27)
Before COVID-19 struck, Canada’s real estate sector had been on a tear for two decades. Despite minor periodic lulls, the housing market kept on defying warnings of a major price correction even as household debt surged to record levels and income growth stagnated.
Insurance-Portal.ca - Aurelia Morvan (2020-05-27)
The company reported a net loss of $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. However, this result is 15.8% or $600,000 higher than that of Q1 2019, when the company reported a net loss of $3.8 million.
Insurance-Portal.ca - IIJ (2020-05-27)
iA Financial Corporation has concluded the acquisition of a U.S. vehicle warranty business.
Better Dwelling - Daniel Wong (2020-05-27)
No surprise, and an issue that’s been cited in most forecasts – employment is going to have the biggest impact. The bank notes the unemployment rate went from 5.5% pre-crisis, to 13% at writing – and will likely inch higher. They echoed the belief most job losses will be temporary, and the market will see the rate drop to 8% next year. A 200 bps increase is all that’s needed for unemployment to become recessionary. For this reason, the bank is forecasting a recessionary environment post-pandemic. This is expected to impact both demand for housing, as well as the ability to cover home payments.
WSJ - Dave Michaels and Akane Otani (2020-05-27)
Chinese companies raised billions of dollars by listing their shares on U.S. stock exchanges while avoiding the accounting-quality checks that other public firms get. But economic tensions have pushed a financial-markets issue into the political mainstream.
Investment Executive - CP (2020-05-27)
The bank’s provisions for credit losses totalled nearly $1.85 billion for the quarter, more than doubling from $873 million a year earlier.
Investment Executive - CP (2020-05-27)
The Montreal-based bank says its net income amounted to $379 million for the period ended April 30, compared to $558 million in the same quarter last year.
Investment Executive - CP (2020-05-27)
Speaking to the Senate finance committee Tuesday, Giroux said the government has added about $7.6 billion in spending since his last report, pushing the potential deficit ever deeper.
VersaBank - Versabank (2020-05-27)
Latest results.
G&M - Daniel Leblanc (2020-05-26)
Although Mr. Trudeau has called the bank CEOs on occasion in the past, such direct discussions are not common. In the fall of 2018, Mr. Trudeau briefed them in separate calls at a key juncture in negotiations to redraw the North American free-trade agreement.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-05-26)
China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Tuesday that bad loans at banks now stand at a high level due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg - Hugo Miller (2020-05-26)
A decade after billions of dollars were wired to Swiss banks, the country is holding its first trial into whether a local banker failed to stop a $700 million transfer into an account controlled by Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal.
WSJ - Andrew Ackerman and Nick Timiraos (2020-05-26)
With interest rates falling to the lowest level on record, this should be a banner time for households in search of a new mortgage.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-05-26)
Scotiabank is the first major Canadian lender to report earnings since the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc on public health and economic activity, providing an early barometer for the depth of the losses Canada's banks expect to suffer on loans. The bank added about $1-billion to loan-loss reserves for the fiscal second quarter, bringing provisions for credit losses to $1.85-billion, up 111 per cent from a year ago.
G&M - Clare O'Hara (2020-05-26)
Independent fund giant CI Financial Corp. continues to boost its presence in the U.S. market with its latest purchase of a minority interest in Congress Wealth Management LLC, a Boston-based registered investment adviser firm that caters to high-net-worth families.
G&M - David Milstead (2020-05-26)
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board managed to stay in the black for its just-completed fiscal year, despite a final quarter that shaved more than $10-billion from the pension’s assets.
G&M - CP (2020-05-26)
Parliament’s spending watchdog says the estimated federal deficit for the year has likely risen to about $260-billion with new measures rolled out in recent weeks.
G&M - Reuters (2020-05-26)
Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing said on Tuesday that markets were too optimistic in their assessment of a recovery from the novel coronavirus crisis.
G&M - Scott Barlow (2020-05-26)
Almost 800,000 bored Americans have opened online trading accounts in what Business Insider’s Linette Lopez describes as ‘a perfect storm of stupid.’
CBC - Pete Evans (2020-05-26)
Net assets for Canada's national pension plan totalled $409.6 billion as of the end of March, up from $392 billion at the end of the previous financial year.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-05-26)
One point he likes to make is that policy-makers learn from their mistakes, so errors of the past won’t be repeated. He went so far as to tell the House finance committee last month that he would welcome inflation because upward price pressure would imply the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 recession.
FP - Reuters (2020-05-26)
Net income fell to $379 million, or $1.01 per share, in the second quarter ended April 30, from $558 million, or $1.51 per share, a year earlier.
Reuters - Elizabeth Dilts Marshall (2020-05-26)
JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that he expects the bank will boost its credit reserves again in the second quarter by an amount “roughly equivalent” to the $7 billion it added in the first quarter to protect the bank from a potential wave of loan defaults.
G&M - Eric Reguly (2020-05-25)
Governments lunged into the nationalization game in the autumn of 2008, when the financial crisis shredded banks alive. The novel coronavirus crisis will force them to make a repeat performance.
G&M - David Milliken (2020-05-25)
The Bank of England will begin to phase out weekly emergency support for financial markets that it introduced in response to coronavirus fears in March, now that markets have calmed and banks no longer have difficulty accessing cash.
CBC - Jeremy McDonald, Asha Tomlinson (2020-05-25)
Customers say they were also told of policies that exclude cases where a travel credit was offered, or were encouraged to accept a credit rather than pursue a dispute. Some say they were told pandemic-related disputes would not be addressed at all.
FP - Haider-Moranis Bulletin (2020-05-25)
Evan Siddall, chief executive of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), expressed serious concerns about Canadians’ increasing debt levels, which are dominated by mortgage debt, in his prepared remarks on Tuesday for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
FP - Doug Alexander (2020-05-25)
Elevators will have limits of four people and Cadillac Fairview plans to add thin anti-microbial film over the buttons. It’s looking to introduce digital apps so people can schedule their elevator rides instead of waiting in line, Iacono said, “so that you know with certainty that you’re not going to have to wait a long time in order to be able to access your floors.”
FP - Terence Cocoran (2020-05-25)
Is this a fundamental clash of ideas between two different proposals for economic and political governance? They are, more likely, two sides of the same corporatist coin in which the state and corporations, the public and the private, the collective and the individual, converge to form some new variation on an old and historically troublesome model.
Reuters - Elizabeth Dilts Marshall (2020-05-25)
Morgan Stanley, along with JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America (BAC.N) and five others, voluntarily suspended their share repurchases in mid-March to preserve liquidity during the novel coronavirus pandemic to lend to individuals and businesses in need.
FT - Andrew England and Arash Massoudi (2020-05-25)
You don’t want to waste a crisis . . . So for us, definitely we are looking into any opportunities.”
FT - Oliver Ralph (2020-05-25)
Insurers are facing a double hit from coronavirus. Claims from customers could pass $100bn in total, while there has also been a hit to reserves from volatile financial markets.
FT - Attracta Mooney (2020-05-25)
Britain’s biggest pension fund has hoarded cash reserves in anticipation of further market uncertainty as companies and countries grapple with the fallout of coronavirus.
Investment Executive - IE (2020-05-25)
“The housing market was basically frozen in April,” the Friday report said, with both sales and new listings down substantially last month. However, that resulted in “a relatively stable sales-to-listing ratio and a muted price response,” and all provinces were affected similarly.
Canadian Underwriter - Adam Malik (2020-05-25)
This article chronicles the steps insurers are taking. For example, Customers of the three carriers with an active auto policy as of Apr. 8 can get a one-time payment equaling about 25% of their monthly premium. Allstate said cheques can be expected in May. The company is looking into offering electronic options, according to a spokesperson.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-25)
He said the most pressing danger stemming from this uncertainty is that the dramatic COVID-19 economic downturn could fuel serious deflationary pressures – a strong argument for central banks to respond with decidedly inflationary monetary policy.
Economist - Economist (2020-05-25)
american bankers make for bold bosses. From his roomy office in Manhattan, in early February, the boss of one of the country’s biggest suggested he has few serious rivals—and all are just a few blocks away. “us banks continue to gain share from European banks.” Asia barely gets a mention. “Chinese institutions have generally proven incapable of expanding globally. When they buy sports cars and flashy hotels, it just doesn’t feel solid.” Days later Morgan Stanley, America’s sixth-largest bank, announced its $13bn acquisition of E-Trade, a broker—the biggest by a Wall Street bank since 2008.
NY Times - Matthew Goldstein (2020-05-25)
Investors in distressed mortgages often face little opposition when they take homeowners to court, but some of the legal proceedings have not been easy for Goldman.
NY Times - Stanley Reed (2020-05-25)
Mr. Ospel rose from modest origins to become the leading figure in Swiss banking in the early years of this century — and, for a time, one of the top financial executives of his generation. His crowning achievement was engineering the merger in 1998 of Swiss Bank Corporation, which he headed, with Union Bank of Switzerland, creating the wealth management giant UBS.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-25)
The number of Canadians on mortgage deferrals has been rapidly rising, and that number is expected to climb further. The CMHC estimates 12% of insured mortgages are now on a payment deferral. They expect this number will rise to 20% towards the end of the summer – by September. Which is part of the reason they warned first-time homebuyers to be careful with the amount of debt they assume.
Insurance-Portal.ca - IIJ (2020-05-25)
iA Financial Corporation has concluded the acquisition of a U.S. vehicle warranty business.
Insurance Business - Lyle Adriano (2020-05-25)
The individuals were elected during Economical’s annual meeting held just yesterday. The meeting was held over a live audio webcast, and the votes for the board members were similarly conducted through electronic means.
OSFI - Jeremy Rudin (2020-05-25)
One of OSFI's most important tools in the current situation is setting capital levels. You may wish to think of capital as a form of self-insurance, which provides both a buffer against unforeseen losses and an incentive to manage risk taking. Strong capital levels allow a financial institution to operate normally even if it experiences losses.
G&M - David Milstead (2020-05-25)
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is about to give Canadians insight into what COVID-19 has done to the investments of the country’s public pensions in the past few months – but for members of most other major plans, the damage that’s been done from a sharp, sudden decline in markets may remain a mystery.
G&M - Darcy Keith (2020-05-25)
Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday as investors looked to an eventual economic recovery from the coronavirus with more countries scaling back lockdown measures. Pot stocks rallied sharply on positive momentum that started for many of them last week.
BNN - Video (2020-05-25)
Barry Schwartz of Baskin Wealth Management gives his outlook for shares of Laurentian Bank.
BNN - Video (2020-05-25)
David Rosenberg, chief economist at Rosenberg Research and Associates says that it could take between three to five years for the economy to get back to normal. He also says that economies can reopen all they want, but that demand is what's key.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-22)
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz believes Canada’s economy remains on track for a healthy recovery this year from the COVID-19 crisis, despite the steady flow of discouraging economic headlines in recent weeks.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-22)
“These shifts mean that the standard consumer price index, [which is] based on the cost of a fixed basket of goods, is less meaningful,” he said. “Over all, the results indicate that the decline in inflation experienced by consumers may be less than indicated by the official CPI measure.”
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-05-22)
RBC Capital Markets is limiting its trading relationship with a wildly popular U.S.-based oil exchange traded fund, after unprecedented price volatility forced the bank to reassess its exposure to oil futures contracts.
CBC - Jeremy McDonald, Asha Tomlinson (2020-05-22)
A chargeback is a reversal of a charge on your credit card, resulting from a dispute filed with the institution that issued the card — often a bank.
CBC - CBC (2020-05-22)
Roughly 12 per cent of mortgage holders have elected to defer payments so far, Evan Siddall, the chief executive officer at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, told the House of Commons standing committee on finance in Ottawa on Tuesday.
CBC - Dianne Buckner (2020-05-22)
"At our office building, you can only have two people in an elevator and there's 550,000 square feet of people," said Glenn Gardner, a broker on the downtown Vancouver leasing team of commercial real estate firm Avison Young.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-05-22)
I’m not sure the climate debate is as unsettled as it seems. Sure, the Alberta government continues to fight the carbon tax, but the biggest oilsands companies have all pledged to lower their net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, the same target that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has set for the country.
FP - Nichola Saminather (2020-05-22)
Earnings expectations have undergone “a monumental, paramount change,” said Kash Pashootan, chief executive of First Avenue Investment Counsel. Pashootan also saw credit-loss provision ratios four to five times above pre-pandemic levels and warned of “lagged, yet material, insolvencies and defaults that will carry forward for several quarters.”
FP - Scott Deveau (2020-05-22)
“In reflecting on what really matters to our business, it is liquidity, liquidity and liquidity, in that order,” he wrote in the letter. “The most damaging thing for any business owner is to find yourself out of business and unable to participate in the recovery, or in a position of needing to issue shares which dilute the owners, and therefore make it impossible to ever recover from undue dilution at the wrong time.”
Reuters - Scott Murdoch (2020-05-22)
The banks that lent $518 million to Luckin Coffee (LK.O) Chairman Charles Zhengyao Lu have started court proceedings to liquidate his private company, a government gazette for the British Virgin Islands showed.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-05-22)
The governor has been forced to take unprecedented action just to keep credit markets from seizing up -- cutting the benchmark rate to near zero, injecting more than C$300 billion ($210 billion) of cash into financial markets and undertaking the central bank’s first-ever foray into large-scale purchases of government debt.
Bloomberg - Olivia Rockerman (2020-05-22)
Banks are preparing for a flood of applications for loan forgiveness under the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program, marshaling staff to help borrowers navigate a complicated process that recalls the fraught early days of the Covid-19 small-business relief effort.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-05-22)
Total economic support during the pandemic equals about 10.2% of Canada’s GDP versus 12.7% south of the border, RBC said in a note published Wednesday. Canada’s measures lean more heavily toward repayable loans and short-term tax deferrals instead of direct spending and grants.
Bloomberg - Joe Light and Prashant Gopal (2020-05-22)
Even critics of government’s involvement in housing have undergone a bit of a conversion. “The private market can’t save us,” says Anthony Sanders, a finance professor at George Mason University who describes himself as a libertarian. He was a steadfast advocate for paring down Fannie and Freddie. “The tides have changed dramatically. Now we realize without Fannie and Freddie, we’d be in a world of hurt, because who else is going to buy these mortgages?”
Bloomberg - John Ainger (2020-05-22)
Sterling tumbled against a stronger dollar and gilt yields touched fresh all-time lows after Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden became the latest policy maker to signal that interest rates below 0% could be a possibility. Traders in money markets are betting the U.K. could see sub-zero interest rates by year-end.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-05-22)
The coronavirus pandemic poses the most serious threat ‘in our lifetimes’ to the Fed’s goals of maintaining strong employment and stable prices, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Thursday.
WSJ - Giovanni Legorano (2020-05-22)
The ECB is offering banks trillions of euros in ultracheap money to keep European businesses afloat with loans to fight the effects of coronavirus. Governments are further sweetening the deal. But evidence is mounting that the effort is stuttering.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-22)
Widespread economic deflation can lead to something called a “deflationary spiral.” Since prices are dropping, consumers wait to see if they can get a better deal. If businesses can’t sell inventory, they slow orders for new inventory and investment. This leads to lower employment… which leads to less demand… leading to further price drops… which leads to… you get the point. It becomes even more of an issue if interest rates are kept low for a long period before. Keynes himself once warned that lowering rates after a period of extended low rates, will fail to stimulate demand.
Investment Executive - Rudy Mezzetta (2020-05-22)
CI, which already held a 75% stake in WealthBar, announced on Thursday that it had acquired the remaining 25% of the Vancouver-based online financial planning platform. WealthBar will be rebranded CI Direct Investing in the coming months, CI said, and Virtual Brokers will be rebranded when the two platforms are fully integrated.
Central 1 - Central 1 (2020-05-21)
“We know that tailored digital banking experiences are vital to the success of financial institutions across Canada,” said Mark Blucher, President and CEO of Central 1. “From day one, we voiced that building this ecosystem would be a game changer, and we’ve successfully delivered. By pooling our talent and resources, we can maintain pace with major fintechs, create economies of scale, accelerate time to market on Forge and connect more deeply with our members and customers.”
Finextra - Finextra (2020-05-21)
The US firm, which claims more than 50% of the Fortune 500 as users, recently launched freemium and growth pricing tiers to target smaller firms.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-05-21)
"First Data is paying $40 million because it repeatedly looked the other way while its payment processing services were being used to commit fraud," says Daniel Kaufman, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. "When companies fail to screen out fraudsters exploiting the payment processing system to steal people’s money, they’re breaking the law - and injuring consumers."
Finextra - Finextra (2020-05-21)
The move into credit scoring has been long trailed; in 2018, Tencent began a nationwide test of a system only to call it off the next day, claiming more improvements were needed.
G&M - Rachelle Younglai (2020-05-21)
Canada’s national housing agency is predicting home prices could plummet up to 18 per cent and mortgage arrears could soar to 20 per cent, a forecast some economists and real estate experts say is a particularly dire assessment of the pandemic’s effect on the housing market.
G&M - CP (2020-05-21)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asking Canada’s commercial landlords to buy into a federal program launching next week that would give companies a break on the rent due in only a few days.
G&M - Bill Curry (2020-05-21)
The federal government will be able to take an ownership stake in public companies and will block executives from earning more than $1-million, according to newly released details of Ottawa’s loan program for struggling large companies.
G&M - KELSEY JOHNSON AND DAVID LJUNGGREN (2020-05-21)
The Bank of Canada thinks there is likely to be downward pressure on inflation once coronavirus-related shutdowns are lifted, a senior official said on Wednesday, a sign the Bank is in no rush to raise near-record low interest rates.
G&M - Andrew Willis (2020-05-21)
Expansion into the Canadian retail financial services arena, currently dominated by domestic banks, is part of Morgan Stanley’s strategic expansion in wealth management under chief executive James Gorman. After snapping up Solium, Mr. Gorman committed US$13-billion in February to the takeover of discount brokerage E-Trade Financial Corp. If the E-Trade acquisition receives regulatory approval, Morgan Stanley will administer US$3.1-trillion of client assets, including stock compensation plans for 4.6 million customers.
CBC - Pete Evans (2020-05-21)
Women's fashion chain Reitmans has been granted protection from its creditors while it restructures, the latest retail victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CBC - CBC (2020-05-21)
"This decision follows months of working to identify a buyer who would continue to operate our business going forward," the chain said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the challenging retail environment has been significantly compounded by the profound impact of COVID-19, hindering our ability to secure such a buyer and requiring us to wind down."
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-05-21)
“The shutdown is not typical,” Timothy Lane, the longest-serving deputy governor on the Bank of Canada’s policy committee, said in a speech on May 20. “These shifts mean the standard consumer price index, based on the cost of a fixed basket of goods, is less meaningful.”
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-05-21)
Shopify Inc. says it plans on allowing merchants to start opening their own very bank-like accounts with it in the United States later this year, and then in Canada at some point after that, as the e-commerce company expands further into financial services.
Reuters - Sumeet Chatterjee, Michelle Price (2020-05-21)
With the headcount expansion for its new brokerage business, the bank’s research arm aims to more than double the number of China-listed firms it covers in five years from about 225, the people said.
Reuters - Imani Moise (2020-05-21)
The New York-based company said its Sustainability & Corporate Transitions group will be led by Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory (BCMA) Chief Strategy Officer Bridget Fawcett and Keith Tuffley, who has lead the unit’s sustainability efforts so far.
Bloomberg - Kait Bolongaro (2020-05-21)
Justin Trudeau’s government is willing to take equity stakes in Canada’s largest firms in exchange for bridge financing as big business grapples with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis and Shelly Hagan (2020-05-21)
The Bank of Canada believes weaker demand from the global pandemic will outweigh any supply side impacts, putting downward pressures on prices.
WSJ - Justin Baer (2020-05-21)
An urgent call reached Ronald O’Hanley, State Street Corp.’s chief executive, as he sat in his office in downtown Boston. It was 8 a.m. on Monday, March 16.
WSJ - Sam Goldfarb (2020-05-21)
Yields on U.S. government bonds have stalled near all-time lows, a sign that investors are anticipating a difficult economic recovery and years of aggressive monetary stimulus.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-21)
The CMHC is on an epic journey to try to contain the damage the economy is inflicting on home prices. They reiterated they are ready to buy up to $150 billion in mortgages, expand securitization, and extend deferrals. Currently they estimate 12% of mortgages are on payment deferral. They expect this number to rise to 20% by September. In other words, this is a huge (and expensive) operation they are undergoing. However, they warned their “support for homeownership cannot be unlimited.” After all, if the organization incurs substantial losses, it will require taxpayer help. Who wants higher taxes because Joe Vancouver put 5% on a 300 sqft condo at nearly a million dollars, thinking it can never go down in price? Probably not you.
Investment Executive - James Langton (2020-05-21)
“As related shutdowns/shut-ins lay waste to the global economy, fiscal fortunes have sunk … deep and quick,” the report said. “In Canada’s case, the deterioration in public sector finances appears more acute than elsewhere, owing to a hefty fiscal response to the virus and the added pressure of low commodity prices.”
Investment Executive - David Reeve (2020-05-21)
Clients are adapting, and often prefer virtual service that includes Zoom meetings and enhanced digital offerings. Many in our industry are predicting a permanent shift to remote advice as the “new normal.”
Investment Executive - IE (2020-05-21)
FTSE Russell Canada has introduced a benchmark for the domestic mortgage-backed securities market, providing a new way to access the fixed income investments.
G&M - PAUL WALDIE (2020-05-20)
London City’s proximity to the financial district – and Canary Wharf in particular – made it a favourite of corporate executives heading to European destinations. Passenger traffic soared, reaching a record 5.1 million in 2019. But that strength has suddenly become a liability as the COVID-19 pandemic brings the British economy to a standstill and raises questions about the future of business travel.
ALEXANDRA STEVENSON and MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN - Christine Dobby (2020-05-20)
Competition Bureau after the watchdog concluded the social-media giant made misleading claims about protecting user privacy while improperly sharing data with the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-05-20)
The program, which begins on May 26, will see the Bank of Canada buy corporate bonds on the secondary market, with TD Asset Management acting as its broker. The goal is to add liquidity to the market, narrowing the spread between corporate and government bonds and making it easier for companies to issue new debt.
G&M - Barry Campbell (2020-05-20)
In an old Twilight Zone episode, a bank robber stashes stolen cash and has himself cryogenically frozen. A hundred years later, waking up as programmed, his crime long forgotten, he digs up his stash and tries to spend it. No one will take it.
FP - Barbara Shecter (2020-05-20)
MatchNow, Canada’s dominant dark trading platform, is being acquired by Chicago-based Cboe Global Markets Inc., a publicly traded holding company whose subsidiaries include the largest options exchange in the United States and third-largest stock exchange operator.
Reuters - Sumeet Chatterjee (2020-05-20)
The Asia-focused lender in February announced the merger of its global private banking and retail wealth businesses to create a new wealth and personal banking unit, part of a radical strategy overhaul at Europe’s largest lender by assets.
Bloomberg - Chris Fournier (2020-05-20)
Canada’s federal housing agency is considering scaling back mortgage underwriting practices to limit excessive borrowing due to the threat of significant declines in real estate prices and rising debt levels.
Bloomberg - Sarah Ponczek (2020-05-20)
It took 33 days for stocks to drop 34%, and three weeks to gain half of it back. Whiplashed investors have been thankful for a dose of calm, but signs are emerging the lull may not last.
Bloomberg - Adam Haigh (2020-05-20)
The level of expected increase in supply this year -- about $2.1 trillion -- is offsetting the $1.9 trillion demand for bonds to the tune of $200 billion, the JPMorgan team concluded, implying upward pressure on yields. Goldman Sachs strategists last week said more issuance adds to the case for higher rates and steeper curves.
WSJ - Andrew Ackerman (2020-05-20)
Joseph Otting is expected to step down this week as comptroller of the currency after completing an overhaul of rules governing billions of dollars of lending in low-income neighborhoods.
WSJ - River Davis (2020-05-20)
Sony Corp. said it would spend $3.7 billion to take full control of its banking and insurance unit, calling the Japan-centered business a hedge against uncertainty caused by the new coronavirus and global tensions.
FT - Kadhim Shubber, Robert Armstrong (2020-05-20)
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VersaBank - Press Release (2020-05-20)
On May 27, 2020, financial results are expected to be released at approximately 7:00 a.m. (EDT). A conference call to discuss the results is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. (EDT) and will feature a presentation by David Taylor, President & CEO, and other VersaBank executives, followed by a question and answer period.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-20)
Canada’s credit growth has been largely a household credit story. In 2000, household debt was just 58% of GDP. By the end of 2019 Q4, that number has hit 100% of GDP. This is amongst the highest of advanced economies. To see how much the Canadian economy has leaned on household debt, the BoC contrasts it to the growth of non-financial and government debt.
Investment Executive - Greg Dalgetty (2020-05-20)
CEBA offers interest-free, partially forgivable loans of up to $40,000 for qualifying businesses. Previously, the program was available only to businesses with payrolls between $20,000 and $1.5 million.
BIV - Bryan Yu (2020-05-20)
As expected, Canada suffered another month of record-shattering job loss in April as containment measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 kept workers at home and shuttered workplaces temporarily, leading to a swath of layoffs across the country.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2021-06-01)
Stephen Poloz had only been Governor of the Bank of Canada for a few months in the late summer of 2013, when he gave a speech that defined his unique communication style and signalled a new era for a traditionally staid institution.
Bloomberg - Ferdinando Giugliano (2020-06-20)
Nevertheless, Lagarde and her colleagues would be wise to read the staff paper closely. Among all the carefully worded language, one can clearly see the contours of a monetary framework that would work for the ECB’s third decade. These include changing the inflation target to 2%, and maintaining all of the instruments — asset purchases, long-term loans to the banking system and negative interest rates — that the central bank used throughout the presidency of Lagarde’s predecessor, Mario Draghi.
The argument for a symmetric inflation target is rooted in the power of expectations. The ECB at the moment aims to reach an inflation rate “close to but below 2%.” This means that, as price pressures start climbing toward 2%, investors and consumers expect the ECB to react aggressively, tightening monetary policy to push inflation back. The authors believe this served the ECB well during its first decade, when it had to establish its reputation and fight off inflationary forces.
However, the objective has been less useful in today’s era of persistently low inflation. It may even be counterproductive. Consumers and investors don’t expect the central bank to act so decisively to counter deflation.
CBC - Don Pittis (2020-06-01)
But just as when Poloz replaced media darling Mark Carney, who set off to an even more glamorous and demanding job at the Bank of England only to be replaced by a relatively stodgy and unknown replacement, changes of leadership style at the top matter.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-06-01)
“April SAMA data offers the first indication of the magnitude of the curfew with consumer spending tumbling 35% y/y despite 2x surge in food spending on Ramadan season and household stocking,” Arqaam Capital said in a research note.
FP - Geoffrey Morgan (2020-06-01)
Athabasca’s banking syndicate reduced its credit facility to $42 million after a review, which represents a 65 per cent cut from $120 million previously, the company said.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-06-01)
Canada’s economy has been slowing in growth for a few quarters, even before the pandemic. It got much worse after the economic lockdown. Stat Can reported GDP fell 2.11% in Q1 2020, when compared to the previous quarter. Pre-pandemic growth in Q4 2019 also wasn’t very impressive though, coming in at the weakest level since the 2015 oil crash. With the exception of some noise in Q2 2019, GDP growth has been trending lower since the back half of 2017. This view gets even worse if you’re looking at the issue on a per capita basis.
RichardsonGMP - Hilliard MacBeth (2020-05-30)
A large correction in house prices is forecast by many non-bank analysts. Even the CMHC forecasts average price declines of 9 to 18 percent. Other macroeconomic researchers expect price declines of 30 to 40 percent, in line with past crashes in Canada and other countries. According to MRB Partners the average decline in housing bear markets is 36 percent:
Press Release - Cdn Govt (2020-05-30)
Due to the pandemic’s effects on the economy, some federally regulated pension plan sponsors are facing significant financial constraints. To provide temporary relief to sponsors of federally regulated, defined benefit pension plans, on April 15, 2020 the government announced a moratorium on solvency special payments.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-05-29)
“Following declines in 2020, housing starts, sales and prices are expected to start to recover by mid-2021 as the pandemic recedes,” Bob Dugan, chief economist at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., wrote in a market outlook report Wednesday. “Sales and prices are still likely to remain below their pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of 2022.”
OSFI - OSFI (2020-05-29)
Sample faq question: What does OSFI mean when it says banks can treat mortgage borrowers who apply for payment relief as performing loans? When does a bank now have to designate a mortgage loan as non-performing?
BOC - Stephen S. Poloz (2020-05-29)
In the face of this uncertainty, our priorities are helping people and the economy and sticking with our inflation target.
G&M - Rachelle Younglai (2020-05-28)
Canadian home building could drop by as much as 75 per cent and prices could decline by up to 25 per cent in oil-producing provinces, the country’s housing agency said in its outlook that predicts a long recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
CBC - Kyle Bakx, Tony Seskus (2020-05-28)
One of those details is a built-in safeguard for taxpayers which requires participating companies to give the government either an ownership stake or cash equivalent of 15 per cent of the principal loan amount.
FP - Geoff Zachodine (2020-05-28)
“I would like to point out that requests for payment deferrals peaked in the first week of April here in Canada, and we are now tracking at significantly lower levels,” said Brian Porter, president and CEO of Scotiabank, during a conference call Tuesday morning.
BNN - Ferdinando Giugliano (2020-05-28)
The Commission president outlined a 750 billion-euro ($825 billion) rescue program to help the bloc cope with the fallout from Covid-19. EU governments still have to agree to the plan, and some northern member states — especially the Netherlands and Austria — are likely opponents. But if the final deal looks even close to Von der Leyen’s proposal, it will mark a radical transformation of Europe.
Better Dwelling - Daniel Wong (2020-05-28)
The Altus benchmark price for new homes increased, but with some confusing metrics. The benchmark for a new single-family unit reached $1,117,955 in April, down 0.2% from a month before. The condo apartment benchmark reached $984,369, up a massive 29.8% from last year. Detached prices are still about 10% lower than peak, while condo apartments are at a new high.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-28)
As previously discussed, risk firms forecast in ranges – which depend on various factors. TransUnion analysts looked at over 40 different metrics, including forbearance and credit. The “base case” before the pandemic saw slowing credit growth, and rising delinquencies. As the pandemic set in, analysts from the firm began to think the medium case was likely. However, due to recent developments, metrics now show we’ve entered the “severe scenario.”
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2020-05-27)
Before COVID-19 struck, Canada’s real estate sector had been on a tear for two decades. Despite minor periodic lulls, the housing market kept on defying warnings of a major price correction even as household debt surged to record levels and income growth stagnated.
Better Dwelling - Daniel Wong (2020-05-27)
No surprise, and an issue that’s been cited in most forecasts – employment is going to have the biggest impact. The bank notes the unemployment rate went from 5.5% pre-crisis, to 13% at writing – and will likely inch higher. They echoed the belief most job losses will be temporary, and the market will see the rate drop to 8% next year. A 200 bps increase is all that’s needed for unemployment to become recessionary. For this reason, the bank is forecasting a recessionary environment post-pandemic. This is expected to impact both demand for housing, as well as the ability to cover home payments.
Investment Executive - CP (2020-05-27)
Speaking to the Senate finance committee Tuesday, Giroux said the government has added about $7.6 billion in spending since his last report, pushing the potential deficit ever deeper.
G&M - Daniel Leblanc (2020-05-26)
Although Mr. Trudeau has called the bank CEOs on occasion in the past, such direct discussions are not common. In the fall of 2018, Mr. Trudeau briefed them in separate calls at a key juncture in negotiations to redraw the North American free-trade agreement.
G&M - CP (2020-05-26)
Parliament’s spending watchdog says the estimated federal deficit for the year has likely risen to about $260-billion with new measures rolled out in recent weeks.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-05-26)
One point he likes to make is that policy-makers learn from their mistakes, so errors of the past won’t be repeated. He went so far as to tell the House finance committee last month that he would welcome inflation because upward price pressure would imply the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 recession.
G&M - Eric Reguly (2020-05-25)
Governments lunged into the nationalization game in the autumn of 2008, when the financial crisis shredded banks alive. The novel coronavirus crisis will force them to make a repeat performance.
G&M - David Milliken (2020-05-25)
The Bank of England will begin to phase out weekly emergency support for financial markets that it introduced in response to coronavirus fears in March, now that markets have calmed and banks no longer have difficulty accessing cash.
FP - Haider-Moranis Bulletin (2020-05-25)
Evan Siddall, chief executive of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), expressed serious concerns about Canadians’ increasing debt levels, which are dominated by mortgage debt, in his prepared remarks on Tuesday for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
Investment Executive - IE (2020-05-25)
“The housing market was basically frozen in April,” the Friday report said, with both sales and new listings down substantially last month. However, that resulted in “a relatively stable sales-to-listing ratio and a muted price response,” and all provinces were affected similarly.
NY Times - Matthew Goldstein (2020-05-25)
Investors in distressed mortgages often face little opposition when they take homeowners to court, but some of the legal proceedings have not been easy for Goldman.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-25)
The number of Canadians on mortgage deferrals has been rapidly rising, and that number is expected to climb further. The CMHC estimates 12% of insured mortgages are now on a payment deferral. They expect this number will rise to 20% towards the end of the summer – by September. Which is part of the reason they warned first-time homebuyers to be careful with the amount of debt they assume.
OSFI - Jeremy Rudin (2020-05-25)
One of OSFI's most important tools in the current situation is setting capital levels. You may wish to think of capital as a form of self-insurance, which provides both a buffer against unforeseen losses and an incentive to manage risk taking. Strong capital levels allow a financial institution to operate normally even if it experiences losses.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-22)
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz believes Canada’s economy remains on track for a healthy recovery this year from the COVID-19 crisis, despite the steady flow of discouraging economic headlines in recent weeks.
CBC - Dianne Buckner (2020-05-22)
"At our office building, you can only have two people in an elevator and there's 550,000 square feet of people," said Glenn Gardner, a broker on the downtown Vancouver leasing team of commercial real estate firm Avison Young.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-05-22)
The governor has been forced to take unprecedented action just to keep credit markets from seizing up -- cutting the benchmark rate to near zero, injecting more than C$300 billion ($210 billion) of cash into financial markets and undertaking the central bank’s first-ever foray into large-scale purchases of government debt.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-05-22)
Total economic support during the pandemic equals about 10.2% of Canada’s GDP versus 12.7% south of the border, RBC said in a note published Wednesday. Canada’s measures lean more heavily toward repayable loans and short-term tax deferrals instead of direct spending and grants.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-22)
Widespread economic deflation can lead to something called a “deflationary spiral.” Since prices are dropping, consumers wait to see if they can get a better deal. If businesses can’t sell inventory, they slow orders for new inventory and investment. This leads to lower employment… which leads to less demand… leading to further price drops… which leads to… you get the point. It becomes even more of an issue if interest rates are kept low for a long period before. Keynes himself once warned that lowering rates after a period of extended low rates, will fail to stimulate demand.
G&M - Rachelle Younglai (2020-05-21)
Canada’s national housing agency is predicting home prices could plummet up to 18 per cent and mortgage arrears could soar to 20 per cent, a forecast some economists and real estate experts say is a particularly dire assessment of the pandemic’s effect on the housing market.
G&M - CP (2020-05-21)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asking Canada’s commercial landlords to buy into a federal program launching next week that would give companies a break on the rent due in only a few days.
G&M - Bill Curry (2020-05-21)
The federal government will be able to take an ownership stake in public companies and will block executives from earning more than $1-million, according to newly released details of Ottawa’s loan program for struggling large companies.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-05-21)
“The shutdown is not typical,” Timothy Lane, the longest-serving deputy governor on the Bank of Canada’s policy committee, said in a speech on May 20. “These shifts mean the standard consumer price index, based on the cost of a fixed basket of goods, is less meaningful.”
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis and Shelly Hagan (2020-05-21)
The Bank of Canada believes weaker demand from the global pandemic will outweigh any supply side impacts, putting downward pressures on prices.
Better Dwelling - Stephen Punwasi (2020-05-21)
The CMHC is on an epic journey to try to contain the damage the economy is inflicting on home prices. They reiterated they are ready to buy up to $150 billion in mortgages, expand securitization, and extend deferrals. Currently they estimate 12% of mortgages are on payment deferral. They expect this number to rise to 20% by September. In other words, this is a huge (and expensive) operation they are undergoing. However, they warned their “support for homeownership cannot be unlimited.” After all, if the organization incurs substantial losses, it will require taxpayer help. Who wants higher taxes because Joe Vancouver put 5% on a 300 sqft condo at nearly a million dollars, thinking it can never go down in price? Probably not you.
Investment Executive - IE (2020-05-21)
FTSE Russell Canada has introduced a benchmark for the domestic mortgage-backed securities market, providing a new way to access the fixed income investments.
Bloomberg - Chris Fournier (2020-05-20)
Canada’s federal housing agency is considering scaling back mortgage underwriting practices to limit excessive borrowing due to the threat of significant declines in real estate prices and rising debt levels.
WSJ - Andrew Ackerman (2020-05-20)
Joseph Otting is expected to step down this week as comptroller of the currency after completing an overhaul of rules governing billions of dollars of lending in low-income neighborhoods.
Investment Executive - Greg Dalgetty (2020-05-20)
CEBA offers interest-free, partially forgivable loans of up to $40,000 for qualifying businesses. Previously, the program was available only to businesses with payrolls between $20,000 and $1.5 million.
WSJ - Nick Nimiraos (2020-05-19)
The Federal Reserve is preparing to lend directly to middle-market businesses, filling a hole left by the government’s economic-crisis relief efforts, and it is shaping up to be one of the trickiest things it has ever done.
Bloomberg - Jacqueline Thorpe (2020-05-15)
Wilkins, the central bank’s second-in-command, was the most qualified woman ever to compete for the position. The government’s decision to name Tiff Macklem was a disappointment to those who say it underscores slow progress in advancing women to executive roles in economics and finance. Canada may have a reputation as a progressive country, but no woman has ever been finance minister, central bank governor, chief executive of one of its six biggest banks, or head of a large public pension fund.
FP - Murad Hemmadi (2020-05-14)
On Monday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF), through which Ottawa will give credit of $60 million or more to firms with at least $300 million in annual revenue that “make meaningful investments in Canada, and provide jobs to Canadians.”
Investment Executive - Rudy Mezzetta (2020-05-14)
In recent years, the CRA has made it a greater priority to target the “hidden economy” by dedicating more resources toward combatting non-compliance. According to an Ontario Ministry of Labour study cited in the decision, 28% of the construction industry’s economic activity was unreported or underreported, and as much as one-fifth of residential construction takes place unreported.
G&M - Ian McGugan (2020-05-13)
Growing talk of negative interest rates in Canada and the United States is stirring fear about what such a dramatic move by central banks might mean for savers and investors.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan and Kait Bolongaro (2020-05-13)
The Canadian government is in talks to hire Lazard as the financial adviser for its new loan program for large companies, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg - Charles Daly and Christian Wienberg (2020-05-12)
The government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven plans to spend about 2.2 billion kronor ($220 million) on ratcheting up staff levels to help protect the country’s oldest citizens. Another 2 billion kronor will go toward compensating local authorities for the extra costs they’ve incurred in dealing with the pandemic, the government said on Tuesday.
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2020-05-11)
Despite the awesome powers invested in the person who leads the country’s central bank, most Canadians do not know what that person does and most probably do not care. Their blissful ignorance spares the head of the Bank of Canada from much scrutiny.
FP - Terence Corcaran (2020-05-11)
A few weeks ago The Globe and Mail cited a source who said Poloz was not offered an opportunity to stay beyond his June retirement to allow for some leadership continuity as the bank tackled the COVID-19 crisis. Instead, the Morneau/Trudeau team moved swiftly to appoint Tiff Macklem, a former Bank of Canada deputy governor who will return to the bank after serving for six years as dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-05-11)
Federal Reserve officials are unlikely to consider using negative interest rates to stimulate economic growth after concluding the tool’s clear costs outweigh its uncertain benefits.
WSJ - Avantika Chilkoti and Caitlin Ostroff (2020-05-11)
Citigroup, BNP Paribas and UBS are blocked from processing lira transactions as Turkey’s currency hits a record low against the dollar.
Economist - Economist (2020-05-11)
between 2004 and 2012 bnp Paribas helped funnel $30bn into Sudan, Cuba and Iran, all then under American sanctions. It hid its tracks using a network of “satellite” banks and by stripping payment messages of incriminating references. Whistleblowers tipped off American prosecutors. The bank pleaded guilty, expecting to pay €1.1bn ($1.2bn). It was fined $8.9bn by American authorities in 2014, and the case escalated to a diplomatic row.
BOC - BOC (2020-05-07)
The Bank opened and staffed a new operational site in Calgary, which is designed to take over all essential operations in case of a major disruption in Ottawa. Already, critical operations are being routinely managed jointly or being rotated between the two locations. We launched and began to implement a new cyber security strategy, integrating the Bank’s critical role within the Canadian financial system.
FT - Laurence Fletcher (2020-05-06)
One of the hedge fund industry’s longest-standing bears has ditched his holdings in government bonds, saying the central bankers who have helped propel their stratospheric rise over recent years are “fruit loops”.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-05)
“Whether it’s a risk of inflation or deflation, central bank credibility is critical. This requires keeping our eye on the ball in terms of our mandate, and retaining the operational independence to achieve it,” she said.
WSJ - Tom Fairless (2020-05-05)
The European Central Bank rolled out its cheapest ever loans for eurozone banks and said it would consider expanding a €750 billion bond-buying program, amplifying its firepower to contain the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
WSJ - Greg IP (2020-05-05)
If the central bank is too concerned about getting its money back, it may shun the weaker firms where the money will make the biggest difference.
WSJ - Kate Davidson and Richard Rubin (2020-05-05)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he expects the government will recover much of the funds it has committed to backstop the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs, suggesting he doesn’t anticipate widespread losses on the loans.
Investment Executive - Greg Dalgetty (2020-05-05)
Still, even with the government being able to borrow so cheaply, it’s possible the feds may introduce post-pandemic austerity measures. But Mendes noted that 2011 research from Olivier Blanchard, then the chief economist with the International Monetary Fund, found that “austerity could actually be self-defeating when attempting to lower debt-to-GDP ratios.”
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-05-04)
If anyone can empathize with the disappointment that Carolyn Wilkins must be feeling about being passed over for the top job at the Bank of Canada, it’s Tiff Macklem, the man who just beat her to it.
WSJ - Vipal Monga and Cezary Podkul (2020-05-04)
The Federal Reserve has scrapped plans to use a $600 billion aid program for small and midsize businesses to promote the use of its preferred replacement for the troubled London interbank offered rate.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-05-04)
Since the global financial crisis, OSFI has raised capital requirements for DTIs and further required DTIs to exceed those requirements under normal conditions by building robust capital buffers.
Canadian Bankers Association - CBA (2020-05-04)
Summary of measures taken by Canadian banks with respect to covid.
G&M - Ian McGugan (2020-05-01)
The world’s central banks have responded to the pandemic with massive programs to support financial markets. But are their policies just setting us up for more trouble down the road?
G&M - Robert Fife, David Parkinson (2020-05-01)
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to announce a replacement for Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz on Friday.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-05-01)
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said “life has been a blur” over the past two months, as he has steered the country’s central bank through perhaps the most difficult, hectic and complicated period in its history in response to COVID-19.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-05-01)
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz dismissed the possibility his emergency measures could trigger an inflationary spike, providing assurances the central bank’s balance sheet expansion will reverse once the economy improves and financial markets return to normal.
Policy makers were compelled to respond aggressively to the crisis in order to avoid a credit crunch and counter a deflationary shock in the economy, Poloz said, according to the text of remarks he gave by video conference to students at Western University’s Ivey Business School. That makes the injection of cash into the economy, which would be inflationary in normal circumstances, simply a stabilizing force.
“Crisis conditions argue for vigorous, even outsized, responses because maintaining confidence is critical to the recovery,” said Poloz, who’s due to step down in June after serving a seven-year term. “Gradualism is unlikely to succeed.”
OSFI - OSFI (2020-05-01)
OSFI has prepared the following questions and answers for federally regulated financial institutions about measures it has taken to address issues stemming from COVID-19.
Bloomberg - Brian Chappatta (2020-04-29)
The corporate bond market reacted with nothing short of euphoria each time the Fed unveiled how it would go about backstopping debt from U.S. companies. The largest exchange-traded fund tracking the investment-grade market, known by its ticker LQD, surged 7.4% on March 23, the biggest gain in more than a decade. That was the day the Fed announced the terms in which it would wade into credit markets to an unprecedented degree. LQD popped an additiona 4.7% on April 9, when the central bank expanded its program to include “fallen angels” and even junk-bond ETFs. The largest high-yield bond ETF (ticker: HYG) benefited the most, jumping by 6.6%, the most since January 2009.
G&M - Editorial (2020-04-28)
But national finance isn’t household finance. A person’s lifespan is constrained, as is their capacity for income growth; a country is a very different creature.
Reuters - Rich McKay (2020-04-28)
Georgia, at the vanguard of states testing the safety of reopening the U.S. economy in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, permitted restaurant dining for the first time in a month on Monday while governors in regions with fewer cases also eased restrictions.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-04-28)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s search for a successor to Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is entering its final days with the government having already reduced the shortlist of candidates to two, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg - Brian Chappatta (2020-04-27)
It’s occasionally surreal to write about Federal Reserve policy alongside former Fed officials.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-04-27)
Fed leaders have suggested they are comfortable with their current policy stance, but big questions will dominate deliberations at their two-day policy meeting next week, including how to manage bond-buying efforts and how long to extend those easy-money policies.
Bloomberg - Narayana Kocherlakota (2020-04-24)
Unprecedented situations require unprecedented actions. That’s why the U.S. Federal Reserve should fight a rapidly deepening recession by taking interest rates below zero for the first time ever.
G&M - Reuters (2020-04-23)
This suggested the ECB would continue hoovering up bonds only on the secondary market even if it comes close to owning a third of the debt of countries such as Germany and Portugal.
FP - STEVE AMBLER AND JEREMY KRONICK (2020-04-23)
The exact design of the wide array of emergency facilities the Bank has set up in recent weeks is open to debate. The sheer size of these facilities is not. It is a fact — and unprecedented. In less than a month (March 11 to April 8), the Bank’s balance sheet more than doubled — from $120 billion to $275 billion. By contrast, its largest one-month increase in 2008 was a mere 20 per cent. Even the Fed didn’t move that fast or that much, either in 2008 or during this pandemic, for that matter.
Bloomberg - Michelle Jamrisko and Gregor Stuart Hunter (2020-04-23)
As governments dedicate more than $8 trillion to fight the coronavirus pandemic, a further widening in the gap between rich and poor countries threatens to exacerbate the global economy’s pain.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-04-23)
OSFI has prepared the following questions and answers for federally regulated financial institutions about measures it has taken to address issues stemming from COVID-19.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-04-22)
A new federal program to backstop loans to small and mid-sized energy companies could cut the number of producers that fall into bankruptcy in the coming months as oil prices hit record lows, according to executives and analysts.
FP - Jack M. Mintz (2020-04-22)
The IMF predicts that Canada will be the second biggest budget-buster of all advanced countries. Our general government fiscal deficit is expected to be 11.8 per cent of GDP, surpassed only by the United States. Only oil-rich Norway is expected to run a fiscal surplus in 2020, though that will be down from its healthy surpluses of earlier years.
Insurance Portal - IIJ (2020-04-22)
“Canada has earned a reputation for strong adherence to international banking standards,” OSFI said in a statement released April 17. “At the same time, Canada has also earned a reputation for ‘going its own way’ on bank capital while respecting the international minimum standards.”
G&M - Ian McGugan (2020-04-21)
In the eyes of skeptics, these aggressive monetary manoeuvres risk an outburst of inflation down the road. Others, however, see the wave of money printing as simply an acknowledgment that drastic action is necessary to contain the stresses created by an imploding global economy.
G&M - Patrick Brethour (2020-04-21)
It took 12 minutes for Silvano Tocchi to know for certain that the Canada Revenue Agency had succeeded in its three-week scramble to get emergency benefits into the hands of millions of desperate Canadians.
NY Times - Desiree Rios (2020-04-21)
The Senate on Tuesday passed a $484 billion coronavirus relief package that would replenish a depleted loan program for distressed small businesses and provide funds for hospitals and coronavirus testing, approving yet another huge infusion of federal money to address the public health and economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.
WSJ - Ryan Dube, Matt Wirz (2020-04-20)
WSJ - Andrew Restuccia, Catherine Lucey (2020-04-17)
WSJ - Andrew Duehren (2020-04-17)
WSJ - Amara Omeokwe (2020-04-17)
As Congress stands at an impasse over how to replenish funds for a now-depleted small business loan program, Sens. Steve Daines and Cory Booker are pushing for the next round of coronavirus aid to allocate money that would enable local communities to assist very small firms.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-04-16)
The Bank of Canada expanded its new bond-buying program Wednesday to include purchases on the open market of long-term provincial and corporate debt, stepping in to aid provinces and big businesses in tapping strained credit markets for sorely needed funds.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-04-16)
OSFI has prepared the following questions and answers for federally regulated financial institutions about measures it has taken to address issues stemming from COVID-19.
CBC - Don Pittis (2020-04-15)
Momani says the world's poorest people, not just in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South America but in U.S. inner cities, too, will suffer the most, and in ways that could lead to revolts. Places such as Venezuela, already chaotic, may collapse into something worse.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-04-15)
The central bank has already cut interest rates to near zero and injected C$150 billion ($108 billion) into financial markets with a program of asset purchases. Additional measures could include following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s recent move into yield curve control, introducing more explicit forward guidance on future policy intentions, or broadening asset purchases to include long-term provincial securities and corporate debt.
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2020-04-14)
After seven years at the helm, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz would probably have preferred to go out with a whisper rather than a bang. Fate decided against that.
Bloomberg - Kait Bolongaro (2020-04-09)
The Canadian government will make it easier for companies to qualify for a wage subsidy program aimed at companies hit by the coronavirus after business groups said the rules were too restrictive.
WSJ - Andrew Ackerman (2020-04-08)
WSJ - Kate Davidson and Nick Timiraos (2020-04-07)
The Fed said it would create a new program to finance loans that banks and other lenders make through the government’s emergency small-business lending program.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-04-06)
Canada’s banks spent the weekend in intensive talks with Ottawa to iron out details of a program that will give interest-free loans to small businesses suffering due to the new coronavirus, but the length of time needed to process those loans has become a key point of discussion.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-04-03)
David Dodge has some candid things to say about the powerful weapons that the current leadership at the Bank of Canada has unleashed to fight the COVID-19 crisis.
WSJ - Yuka Hayashi (2020-04-03)
Faced with complaints from small banks, the federal government doubled the interest rate it will pay lenders—to 1%, up from 0.5%—under its emergency loan program for small businesses.
Bloomberg - John Ainger and James Hirai (2020-04-03)
Britain’s Debt Management Office will have to raise sales of government bonds to 285 billion pounds ($352 billion), according to Citigroup Inc. That’s over 50 billion pounds more than during the great financial crisis.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-04-02)
Canada’s central bank has a capable markets desk, but there’s only so much a relatively small group of 100 men and women can do at one time, especially when they have been forced to spread out in multiple locations to lower the odds that COVID-19 will infect their ranks.
G&M - Fergal Smith (2020-04-01)
The Bank of Canada is likely to buy about $200-billion of government debt after announcing its first quantitative-easing program, which would nearly triple the amount of assets on the central bank’s balance sheet, bond strategists estimate.
G&M - Reuters (2020-04-01)
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday broadened the ability of dozens of foreign central banks to access U.S. dollars during the coronavirus crisis by allowing them to exchange their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities for overnight dollar loans.
WSJ - Mike Bird (2020-04-01)
Allowing foreign central banks to access the Federal Reserve’s repo facilities is effectively cost-free, benefits American lenders and borrowers, and cements the dollar’s already-dominant role at the top of the hierarchy of currencies.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-04-01)
The central bank launched its latest lending program to alleviate market strains by allowing foreign central banks to convert their holdings of Treasurys into dollars.
fsim.ca - Mark Sibthorpe (2020-04-01)
From 2014: Considering Bernanke is hated by the Republicans and hated even more by the Democrats, and is currently under scrutiny for saving AIG but not Lehman, (in hindsight) with respect to issues over solvency vs liquidity, the Montreal lovefest attended by 1,100 people yesterday must have been a welcome respite. Click the link to read the entire 2014 report.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-04-01)
Canada's banks are preparing to start offering government-backed loans to small businesses as soon as next week amid a flood of requests for relief from business owners.
G&M - Mike Blanchfield (2020-03-30)
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and International Development Minister Karina Gould confirmed the continuing campaigning in separate interviews with the Canadian Press this past week.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-03-30)
Canada’s banking regulator is giving financial institutions more flexibility on requirements such as capital buffers and filing deadlines to help banks, pension funds and insurers cope with the fallout of COVID-19.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-03-30)
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced on its website that it was lowering the 7-day reverse repo rate CN7DRRP=PBOC to 2.20% from 2.40%, but it did not give a reason for the move.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-03-30)
The Federal Reserve quickly deployed a half-dozen emergency lending programs over the past two weeks. Now, Congress wants it to go much further, approving $454 billion to reload the Fed’s own ability to lend.
Investment Executive - James Langton (2020-03-30)
The regulator also said it’s tweaking banks’ capital and liquidity requirements so they’re suited for these “unprecedented circumstances.”
Reuters - Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Patricia Zengerle (2020-03-26)
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously backed a $2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic, as well as providing billions of dollars to buy urgently needed medical equipment.
Reuters - William Schomberg (2020-03-26)
The Bank of England is expected to say on Thursday that it is ready to take further radical action to prop up the economy and Britain’s finance minister will announce help for self-employed workers hit by the coronavirus shutdown.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-03-26)
Short-time work is a form of state aid that allows employers to switch employees to shorter working hours during an economic downturn to keep them on the payroll. It has been widely used by industry, including Germany’s car sector, but not by banks.
G&M - Patrick Brethour (2020-03-26)
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is tripling the size of its program to buy insured mortgage pools to $150-billion, more than double the amount the Crown corporation bought during the 2008 financial crisis.
Reuters - Dan Burns (2020-03-26)
The Fed’s total balance sheet size exploded by more than half a trillion dollars in a single week, roughly twice the pace of the next-largest weekly expansion in the financial crisis in October 2008. As of Wednesday, the Fed’s stash of assets totaled $5.3 trillion, according to data released on Thursday.
WSJ - Tom Fairless, Laurence Norman (2020-03-26)
The European Central Bank sent a powerful signal to investors that it will aggressively support Italy and other indebted eurozone countries that are battling the coronavirus, starting purchases under a new €750 billion ($812 billion) bond-buying program.
BOC - BOC (2020-03-25)
Learn about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Bank’s actions to support the Canadian economy and financial system.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-03-25)
One of these requirements was the creation of the Domestic Stability Buffer (DSB) requirement for domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs). The DSB’s countercyclical design enables D-SIBs to use the capital they have built up during good times when it may be needed most.
G&M - Sajata Rao (2020-03-24)
Canada’s main stock index jumped on Tuesday, as hopes of further stimulus measures from major economies, after U.S. Federal Reserve offered unlimited bond buying, helped shore up demand for riskier assets.
G&M - Bill Curry, Robert Fife (2020-03-24)
The Liberal government announced late Monday that it has agreed to change draft legislation that proposed to grant itself wide-reaching new powers to tax and spend without parliamentary approval until Dec. 31, 2021, through an emergency spending bill.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis and Erik Hertzberg (2020-03-24)
The Bank of Canada said it will start acquiring provincially-issued money market securities, the latest in a series of steps to smooth friction from the nation’s financial system.
Reuters - David Lawder, Andrea Shalal (2020-03-23)
Mnuchin has closely followed the financial crisis playbook used by Paulson when he led the Treasury Department in 2008, reactivating Federal Reserve credit market backstops and asking Congress for $1 trillion to prop up companies and consumers as the economy grinds to a halt due to the spread of the virus.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-03-23)
Wall Street’s biggest banks continued to seek far less temporary liquidity from the Federal Reserve on Friday than the central bank was willing to provide.
WSJ - Nick Timiroas (2020-03-23)
The Federal Reserve is likely to significantly boost its government-bond purchases beyond the $500 billion minimum it committed Sunday to buy amid market strains that sent interest rates higher in recent days.
FT - James Politi and Lauren Fedor (2020-03-23)
The negotiations hit an impasse on Sunday after Democrats on Capitol Hill said that the proposed deal offered big business an overly generous bailout with limited conditions and scant oversight.
G&M - Howard Schneider (2020-03-23)
“It’s their bazooka moment,” said Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial Services in Troy, Michigan. “It’s their ‘we’ll do whatever it takes’ moment which should be a sign to financial markets and investors that the Fed will provide any and all liquidity necessary to support the economy through this period.”
Huffington Post - Lydia O'connor (2020-03-23)
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, made the rounds on cable news Monday morning pushing that narrative. “The president is right,” he said on Fox News. “The cure can’t be worse than the disease, and we’re going to have to make some difficult tradeoffs.” Later on CNBC, he said, “At some point, you have to ask yourself whether the shutdown is doing more harm than good.”
G&M - Robert Fife, Emma Graney (2020-03-20)
One senior Alberta source said the province is expecting Ottawa to provide $15-billion in relief to an industry that has been hammered by the COVID-19 crisis and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has cratered oil prices and energy-company stocks.
Reuters - Jamie Freed, David Shepardson (2020-03-20)
Conditions include provisions that loans may convert to government equity stakes, while U.S. airlines cannot increase executive pay or provide “golden parachutes” for two years. Air New Zealand’s (AIR.NZ) bailout also depends on the company suspending its dividend and paying interest rates of 7% to 9%.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-03-20)
Markets are certain the Bank of Canada will be forced to cut interest rates to near zero in coming weeks, and even days, to support an economy tumbling into recession. What happens after that is open to debate.
G&M - Robert Fife (2020-03-19)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a sweeping emergency-aid package Wednesday aimed at helping Canadian workers and businesses survive the severe economic downturn caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.
Reuters - Marius Zaharia (2020-03-19)
Policymakers in the United States, Europe and Asia have slashed interest rates and opened liquidity taps to stabilise economies left almost comatose, with quarantined consumers, broken supply chains, paralysed transportation and depleted shops.
Bloomberg - John Authers (2020-03-19)
On one thing it seems that everyone agrees. The world has changed in the last two months, and by the time the pandemic subsides, it will have changed utterly. The Archbishop of Canterbury (who started his career as an oil executive before going into the church), has likened the impact to a nuclear explosion — “the initial impact is colossal but the fallout last for years and will shape us in ways we can’t even begin to predict at the moment."
FT - Martin Arnold (2020-03-19)
The European Central Bank has unveiled plans to buy an extra €750bn of bonds and issued a “no limits” commitment to defend the eurozone on Wednesday night in response to the worsening economic and financial turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
FT - James Politi (2020-03-19)
The US Federal Reserve increased its efforts to shore up financial markets late on Wednesday by setting up a facility that would make loans to banks secured by assets from money market mutual funds.
Bobsguide - Bobsguide (2020-03-19)
At its meeting on March 12, the Governing Council of the ECB unleashed new, unconventional monetary policy measures to support the liquidity of banks and credit to households and businesses. The new package includes, among other things, changes to the current longer-term auctions (TLTROs) and introduces new weekly auctions (LTROs) to steer banks towards the June TLTRO auction. The new conditions applied to transactions are quite complex: this article highlights the possible strategic responses of banks to maximise the benefits of the measures.
G&M - Robert Fife, Daniel Leblanc, Bill Curry (2020-03-18)
The federal government will unveil nearly $30-billion of emergency financial aid on Wednesday to help struggling Canadians and businesses cope with the economic fallout from the new coronavirus crisis, sources say.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-03-18)
After the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by a half-point on March 4, I wrote that the timing of its next move would be determined by oil prices. If I had thought to check the central bank’s measure of commodity prices, I might have been less surprised by the second cut nine days later.
G&M - Gordon Pape (2020-03-17)
A reader sent in a very relevant question last week: “If we head towards negative interest rates like some parts of the world, where does one invest their money to earn a decent return?”
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-03-16)
Minutes after the Bank of Canada slashed its key policy interest rate for the second time in nine days on Friday – with quite likely more cuts to come – Governor Stephen Poloz was asked in a press conference what more he could do to stimulate a threatened economy, with rates rapidly approaching zero.
CBC - Pete Evans (2020-03-16)
The Bank of Canada has made an unexpected rate cut, cutting the central bank's benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 0.75 per cent.
CBC - John Paul Tasker (2020-03-16)
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced Friday that the government will establish a $10 billion credit facility to lend money to businesses under stress as a result of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
FP - Craig Torres, Rich Miller (2020-03-16)
The central bank also announced several other actions, including letting banks borrow from the discount window for as long as 90 days and reducing reserve requirement ratios to zero percent. In addition, it united with five other central banks to ensure dollars are available around the world via swap lines.
Reuters - Lewis Krauskoff (2020-03-16)
“This is an indication that the central bank is very scared about the environment we’re in,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut. “The policy response is so strong, it’s likely to spook investors.”
Bloomberg - Daniel Moss (2020-03-16)
The coronavirus pandemic is giving birth to a new doctrine in central banking. What matters most isn't transparency or forecasts, but the ability to move quickly.
WSJ - Megumi Fujikawa (2020-03-16)
The Bank of Japan said it would double stock purchases and help companies get loans in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but the move failed to impress investors, who drove stocks down 2.5%.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-03-16)
The Bank of Canada unveiled new measures to keep Canada’s financial system flowing and support mortgage markets, as central banks step up efforts to avert a liquidity and lending crunch amid tumultuous markets.
Investment Executive - James Langton (2020-03-16)
To address the Covid-19 outbreak, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is suspending in-person hearings until the end of April, along with a variety of other operational changes.
Investment Executive - James Langton (2020-03-16)
Efforts by the world’s central banks to ensure that global financial markets continue to function, despite the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak, provide banks with time and space to adjust to fast-changing conditions, says Fitch Ratings.
Bloomberg - Shelly Hagan (2020-03-13)
The Bank of Canada said Thursday after the closing bell that it plans to inject billions of dollars into markets to shore up stability, just eight days after it slashed interest rates by half a percentage point.
WSJ - Paul Vieira (2020-03-13)
The central bank said it was broadening its programs aimed at ensuring there is enough cash in the country’s financial system as the benchmark stock index posted one of its biggest one-day declines in decades.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-03-13)
The New York Fed’s shock announcement Thursday that it was willing to offer up to $1.5 trillion in fresh short-term loans to big banks may have captured the most attention simply for the radical size of the number.
WSJ - Tom Fairless (2020-03-13)
The European Central Bank announced a package of bond purchases and cheap loans aimed at mitigating the economic shock of the pandemic and supporting the region’s banks.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-03-12)
The Bank of Canada will have to slash its key interest rate by another three-quarters of a percentage point in its next rate decision in mid-April, Bank of Montreal says, as plunging oil prices and mounting coronavirus fears prompt economists to rewrite their economic and rate forecasts.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-03-12)
The New York Fed said it was raising to $175 billion the maximum amount of its overnight repurchase agreements that banks can collectively access.
Bloomberg - Michael Bellusci (2020-03-12)
Canadian stocks were flirting with the biggest drop since 1940 on Thursday after plunging at the opening on concerns about the spreading economic impact of the coronavirus.
Macleans - Leah McLaren (2020-03-11)
None of it is likely to hurt him in his new UN role, nor back home in Ottawa. Having been sneered at in a right-wing tabloid like the Daily Mail will only help Carney’s project if he does plan to take his long-rumoured run for the Liberals.
FP - David Milliken and Paul Sandle (2020-03-11)
In what amounts to a choreographed double-barrelled stimulus program, the BoE announced its unanimous emergency rate cut as London markets were opening and before Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government sets out its spending plans after midday.
Bloomberg - John Ainger and Greg Ritchie (2020-03-10)
U.K. bond issuance is set to surge to the highest level in nine years with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government expected to unveil a significant increase in budget spending.
Sales of gilts will rise to 166 billion pounds ($218 billion) in the 2020-2021 financial year, according to the median forecast of 13 bond dealers surveyed by Bloomberg.
The nation’s budget announcement on Wednesday coincides with an unprecedented bond rally that sent yields on short-term U.K. benchmark bonds below zero for the first time this week. If rates remain negative, investors may end up paying the government for the privilege of holding its bonds.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-03-10)
We will refine our regulatory frameworks for capital and liquidity to align with international reforms and tailor these for the Canadian market. We will also revise our regulatory and supervisory approaches to better suit small and medium-sized institutions. We will continue to prepare for the implementation of new financial and accounting reporting standards as well as regulatory returns and monitoring metrics where appropriate. We will assess institutions’ corporate governance practices to judge whether they are meeting our revised Corporate Governance Guideline. We will work with our federal partners to strengthen our crisis preparedness framework. We will explore threats associated with climate change and catastrophic events to determine appropriate regulatory and supervisory actions.
FSRA - FSRA (2020-03-09)
Since its launch, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has taken significant steps towards regulatory transformation that will reduce regulatory burden and protect the public interest.
WSJ - Eric Uhlfelder (2020-03-09)
Economist Henry Kaufman earned the sobriquet of “Dr. Doom” for his gloomy but accurate forecasts of rising interest rates in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-03-06)
Canada’s banks are in increasingly close contact with governments and regulators about contingency plans to prepare the financial sector to withstand potential outbreaks of COVID-19.
CBC - Reuters (2020-03-06)
"The Canadian economy has demonstrated good resilience in the past couple of years. That resilience could be seriously tested by COVID-19, however, depending on the severity and duration of its effects," he told a Toronto business audience.
Reuters - Manoj Kumar, Aftab Ahmed, Nupur Anand (2020-03-06)
State Bank of India (SBI.NS), the country’s largest lender, is exploring a wide range of rescue options for struggling Yes Bank Ltd (YESB.NS) including a complete buyout of its private-sector rival, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis, Erik Hertzberg, and Shelly Hagan (2020-03-05)
“We need a little bit of fiscal stimulus as well to at least support the economy through what is likely to be a bit of a rough patch through the spring,” Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said by phone from Toronto. “It does make it more powerful if you’ve got both oars pulling at the same time. That can reinforce the message and help support the economy.”
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-03-05)
Big banks’ demand for central bank cash remained very strong on Wednesday, leading the Federal Reserve Bank to add a fresh $100 billion to the financial system.
G&M - Ian McGugan (2020-03-04)
The flagship S&P 500 Index of big U.S. stocks provided the most obvious gauge of money managers’ drum-tight nerves over the economic effects of the coronavirus. The market benchmark jumped after the Fed announced it was chopping the federal funds rate by half a percentage point, to between 1 per cent and 1.25 per cent.
CBC - Don Pittis (2020-03-04)
Economists' earlier hopes of a V-shaped recovery — a sharp rise back to normal after a sharp decline — are fading fast as evidence increases that the global effects of the virus on consumers and businesses are widening.
FP - Naomi Powell (2020-03-04)
Poloz is widely expected to cut Canada’s current benchmark interest rate of 1.75 per cent by 25 to 50 basis points on Wednesday.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-03-03)
Expectations of a Bank of Canada interest-rate cut this week have rapidly moved from unlikely to imminent as global governments and central banks begin to respond en masse to the escalating economic threat from the COVID-19 virus.
Bloomberg - Erik Hertzberg (2020-03-03)
Poloz, however, is due to speak on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Toronto and could take the opportunity to elaborate on the central bank’s thinking.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-03-02)
Goldman, which last week had already increased its forecast for Fed easing in response to the coronavirus outbreak, took it up a notch in its revised forecast on Sunday, which came out shortly before financial futures markets resumed trading for the week ahead. U.S. equity index futures were down by 1.3% and Treasury futures were higher as investors sought safety in government bonds.
G&M - Reuters (2020-02-28)
Banks and their regulators should be ready to share information across borders in an effective way as the coronavirus epidemic evolves, the Basel Committee of banking regulators said on Thursday.
Bloomberg - John Ainger (2020-02-28)
Investors aren’t buying the idea that central banks’ wait-and-see approach to the coronavirus will last, ramping up bets on interest-rate cuts that could start within months.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-02-27)
But with global financial markets plunging for a fourth day as COVID-19 spread to Europe and Iran, and as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to prepare for an outbreak, a few questions on what the Canadian central bank is thinking about all this were unavoidable.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-02-27)
A top Fed official says it is too early to tell whether the coronavirus outbreak will force the central bank to resume rate cuts in the coming months.
OSFI - William Francis Morneau (2020-02-27)
During 2018-19, we implemented a new strategic planning framework that included new governance, processes and tools. A key component of this framework is the OSFI Strategic Plan, which charts a path for our future that builds on the many achievements and learnings of the past.
BOC - Timothy Lane (2020-02-27)
Canadians are well-served by the existing payment ecosystem, so we believe there is no need for the Bank of Canada to issue its own digital currency at this time. But the world can change very quickly, so we need to get ready in case one is needed.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-02-27)
Carney says that financial markets are uniquely placed to help support the transition required by amplifing changes in attitudes, consumer preferences and climate policy.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-02-26)
The Bank of England told banks on Wednesday to accelerate their efforts to ditch the use of Libor if they want to avoid facing more punitive terms when borrowing from the central bank.
Bloomberg - Michelle F Davis (2020-02-26)
Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, another target of environmentalists, has said climate change will be solved with government policy.
“I’ve always thought it was a problem,” Dimon said at the bank’s investor day earlier Tuesday. “We should acknowledge the problem and start working on it.”
Financial firms often include dozens of disclaimers about potential risks in their annual 10-K filings, but JPMorgan’s have typically focused on those more directly related to the economy, regulation and competition. Meanwhile, economists at the firm have been warning clients about the potential for climate change to threatenthe global economy and even the human race.
G&M - Andrew Willis, Robert Fife (2020-02-25)
Alberta’s Premier privately urged Teck Resources Ltd. to move forward with the Frontier oil-sands mine project, despite the company’s fear it was becoming mired in intractable climate-change controversy.
FP - Martin Pelletier Martin Pelletier (2020-02-25)
Manufacturing sales have posted their fourth consecutive negative reading, retail sales were stagnant to end 2019 and signs are that GDP growth is stalling and may actually be negative when accounted for on a per-capita basis.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-02-25)
The FCA says that it inadvertently published the data in plain view on its Website in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Invezz - Ali Raza (2020-02-25)
At a recent conference organized by Ukraine’s central bank, several central banks, including the Canadian central bank, were against the need for CBDCs. In their opinion, blockchain technology is not better than other digital alternatives, and they wouldn’t want to change anything to that effect now.
American Banker - Neil Haggerty (2020-02-24)
Observers say a Sanders presidency could lead to a reversal of Trump regulatory relief initiatives, turnover at the top of the regulatory agencies, and a newfound focus on both enforcement actions and proposals that Sanders has supported in Congress to overhaul the banking industry's structure.
Jeffrey Naimon, a partner at Buckley LLP who defends financial services companies in enforcement matters, said that his clients are starting to consider the impact of a Sanders presidency.
“We are starting to see both banks and other financial services companies get interested because Sen. Sanders would represent a significant policy pivot, and obviously, federal policy has a great effect on the industry," Naimon said. "They are starting to consider what the possible ramifications might be, what initiatives they might take, and the kind of things they may not do.”Others say there is no cause for panicking just yet. Sanders, a democratic socialist, has jumped out to a sizable lead in delegates after strong showings in early state contests, including a commanding victory in the Nevada caucuses Saturday. But it is still early in the Democrats' nominating process, and the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday could offer more clarity.
Some analysts and bank representatives say they believe President Trump would have the advantage going into a general election against Sanders. And even if Sanders won, many said the GOP is still likely to hold the Senate and he would face other hurdles to enacting reforms detrimental to the industry.
“I think very few see him as the president of the United States and I think that’s why the market is pretty sanguine about the election so far,” a banking industry source said on the condition of anonymity. “They see it either being Trump or [former New York City Mayor Mike] Bloomberg, or a couple of others. … If Bernie becomes the nominee, they think it is much more likely that Trump will stay president.”
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, has long been one of the harshest critics of Wall Street in Congress, advocating for sweeping reforms such as breaking up the big banks and reinstating Glass-Steagall, among other things.
In May 2019, Sanders along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 15%, though it is viewed as dead on arrival in the current Republican-controlled Senate.
The previous October he introduced a bill that would cap a financial institution’s total exposure at 3% of the nation’s GDP, saying at the time that "the four largest financial institutions in this country are on average 80% larger than they were before we bailed them out” in the financial crisis.
Some commentators have declared that the Democratic race is Sanders' to lose. But several analysts still doubt his chances.
As of Sunday, FiveThirtyEight's projection model ranked the odds of Sanders winning a majority of pledged delegates the same as that of no candidate winning a majority. The latter scenario could result in a contested convention.
“Sanders has a strong base, but one that is hard to expand,” Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen Washington Research Group, said in a note Thursday. “It is why we still see a moderate winning the nomination, though it is becoming a closer call.”"A new president won’t have the immediate opportunity to change the chair of the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, or the chairman of the Fed, but would have to wait until their terms expired," Naimon said.
To be clear, Sanders isn’t the only progressive Wall Street critic in the Democratic primary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has heavily criticized the Trump administration's financial regulators, Wells Fargo and other large banks, and was the architect of the CFPB.
"From my perspective, I think that a lot of the proposals that [Sanders] has put forward … are not entirely dissimilar from the proposals that Sen. Warren has put forward," Naimon said.
But Warren’s rhetoric on the presidential campaign has been viewed as less worrisome for banks.
“Elizabeth Warren reiterated that she’s a capitalist,” the industry source said. “Bernie talks about a revolution and Sen. Warren talks about using government to help those who have been left behind.”
Industry representatives say banks' fears will grow if Sanders becomes president and tries to make his policy proposals a reality.
“I think an outcome that we would be most concerned about ... is that our business models would cease to exist,” the industry source said. “I think the bigger concern is anything else that he does to fundamentally alter this idea of a banking and securities industry that work together and are combined under one entity. … You could do that by massively raising capital requirements for large financial institutions. You could do that through certain Fed rules.”
And it is not just larger financial institutions raising concern about Sanders’ policy positions.
Paul Merski, group executive vice president for congressional relations and strategy for the Independent Community Bankers of America, said many of the policies Sanders supports would likely be detrimental to the sector, although the ICBA will not endorse or oppose any presidential candidates.
G&M - MARWA RASHAD AND FRANCESCO CANEPA (2020-02-24)
Finance chiefs of the world’s top 20 economies vowed to monitor the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth and act if needed, as they said loose monetary policy and easing trade tensions would prompt a pick-up in 2020 and 2021.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-02-24)
“Private equity in Quebec is important for the Caisse,” Emond, who oversees the assets of the Quebec Pension Plan and 40 other provincial funds, told reporters in Montreal on Feb. 20, when CDPQ released its 2019 results.
FP - Jesse Snyder and Julia Mastroianni (2020-02-19)
A coalition of 39 industry associations wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, calling on him to “work urgently” with First Nations and police to bring the blockade to a peaceful end.
Reuters - Karen Freifeld (2020-02-19)
U.S. prosecutors overlooked apparent violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran by HSBC Holdings in exchange for the British bank’s cooperation with a government investigation of Huawei Technologies, lawyers for the Chinese telecoms giant said.
IE - James Langton (2020-02-19)
The central bank, which is taking over as administrator of the interest rate benchmark from Refinitiv Benchmark Services (UK) Ltd., will start providing the benchmark for free on its website on June 15.
BOC - Press Release (2020-02-19)
The Bank of Canada will take over the responsibility for publishing the Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average (CORRA), effective Monday, June 15, 2020.
American Banker - Neil Haggerty (2020-02-19)
The former New York City mayor surprised many in the industry with a comprehensive financial policy plan that would reinstate post-crisis rules that have been weakened or eliminated in the Trump administration, but would also enact additional reforms that echo the platforms of Elizabeth Warren and even Bernie Sanders.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-02-19)
Why? Rita Trichur, one of the better chroniclers of Bay Street, offered a plausible answer. “If you’re wondering why OSFI is suddenly considering fiddling with the stress test as froth builds in the Vancouver and Toronto housing markets, household debt remains high and consumer insolvencies are rising, look no further than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his waning political fortunes,” she said in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 13.
G&M - Andrew Willis (2020-02-17)
The federal Liberals are mulling a reboot of the Canada Infrastructure Bank over frustrations with what the government perceives as a failure to execute at the $35-billion investment fund.
Reuters - Karen Freifeld (2020-02-13)
U.S. prosecutors on Thursday accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets and helping Iran track protesters in its latest indictment against the Chinese company, escalating the U.S. battle with the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker.
Bloomberg - Divya Balji, Michael Bellusci, and Robert Tuttle (2020-02-13)
Protests against a natural gas pipeline are crippling Canada’s railways -- key economic arteries in the sprawling, trade-dependent nation -- and prompting cries of “insanity” and “ecoterrorism” from business leaders.
Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s largest rail provider, has canceled 400 trains in the past week and said on Thursday that it will shut down its operations in Eastern Canada, possibly leading to temporary layoffs. Via Rail, which operates passenger train service across the nation, is canceling all services effective immediately.
The cancellations mark the most severe fallout yet from protests that have spread across Canada in recent days, disrupting shipments of oil, grain, propane, lumber and consumer goods. Environmental and indigenous-rights activists are blockading rail lines, ports and other infrastructure to show solidarity with portions of the Wet’suwet’en Nation that are protesting construction of TC Energy Corp.’s planned C$6.6 billion ($5 billion) Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory in British Columbia.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-02-12)
However, “a slowly developing economic scenario, like 5/30, represents the greatest threat to the financial condition” to CMHC’s business, the report suggests, since it could drive its mortgage insurer capital adequacy ratio below an industry-wide target set by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
G&M - ELMIRA ALIAKBARI AND ASHLEY STEDMAN (2020-02-11)
When he leaves the Bank of England in March, Mark Carney will take up the post of United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance, where he will push financial institutions and banks to adopt new measures that account for climate risk. In a recent BBC radio interview, Mr. Carney stated, “Financial services have been too slow to cut investment in fossil fuels, a delay that could lead to a sharp increase in global temperatures.”
Reuters - Anna Saphir (2020-02-11)
That assessment would echo the formal report the Fed submitted to the U.S. Congress on Friday, which repeated the central bank’s view that its current target range for short-term borrowing costs, between 1.5% and 1.75%, is “appropriate” to keep the expansion on track.
FT - Clare Jones (2020-02-11)
$414bn is a big number – even if you’ve got the right to print as many dollars as you like.
FP - Gabriel Friedman (2020-02-10)
The Autorité des marchés publics (AMP) on Wednesday named six SNC-Lavalin entities to its list of companies that are ineligible to bid on public contracts, known as RENA.
Reuters - Balazs Koranyi, Francesco Canepa, Frank Siebelt (2020-02-10)
A greater emphasis on consensus has boosted the Governing Council’s role and given more voice to critics like Germany whose support may be vital whenever the next downturn comes, most of the sources, all with direct knowledge of the inner workings of the ECB, said.
WSJ - Anna Isaac and Caitlin Ostroff (2020-02-10)
A sharp move in the British pound last month in the minutes ahead of a crucial central-bank decision wasn’t a unique occurrence, according to data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
WSJ - JULIA-AMBRA VERLAINE (2020-02-10)
Fannie and Freddie said they will soon accept mortgages based on the secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR, an alternative rate created by a Fed committee of regulators, banks and asset managers.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-02-10)
"Unfortunately, the Equifax hack fits a disturbing and unacceptable pattern of state-sponsored computer intrusions and thefts by China and its citizens that have targeted personally identifiable information, trade secrets, and other confidential information."
Finextra - Finextra (2020-02-07)
"Given the growing role of nonbank technology players in payments, a review of the nation’s oversight framework for retail payment systems could be helpful to identify important gaps," she says. "A good place to start may be contrasting the US oversight framework for retail payment systems with other jurisdictions. Many foreign central banks, for example, have explicit authority for general retail payments oversight. Moreover, most jurisdictions require that payment systems obtain a license and/or registration before commencing operations."
G&M - Greg Mcarthur (2020-02-07)
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has launched a review of how it polices the securities industry, appointing a high-profile committee with a mission of creating a “more flexible regulatory approach.”
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-02-06)
I wasn’t planning to write a two-part series on productivity this week, but then again, I wasn’t counting on so much high-profile help in making the case that it’s way past time for Canada to start taking the subject seriously.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis and Erik Hertzberg (2020-02-06)
Canadian policy makers need to look beyond monetary policy to reverse the long-term trend of slowing growth and low interest rates in the face of aging demographics and falling productivity, Bank of Canada’s No. 2 official said.
Bloomberg - Lionel Laurent (2020-02-06)
Last month, Irelandâs finance minister Paschal Donohoe, whose ruling party Fine Gael is struggling in opinion polls ahead of Saturdayâs general election, raised this red flag as one of several global risks threatening the small, trade-reliant country of 4.9 million people. As the international loopholes allowing elaborate tax-dodging schemes â made famous by the likes of Starbucks Corp., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. â gradually get closed, and as countries around the world start to overhaul the way taxes are collected, Donohoe warned that Ireland should budget for an estimated 500 million-euro hit every year from 2022. His country has been a magnet for the âtax-optimizingâ plans of international companies via its 12.5% corporate tax rate and other perks.
WSJ - Rebecca Ballhaus, Natalie Andrews (2020-02-06)
G&M - Brent Jang (2020-02-04)
Canadian softwood producers are getting a surprise break from the United States.
Gowling WLG - Gowling (2020-02-03)
Digital currency is simply (or perhaps not so simply) currency held in a digital representation but which remains the same as sovereign currency in paper (or polymer) bill form. This differs from virtual or crypto currencies which are alternatives to money. Digital currency might be exchanged using electronic transfers or by cards. A significant portion of the funds in our money supply is already effectively maintained electronically in accounts. A digital currency changes the physical methods by which currency can be exchanged by individuals and businesses.
AA.com - Cindi Cook (2020-02-03)
Eight West African countries announced their intent to cease using the CFA franc, a France-backed currency used by former colonies in the region, beginning July 1, and renamed a common currency, the Eco.
G&M - Mark Rendell (2020-02-03)
The Canadian Securities Exchange, home to dozens of small-cap and U.S.-focused cannabis companies, will soon be under increased scrutiny from securities regulators. The British Columbia Securities Commission announced on Friday that it will start overseeing the junior exchange alongside the Ontario Securities Commission – the current regulator.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-01-31)
The Fed could decide by the middle of the year to change its policy-setting approach. This raises some questions.
G&M - Michael Babad (2020-01-30)
Bank of Nova Scotia believes the central bank could trim interest rates this year faster than it did during the SARS crisis of 2003.
CBC - AP (2020-01-30)
The Fed's statement was nearly identical to the one it issued after its December meeting, though it described consumer spending as rising at only a "moderate" rather than at a "strong" pace. That change likely reflects relatively modest spending by Americans over the winter holidays.
Reuters - Moira Warburton (2020-01-30)
Ottawa should require U.S. tech companies such as Netflix (NFLX.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O) to collect the same taxes as Canadian companies and also be subject to the same requirements for supporting domestically produced content, a Canadian government-mandated panel recommended on Wednesday.
TheDiciplinedInvestor.com - Andrew Horowitz (2020-01-30)
Back in September, there was a mini-crisis within the Repo Market. We discussed the details of what occurred in the 4th Quarter 2019 Economic Commentary. Since then there has been a concerted effort by the Fed to ensure that the end-of-quarter and end-of-year liquidity requirements would be sufficient. As a result, the Fed has embarked on a rather aggressive plan that has continued to push funds into the short-term lending markets. To be clear, the term “aggressive” doesn’t quite describe the lengths that they have gone to over the past few months.
FP - Reuters (2020-01-29)
Ottawa must decide by end-February if Teck Resources Ltd can build the $20.6 billion (US$15.7 billion) Frontier mine in northern Alberta, capable of eventually producing 260,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Reuters - Leika Kihara (2020-01-29)
The danger of committing to an inflation target and difficulty of managing expectations were debated in earnest at the Bank of Japan a decade ago, showed transcripts released on Wednesday, as U.S. and European central bankers grapple with similar topics.
Bloomberg - Michelle Davis (2020-01-29)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to dismiss several hundred workers from its consumer unit as the lender seeks to rein in costs, according to people briefed on the matter.
The bank intends to notify affected employees on Feb. 6 and cuts will be scattered across the division, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The consumer unit, which houses the deposit, credit-card, home and auto lending businesses, contributes nearly half of the firm’s revenue.
Banks around the world have
cut thousands of jobs as they slash costs to weather a slowing economy and adapt to shifts in consumer behavior and in digital technology. At JPMorgan, the cuts are part of a broader review of operations as customers increasingly access banking services through mobile phones or digital platforms.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman declined to comment. The planned cuts represent about 1% of employees in the unit and workers will be given the chance to apply for other roles in the firm, another person said.
Bloomberg - Paul Gordon (2020-01-29)
The European Central Bank’s former vice president has weighed into the institution’s review of its inflation target, saying two of the key ideas on the table don’t stand up to scrutiny.
FP - Barbara Shecter (2020-01-28)
Maureen Jensen’s decision to leave the Ontario Securities Commission nearly a year before her term as chairperson expires is reviving debate over the relationship between Canada’s largest capital markets watchdog and the government that oversees it.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-01-28)
The Select Committee of Financial and Regulatory Technology, established in September, is undertaking a review of Australia's innovation sectors, for which it has received 123 submissions.
IE - Rudy Mezzetta (2020-01-28)
On Friday, Prosper Canada submitted a proposal to the Department of Finance Canada asking Ottawa for $20.7 million over five years to fund its Financial Empowerment Champion (FEC) program, which supports community organizations that provide financial education, tax-filing assistance and money management coaching to “financially vulnerable” Canadians.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2020-01-27)
As part of their contingency planning for the next recession, the Fed is looking at a stimulus scheme the U.S. last used during and after World War II.
Yahoo Finance - Ben Werschkul (2020-01-27)
"What folks don't really understand is we have several trusts funds in really imminent danger," Goldwein says in an interview with Yahoo Finance’s “On the Move.” "We don't need to save Social Security for our grandkids, we actually need to save it for our grandparents.”
CBC - AP (2020-01-27)
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has brushed off criticism and mockery from the U.S. Treasury chief, saying Friday his comments have "of course no effect" on her and fellow campaigners.
G&M - Sean Silcoff (2020-01-24)
The federal government has enticed Mastercard Inc. to open a technology research and development centre in Vancouver with $49-million in incentives through its Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).
Bloomberg - Chris Fournier and Erik Hertzberg (2020-01-24)
A more dovish than expected tone from Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is intensifying focus on incoming economic data, with Friday’s retail sales numbers now in the crosshairs.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-01-24)
The UK central bank says it requires "an experienced partner to assist in design, construction and assurance of a modern, fit for purpose cloud environment."
Insurance Portal - IIJ (2020-01-24)
In a statement, the J5 said the action took place as part of a series of investigations in multiple countries into an international financial institution located in Central America, whose products and services are believed to be facilitating money laundering and tax evasion for customers across the globe.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-01-23)
In case you had any doubt, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz stated it in plain English: The door is open for a rate cut. The bigger question now is, what would make the central bank boss walk through it?
G&M - Bill Curry (2020-01-23)
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said weaker economic growth in the fourth quarter is spilling into the early part of 2020 and signalled a possible interest rate cut should that weakness continue.
G&M - Nicole Thompson (2020-01-23)
German automotive giant Volkswagen AG was ordered Wednesday to pay a $196.5-million fine to the Canadian government after pleading guilty in an emissions-cheating scandal.
FP - Esteban Duarte (2020-01-23)
Debt due in two decades would help Canada insulate its finances against higher interest rates down the road, but it would also allow asset managers to better pair similarly dated liabilities with government bonds. That’s the view of Randall Malcolm, Toronto-based senior managing director of fixed income at SLC Management, which oversees $227 billion (US$173.8 billion).
G&M - Joseph Groia (2020-01-23)
Do most Ontarians know that there is more than $100-million of public money sitting in a bank account at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) just waiting to be spent on health care, education or legal aid? Unfortunately, they may not as the OSC is badly behind on its statutory corporate-governance obligations (ironically for our capital markets regulator). It is also not clear what Queen’s Park plans to do about it.
G&M - Luke Baker (2020-01-23)
France and the United States agreed on Thursday how to press ahead with a global rewrite of cross-border tax rules for the digital era, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
Bloomberg - Bloomberg (2020-01-22)
In public appearances since October, including a number from Poloz, officials have sought to accentuate the positive, highlighting the nation’s strong jobs market and on-target inflation. At the same time, they’ve been reluctant to put much stock in weaker indicators they say are transitory.
Last month, Deputy Governor Timothy Lane defended the Bank of Canada’s decision to buck the global easing trend, saying the nation’s resilient economy is allowing it to “chart its own course in monetary policy.”
G&M - James Bradshaw (2020-01-21)
The federal government can make longer-term mortgages more attractive to banks and their customers by loosening a stress test for borrowers if they choose terms of 10 years or longer, according to the C.D. Howe Institute.
Finextra - Finextra (2020-01-21)
The group - comprising The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) - will assess CBDC use cases; economic, functional and technical design choices, including cross-border interoperability; and the sharing of knowledge on emerging technologies.
G&M - Greg Mcarthur (2020-01-21)
Ontario Securities Commission chair and CEO Maureen Jensen is resigning almost a year before her term expires amid tensions with the Progressive Conservative government.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-01-20)
The Bank of Canada will be weighing deteriorating economic numbers against an improving global trade climate, as it prepares this week to issue its first interest-rate decision and economic projections of 2020.
G&M - Josh O'Kane (2020-01-20)
Sitting in a sun-splashed office on the edge of the Rhine River that once belonged to West German presidents, Andreas Mundt leans his elbows on a table and nods to a yellow and blue experimental painting by the artist Maiken Bardeschi. It’s called Frei, he says – the German word for free. “I like that a lot,” he says. “Competition law is a lot about freedom. It’s about choice. And this matters a lot to me.”
FP - Geoff Zachodine (2020-01-20)
The country’s chief statistician on Tuesday said the traditional ways of collecting information have become less effective in a more digital world, and that Statistics Canada is prepared to start harnessing more “alternate” sources of data.
CBC - Jason Proctor (2020-01-20)
More than a year after Meng Wanzhou's arrest at Vancouver International Airport, the first formal phase of the Huawei executive's extradition hearing begins Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
WSJ - Dylan tokar (2020-01-20)
Donville Inniss, a former minister of industry for Barbados, was convicted of laundering bribes he allegedly received from an insurance company that was seeking to renew a public contract.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-01-20)
As the Federal Reserve added $52.6 billion in short-term liquidity to the financial system Friday to aid money markets, central bank officials debated the program that has been in place since September.
BOC - BOC (2020-01-20)
Results from the winter Business Outlook Survey suggest that business sentiment is broadly positive except in the Prairies, where indicators remain weak. In aggregate, firms’ outlook is supported by expectations of healthy domestic and foreign sales.
OSFI - OSFI (2020-01-20)
OSFI is revising its capital requirements for operational risk applicable to deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) to reflect the final Basel III reforms published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in December 2017Footnote1.
FP - Esteban Duarte (2020-01-17)
The top rated nation issued a US$3 billion of bonds at 6 basis points over the U.S. Treasury yield, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s equivalent to a yield in loonies of around 1.91 per cent and compares with 1.60 per cent for Canada’s five-year bonds denominated in the country’s own currency, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
G&M - ANA SWANSON AND ALAN RAPPEPORT (2020-01-16)
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an initial trade deal with China on Wednesday, bringing the first chapter of a protracted and economically damaging fight with one of the world’s largest economies to a close.
FP - Terence Corcoran (2020-01-16)
I have some welcome news for Canada’s fossil fuel industry. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, soon to be the UN envoy on climate finance, will not be joining the fossil fuel divestment movement. “I absolutely disagree with divestment campaigns,” Carney said in an email to an FP Comment column reader in Calgary.
FP - TEGAN HILL, JAKE FUSS (2020-01-15)
Sound fiscal policy is crucial for a healthy economy. A key component of sound policy is the appropriate size and role of government (i.e. government spending and regulations). Higher spending comes at the expense of higher taxes, levied now or in the future through larger deficits and greater debt accumulation, all of which can influence economic growth and social progress. This issue is particularly relevant today, as 2019 marks the highest level of federal government spending in Canadian history.
FP - John Constable (2020-01-15)
Mark Carney is using his final days as governor of the Bank of England to intimidate institutional financial managers by suggesting that investments in conventional energy are high-risk adventures requiring special justification.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-01-15)
WSJ - Phil Gramm (2020-01-15)
WSJ - Editorial Board (2020-01-15)
G&M - Bill Curry (2020-01-14)
Finance Minister Bill Morneau says fiscal policy such as increased government spending will need to play a larger role in the event of an economic downturn because central banks can do little with global interest rates near historic lows.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2020-01-13)
This is important because the case that the Canadian economy is in trouble is based on a set of data that is blind to much of the wealth that’s being generated in the digital realm. For example, Bank of Nova Scotia’s real-time forecast of gross domestic product, which is based on historical patterns of high-frequency data, dipped into negative territory after StatCan reported on Jan. 7 that merchandise exports declined in November.
G&M - CP (2020-01-10)
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says the central bank is working on plans for a new $5 bill.
CBC - Don Pittis (2020-01-10)
In fact, Poloz maintained that not only has the economy improved on his watch but that it continues to do very well, and that's despite a period of global uncertainty of the type that has led to this week's crash of a Ukrainian passenger aircraft in Iran that killed all 176 people on board.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2020-01-10)
“It is understandable that companies are reluctant to make big investments in this setting,” Poloz said in prepared remarks provided to reporters. “On the surface, there has been some improvement on this front lately, although it remains to be seen whether this will lead to a recovery of trade and investment.”
Finextra - Finextra (2020-01-09)
American Express has taken another step towards entering the massive Chinese payments market after the country's central bank accepted the US firm's application to start a bank card clearing business.
FT - Katrina Manson (2020-01-08)
Donald Trump moved away from a military confrontation with Iran, saying Tehran “appeared to be standing down” after attacking two Iraqi bases hosting US troops in retaliation for the killing of its top general.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2020-01-08)
The Bank of Canada is about to introduce an important new addition to Canada’s suite of economic indicators – one that focuses on the Canadian consumer at what could be a key juncture for a huge and critical segment of the economy.
Yahoo Finance - Pedro Febrero (2020-01-07)
In November last year, Coin Rivet reported that the US Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has called for tighter regulations on stablecoins and digital assets.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-01-07)
The chief executive of Canada’s biggest bank says the federal government need to exercise caution as it considers adjusting the mortgage stress test that has loomed over the housing market and rankled the real-estate industry.
G&M - QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA AND ZEINA KARAM (2020-01-03)
The Pentagon said Thursday that the U.S. military has killed General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, at the direction of President Donald Trump.
G&M - Reuters (2020-01-03)
About 400 people were arrested in New Year’s Day protests in Hong Kong after what started as a peaceful pro-democracy march of tens of thousands spiralled into chaotic scenes with police firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2020-01-03)
The new head of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is promising the federal regulator will be much more active as it prepares to enforce new consumer-protection measures and tries to keep an evolving banking sector in line.
Reuters - Reuters (2020-01-03)
The second source said that under the plan the central bank would transfer any profits it earned from the sale of Sberbank to the state budget. A third source, a well-placed financial market insider, said the same.
Bloomberg - Elisa Martinuzzi (2020-01-03)
Europe’s reputation on financial crime took another battering in 2019. Several of the region’s biggest lenders, including ABN Amro Bank NV and Swedbank AB, were tarred by allegations that they let criminals move around their cash unhindered, a reminder that Danske Bank A/S’s mammoth money-laundering failings weren’t isolated.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-01-03)
The power of Federal Reserve governors has withered and needs to be restored to help the central bank be more democratically accountable and make monetary policy effectively, new research says.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2020-01-03)
After navigating a quiet end to money-market trading in 2019—greased by a massive wave of central bank liquidity—the Federal Reserve Bank of New York injected a modest amount of money into financial markets.
WSJ - Patricia Kowsmann Giovanni Legorano (2020-01-03)
A cluster of recent bailouts of ailing European lenders shows how governments are getting around post-financial crisis rules meant to make sure investors and shareholders take losses as a condition of receiving taxpayer funds.
CBC - AP (2019-12-23)
Treasury chief Sajid Javid, who announced the appointment Friday, said Bailey was the "clear front-runner" to replace Canadian Mark Carney. By the time Carney leaves on March 15, he will have been at the helm for nearly seven action-packed years.
Reuters - Reuters (2019-12-23)
Riyadh’s criminal court pronounced the death penalty on five individuals, whose names have not yet been released, “for committing and directly participating in the murder of the victim”.
Bloomberg - Rafael Gayol, Harumi Ichikura, Cynthia Li, Chris Middleton, Barbara Sladkowska, and Kyungjin Yoo (2019-12-23)
Reuters - George Hay (2019-12-20)
Saudi Arabia’s Plan A for its crown jewel hasn’t gone to plan. The kingdom’s original goal of selling 5% of energy giant Saudi Aramco in an initial public offering to foreign investors at a $2 trillion valuation got downsized to a 1.5% offload to largely domestic punters at $1.7 trillion. That implies Saudi’s Public Investment Fund might only get about a quarter of the $100 billion it originally envisaged to help diversify the country away from oil
Bloomberg - David Goodman and Jess Shankleman (2019-12-20)
Bloomberg - Mark Gongloff (2019-12-20)
Sweden’s Riksbank, zigging while the rest of the world zags, just raised interest rates, despite anxiety about the economy and sluggish inflation. It’s a bit of desperation central banking, Mohamed El-Erian explains. Rates around the world are at or below rock bottom, without supercharging growth. Meanwhile savers and banks suffer, which may defeat the purpose of low rates, and wild gambling with cheap money fosters zombie companies and boosts the odds of a blow-up.
Ferdinando Giugliano suggests Sweden is panicking about negative rates for nothing. There’s no proof they’re doing real damage yet, he argues. Hiking rates, meanwhile, could definitely hurt the economy, forcing the Riksbank to reverse its decision.
NBC - NBC (2019-12-20)
British lawmakers on Friday finally voted to back a plan to withdraw from the European Union.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-12-19)
The Bank of Canada will need to watch how fast it raises interest rates given the higher sensitivity among borrowers and how consumer insolvencies have spiked.
G&M - Staff (2019-12-19)
But look a bit closer. Mr. Morneau’s extra helping of red ink comes with a very large asterisk. These expected higher federal deficits are not about a collapse in revenues, or a sudden spike in spending. What’s at work here is an actuarial adjustment, caused by historically low interest rates.
G&M - Campbell Clark (2019-12-19)
The magic trick of Liberal fiscal policy is that deficits and the debt burden are always going down, but never actually get lower.
Bloomberg - Marcus Ashworth (2019-12-19)
Bloomberg - Alberto Gallo (2019-12-19)
CTV - CP (2019-12-19)
Canada has asked the United States not to sign any final trade agreement with China until two Canadians detained in China have been released, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a French-language TV network.
G&M - Bill Curry (2019-12-18)
A prolonged slump in oil prices has hurt government finances and increased unemployment in the three energy-producing provinces.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-12-18)
As The Globe and Mail’s Bill Curry reports, the Liberal budget deficits are under pressure from a hefty adjustment to pension and benefit costs, plus the government’s tax changes.
Finextra - Finextra (2019-12-18)
The Bank of England's Biennial Exploratory Scenario (BES) will cover multiple scenarios that cover climate as well as macro-variables: to test the resilience of the UK’s financial system against the physical and transition risks in three distinct climate scenarios. These range from taking early, late and no additional policy action to meet global climate goals.
Finextra - Finextra (2019-12-18)
"Stablecoin networks at global scale are leading us to revisit questions over what form money can take, who or what can issue it, and how payments can be recorded and settled," she says. "Stablecoins aspire to achieve the functions of traditional money without relying on confidence in an issuer—such as a central bank—to stand behind the 'money'. For some potential stablecoins, a close assessment suggests users may have no rights with respect to the underlying assets or any issuer.
FP - Theophilos Argitis (2019-12-17)
The projections from Finance Minister Bill Morneau show the nation is on track to run a $26.6 billion deficit this year and a $28.1 billion gap in 2020, higher than what was outlined in the spring budget. Morneau said lower interest rates forced the government to revalue what it needs to put aside for future pension obligations â adding about $28 billion in spending over five years.
Reuters - EDWARD HADAS (2019-12-17)
Do you believe in magic? That might be the right first question for whoever succeeds Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England. The newly mandated government of Boris Johnson is expected to name a successor to the Canadian in the next few days. The list of possible candidates is extensive enough, but with no obvious frontrunner.
WSJ - Mark Maurer (2019-12-17)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s planned changes to auditor independence rules would give firms more discretion in assessing conflicts of interest in their relationships with companies they audit, people familiar with the matter say.
Reuters - Reuters (2019-12-16)
The Chinese officials breached security at a base in Virginia this fall, and only stopped driving after fire trucks were used to block their path, the Times said.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-12-16)
It’s only a coincidence Monday’s meeting took place a few days after Stephen Poloz announced he won’t seek a second term as governor of the Bank of Canada. But Carney either hired or worked with most of the top candidates during the five years he ran the Canadian central bank before taking the reins of U.K. monetary policy in 2013.
BNN Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-12-16)
The government is currently on track to run a deficit of $26.6 billion this year and $28.1 billion in 2020, according to a fiscal update released Monday in Ottawa by Finance Minister Bill Morneau. That’s above the $19.8 billion and $19.7 billion deficits projected in the government’s last budget. Deficits in the five years between 2019 and 2023 will exceed projections by about $35 billion.
G&M - Matt Lundy (2019-12-15)
The national debt burden is a closely watched metric of Canadians’ financial health, inspiring no shortage of concern as it steadily increased through much of the decade. In recent years, however, the ratio has levelled off – and in some quarters, actually decreased – after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates and tougher mortgage lending conditions went into effect.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-12-15)
The new paper is based on remarks he made in September at the annual Spruce Meadows Changing Fortunes Roundtable, a discrete gathering of carefully selected members of the global elite in Calgary. Poloz imagines where Canada could end up years from now as digital technology, protectionist politics, and unprecedented levels of debt converge to generate forces that will be unfamiliar to executives, investors and policy makers. The point of the exercise is to suggest that the future should turn out fine, if different, provided we don’t get hung up on what Barack Obama might call “stupid shit” along the way.
OSFI - OSFI - Video (2019-12-13)
Watch Superintendent Jeremy Rudin's video message for OSFI's annual report.
G&M - PAUL WALDIE (2019-12-13)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won a stunning electoral victory, defying expectations and clearing the way for Britain to leave the European Union next month.
CBC - AP (2019-12-13)
The bank's new president said at her first news conference Thursday that she will lead a top to bottom review of how the institution sets monetary policy, looking at everything from how it defines success in fighting inflation to whether it can play a role financing the fight against global warming.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-12-13)
“Perhaps the recent tendency for inflation to run below target in many countries has fostered a degree of complacency,” Poloz said. “The risk of a surprise outbreak in global inflation is low, but it seems to be that the combination of elevated household and government indebtedness and populist politics holds inflationary potential for some countries.”
Bloomberg - Ferdinando Giugliano (2019-12-13)
As Lagarde has acknowledged, there will be a tension between communicating rigorously and talking to a broader public. She asked reporters not to over-interpret her messages when she talks to people who lack technical expertise. But will this really be possible? She’s the president of the ECB, after all, and investors will be listening for hints of the central bank’s next moves every time she speaks. There’s a risk that she could create confusion, or even that market players could stop paying so much attention to her.
Reuters - JOHN REVILL (2019-12-12)
Swiss lawmakers are preparing a campaign that would make targeting climate change one of the policy objectives of the Swiss National Bank, alongside the traditional monetary targets of ensuring price stability and fostering economic growth.
FT - Don Weinland (2019-12-12)
A flurry of Chinese banks are being forced to buy back shares to stabilise their stock prices following a series of bank bailouts and mounting pressure on the country’s financial system.
CBC - CBC (2019-12-12)
CBC News has learned he told his caucus the news today and will make an announcement in the House of Commons.
G&M - Robert Fife (2019-12-11)
Parliament will set up a special committee to review all aspects of Canada’s strained relationship with China amid a prolonged diplomatic and trade dispute with its second-largest trading partner.
G&M - Eric Reguly (2019-12-11)
Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg has handed his role as United Nations climate envoy to Mark Carney, thrusting the Canadian governor of the Bank of England to the forefront of the global effort to prepare companies and lenders for potentially catastrophic climate change.
G&M - James Bradshaw (2019-12-11)
Since last December, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has gradually increased its “domestic stability buffer,” or DSB, citing “elevated” risks to the banking sector from high household and corporate indebtedness, as well as imbalances in housing markets. The buffer is a capital requirement that OSFI imposes over and above other elements used to set minimum capital ratios.
Reuters - Howad Schneider (2019-12-11)
The U.S. Federal Reserve holds its last policy meeting of 2019 on Wednesday, having completed a year-long U-turn that saw it abandon a tightening cycle and lower borrowing costs three times in response to the global trade war.
NY Times - NY Times (2019-12-11)
Remembering Paul Volcker, the Fed chair “willing to be unpopular”
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-12-11)
To say the U.S. Federal Reserve has abruptly shifted its rate policy into neutral would be an understatement. It has put rates in park, shut off the engine and chucked the keys off the nearest bridge.
Bloomberg - Brian Chappatta (2019-12-11)
OSFI - OSFI (2019-12-11)
This year’s report provides more detail on each fee, such as the type and rate of adjustment, the service standard and the performance result. This information provides additional context on each fee, in the spirit of open and transparent fee management.
CBC - Reuters (2019-12-10)
Volcker, who Zima said had been suffering from prostate cancer, was the first to bring celebrity status to the job of U.S. central banker, serving as chairman of the Fed from 1979 to 1987. As with the man who succeeded him, Alan Greenspan, Volcker could soothe or excite financial markets with just a vague murmur.
FP - Esteban Duarte (2019-12-10)
The buy-back strategy, including terms and amounts, is still under analysis, according to Jerrica Goodwin, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman at Alberta’s finance ministry said. The plan, which may start as soon as the next fiscal year beginning in April, won’t reduce overall debt outstanding but could allow Alberta to spread out maturities over the longer term, she said.
FP - Huw Jones (2019-12-10)
While still only “nascent” in most countries, Big Tech in countries like China has brought financial services within reach of underserved communities, the FSB, which is chaired by Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles, said in the report.
Reuters - Joseph Sipalan, Krishna N. Das, Matthew Tostevin (2019-12-10)
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is hopeful of reaching an out-of-court settlement with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) over the 1MDB scandal soon, but that compensation of “one point something billion” dollars offered by the bank was too small.
G&M - Christopher Neal (2019-12-09)
Mark Carney, recently tapped by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to be UN Special Envoy for Climate Change, is no stranger to big challenges.
CBC - CP (2019-12-09)
The Bank of Canada says Stephen Poloz won't seek a second term as governor when his seven years in the job expire next year.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-12-09)
Now that Stephen Poloz has announced he will step down as Bank of Canada Governor after his seven-year term ends in June 2020, attention turns to the possible candidates who might replace him. Here are six possibilities.
CBC - CP (2019-12-06)
The Canadian economy remains resilient despite the global uncertainty caused by the trade war between the United States and China, a senior Bank of Canada official said Thursday.
Reuters - David Lawder (2019-12-06)
The World Bank on Thursday adopted a plan to aid China with $1 billion to $1.5 billion in low-interest loans annually through June 2025, despite the objections of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
NY Times - Adam Nossiter (2019-12-06)
The streets of French cities were filled with anti-government demonstrators, tear gas and police officers on Thursday as Emmanuel Macron again faced what has become an emblem of his presidency: social unrest. This time it was a general strike over his plans to overhaul the country’s pension system.
WSJ - Kim Mackrael (2019-12-06)
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-12-06)
Finextra - Finextra (2019-12-06)
In a statement, they acknowledge some of the potential benefits of stablecoins but also warn about risks, including on consumer protection, privacy, taxation, cyber security, money laundering, terrorism financing, market integrity, governance and legal certainty.
G&M - Mark Mackinnon (2019-12-05)
“He’s two-faced,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Trudeau when asked if he had seen the video, which was recorded by an ABC News cameraman on Tuesday evening during a reception for NATO leaders at Buckingham Palace.
Bloomberg - Daniel Moss (2019-12-05)
Blame inflation. The RBI cited concerns about rising prices, given that headline inflation breached its 4% medium-term target in October. Food prices have skyrocketed as a result of heavy rainfall, with the cost of onions up 45% in September and a further 20% the following month, according to the central bank’s statement.
With India’s economy crumbling all around him, it strikes me as a bit short-sighted that RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is getting caught up in vegetables. Gross domestic product increased just 4.5% in the third quarter, government figures showed last week. Little more than a year ago, India was notching an expansion of more than 8%. If demand is sliding then price increases ought to subside. There's little inflation in a graveyard.
CBC - Sarah Rieger (2019-12-04)
Alberta's credit rating has been downgraded by Moody's, with the agency citing the volatility in the province's dependence on oil and continued fiscal pressures.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-12-04)
Poloz to maintain wait-and-see approach.
G&M - LEIKA KIHARA AND TETSUSHI KAJIMOTO (2019-12-03)
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday he saw no need to expand monetary stimulus now, underscoring the central bank’s preference to save its dwindling ammunition in case the economy takes a bigger hit from heightening overseas risks.
G&M - Isla Binnie (2019-12-02)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will lead a push by the United Nations to make the financial sector take full account of the risks posed by climate change, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-12-02)
About 40 central banks worldwide have eased up this year, but the Bank of Canada isn’t one of them and isn’t expected to join them this week.
FP - Paula Sambo and Sandrine Rastello (2019-12-02)
“The conflict between China and the United States is not going away anytime soon,” the 66-year-old told reporters after a speech in Montreal. “I think it is going to change some global trading patterns, it is potentially going to change some important things around the evolution of technology, 5G.”
OSFI - OSFI (2019-11-29)
InfoPensions includes announcements and reminders on matters relevant to federally regulated private pension plans and pooled registered pension plans. It includes descriptions of how the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) applies various provisions of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, their regulations, directives and OSFI guidance. Plan administrators should obtain appropriate professional advice on how the legislation and guidelines affect their particular pension plan.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-11-28)
Mr. Poloz’s seven-year term as Bank of Canada governor expires at the beginning of next June. While the rules do allow a sitting governor to apply to return to the job for a second term, one-and-done has become the norm. The Bank of Canada hasn’t had anyone re-enlist since Gerald Bouey 40 years ago.
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-11-26)
Federal Reserve officials have increasingly acknowledged that the labor market might have more room to run, and Chair Jerome H. Powell made the point in perhaps the plainest way yet during a Monday evening speech.
Reuters - Marwa Rashad (2019-11-25)
“We are monitoring all indicators on a daily basis and if there is any squeeze on liquidity, definitely we’ll be injecting liquidity but so far ... everything is assuring,” he said.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-11-25)
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York added $80.6 billion in temporary liquidity to the financial system on Friday. It also bought $7.50 billion in Treasury bills.
G&M - Cassandra Garrison (2019-11-24)
Argentina is once again buckling under the weight of its sovereign debts, which total around US$100-billion, and Mr. Fernandez needs to urgently agree a deal with creditors to ease the burden and give his government space to try to revive the economy.
G&M - PIERRE L. SIKLOS AND MICHAEL D. BORDO (2019-11-24)
In the coming months, the Bank of Canada‘s mandate to target inflation is coming up for review. Some have suggested that the mandate should be expanded to include responsibility for financial stability, defined as heading off the imbalances that could trigger a severe financial crisis, such as what the world experienced just more than a decade ago. In a recent C.D. Howe Institute report, we argue, marshalling historical and empirical evidence, that granting the Bank an explicit mandate to target financial stability is not a good idea, and that doing so would create a conflict with its tried and true mandate for price stability.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-11-22)
A report earlier this year from the International Monetary Fund estimated that removing interprovincial trade barriers would add nearly 4 per cent to Canada’s gross domestic product – “a much larger gain than expected from recently signed international trade agreements,” the IMF said. The estimated economic gains amount to about $80-billion annually, or more than $2,000 per Canadian.
CBC - CP (2019-11-22)
The report by Miguel Molico, senior research director at the bank's Financial Stability Department, notes that carbon-intensive sectors like oil and gas could be negatively affected by significant changes in pricing in a transition away from a carbon economy.
OSFI - OSFI (2019-11-20)
During the 2018-2019 fiscal year, OSFI commissioned Sage Research Corporation, an independent research firm, to conduct a confidential consultation with deposit-taking institution Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers and other senior executives, to help OSFI monitor its effectiveness in discharging key elements of its mandate. OSFI has commissioned consultations with senior members of the financial community to obtain their assessment of OSFI's effectiveness as a regulator and supervisor since 1998.
OSFI - OSFI (2019-11-20)
The total number of active RPP members increased steadily from 5.9 million in 2007 to 6.3 million in 2017, an increase of 7% over the last 10 years.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-11-20)
After a first term in the Finance Minister’s office that featured a few strong steps, some stumbles and too much foot-dragging, Bill Morneau has plenty of unfinished business to address as he returns for another term. If he wants to make the most of his second chance, the top of that to-do list should be tackling Canada’s badly eroded competitiveness.
CBC - Peter Zimonjic (2019-11-20)
The full list of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new cabinet sworn today at Rideau Hall in Ottawa:
G&M - Howard Schneider (2019-11-19)
U.S. President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met at the White House on Monday in their second meeting since Powell started the job in February 2017, and soon became the target of criticism from the president who appointed him.
G&M - Mohamed A. El-Erain (2019-11-19)
This year, I didn’t attend the October annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, DC. Instead, I paid close attention to reports of the gathering and talked to people who were there whom I respect. What emerged is depressing for the wellbeing of the global economy. In particular, the prospect of continued weakness and fragmentation pressures will compound the challenges to the credibility and effectiveness of multilateral institutions.
G&M - Mohamed A. El-Erain (2019-11-19)
Even more worryingly, the Fund’s policy recommendations – especially those pertaining to the advanced economies – have little impact (to put it politely). One need only look at the widening gulf between what IMF officials have said and the bland, repetitive language of the IMFC communiques. The policy insights fall on more deaf ears when finance ministers and central bankers are back in their national capitals, underscoring the current ineffectiveness of what once was a key opportunity for improving win-win policies.
G&M - David Lawder (2019-11-19)
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced the decision at the Fund’s and World Bank’s annual meetings, saying that the initiative will provide confidence that the IMF can adequately support member countries as they deal with slowing global growth.
FP - Barbara Shecter (2019-11-19)
Businesses regulated in Ontario’s capital markets will save close to $8 million a year following implementation of a swath of new “burden reduction” reforms to be unveiled Tuesday by the Ontario Securities Commission.
G&M - TEGAN HILL, JAKE FUSS AND JASON CLEMENS (2019-11-18)
During last month’s federal election campaign, many in the media – and in the Liberal Party – lauded the strength of Canada’s economy.
WSJ - Andrew Ackerman (2019-11-18)
The Federal Reserve identified elevated asset prices and historically high debt owed by U.S. businesses as top vulnerabilities facing the U.S. financial system, according to the latest central bank financial-stability report.
G&M - Alexandra Posadzki (2019-11-15)
The Bank of Canada is proposing a new liquidity facility that would provide loans to financial institutions that are suffering temporary shocks as a result of incidents such as cyberattacks, system failures and natural disasters.
G&M - Patrick Brethour (2019-11-15)
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney contends that withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan would return billions of dollars a year to the province, but experts question how large the savings would be from going it alone.
G&M - Reuters (2019-11-14)
The U.S. government recorded a $134 billion budget deficit in October, the first month of the new fiscal year, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
Bloomberg - Niclas Rolander (2019-11-14)
G&M - Video (2019-11-14)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is asking Congress to tackle the growing budget deficit.
BNN - Erik Hertzberg (2019-11-14)
Justin Trudeau is starting his second term in worse fiscal shape than expected, meaning Canada’s finances will likely be pushed further into the red.
Bloomberg - Tim Duy (2019-11-12)
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-11-12)
The New York Fed added $111.909 billion to financial markets on Tuesday.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-11-12)
Eric Rosengren warned on Monday many top central banks have a limited tool kit to deal with the next downturn, and added efforts to roll back regulations on banks may be exacerbating risks to the financial sector.
FP - Andy Blatchford (2019-11-07)
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says there’s a “compelling case” to be made for his province to exit the half-century-old Canada Pension Plan — an idea sure to face increasing scrutiny over the coming months.
FP - Geoff Zachodine (2019-11-06)
The tax cut and other measures were part of a mini-budget that showed the Ontario government’s projected deficit for the current 2019-20 fiscal year is now $9 billion, down from the $10.3 billion estimated in the actual budget earlier this year.
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-11-06)
For decades, the central bank has raised rates to guard against coming price increases. Now, it seems to be raising that hurdle.
NY Times - Jim Tankersley (2019-11-06)
The Treasury Department says the Obama-era regulations are unnecessary after the 2017 tax overhaul.
FP - FP (2019-11-04)
In determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its maximum employment objective and its symmetric 2 percent inflation objective. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments.
Bloomberg - Lionel Laurent (2019-11-04)
States dabbling in blockchain technology, or planning to issue their own digital currencies, isn’t flattery – it’s competition. Some 70% of central banks surveyed by the Bank for International Settlements are examining their options in this area. In places like Sweden, rapidly going cashless, electronic “fiat” money is seen as a path to easier payments. If that works out, stateless crypto coins would lose one of their selling points.
Bloomberg - Sandy Hendry, Natasha Doff (2019-11-04)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting on a pledge to shrink the role of the U.S. dollar in international trade. Jean-Claude Juncker, outgoing president of the European Commission, says it’s “absurd” that Europe uses the greenback for 80% of energy imports. Chinese President Xi Jinping has railed against economic “hegemonism.” Can the mighty dollar retain its global dominance when attacked from so many sides? Don’t count it out yet.
WSJ - James Mackintosh (2019-11-04)
When one part of the economy stumbles and another does rather well, the perfect policy would be support the laggard while holding back the rest to keep growth balanced. But the Federal Reserve doesn’t have that luxury.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-11-04)
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York added $104.583 billion in temporary liquidity to financial markets Friday, when it also added permanent reserves to expand its balance sheet.
The Fedâs intervention came in two parts. One was through repurchase
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-10-31)
Like a spooky planetary alignment, the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve both unmasked their monetary policy on the day before Halloween. But they had eerily discordant messages.
G&M - Geoffrey York (2019-10-30)
South Africa’s Finance Minister has revealed that the country’s debt is soaring much faster than expected, triggering a plunge in its currency and sparking fears of another downgrade in its credit rating.
G&M - Reuters (2019-10-30)
The Canadian dollar weakened to a near two-week low against the greenback on Wednesday as expectations rose that the Bank of Canada would cut interest rates after the central bank expressed greater concern about global trade uncertainty.
CBC - CBC (2019-10-30)
In his opening statement during a meeting with members of the media, Poloz said the "worsening global situation" is the primary issue for the Canadian economy.
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-10-29)
It is easy to forget that when oil prices crashed just five years ago, the Canadian economy lost what at the time was its single major economic engine. In the years before that, Canada's old industrial economy outside the oil and gas sector had been smashed, only slowly recovering from a loonie rising on the back of petroleum exports to an oil-hungry United States.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-10-29)
Markets largely expect another quarter-percentage-point rate cut. It is the Fed’s next step that is uncertain, and investors will closely watch for clues.
G&M - PAUL WALDIE (2019-10-29)
Britain is heading for an election on Dec. 12 and it will now be up to voters to try and resolve the Brexit conundrum that has bedevilled the country for more than three years.
G&M - Reuters (2019-10-29)
President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday as policymakers opened a two-day meeting that was expected to end with a decision to lower interest rates.
G&M - AP (2019-10-29)
Economists and investors who are trying to get a fix on what the Federal Reserve may do in the months ahead have zeroed in on a single phrase in the statement it has issued after its most recent policy meetings.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-10-28)
The Bank of Canada is expected to hold interest rates steady one more time this week – and in doing so, separate itself further from the pack of central banks.
Reuters - Reuters Video (2019-10-25)
Outgoing European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi took his last policy meeting on Thursday. Critics says his eight-year tenure closes in exactly the same place he started: trying to prop up a perpetually ailing currency bloc. David Pollard reports.
CNBC - Jeff Cox (2019-10-24)
Starting Thursday, the repo operation offerings will escalate to $120 billion from the current $75 billion as the central bank continues to calibrate the right amount of funding needed to keep the markets operating properly and to hold the overnight funds rate within its target range.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-10-22)
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York injected $58.15 billion in overnight liquidity into financial markets.
Reuters - Fergal Smith (2019-10-22)
“The resulting higher spending and larger deficits may give a temporary lift to growth next year, but will also likely keep the Bank of Canada on hold for longer,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-10-21)
Mark McCormick believes the currency market is “underpricing” the possibility of a minority Liberal government propped up by the New Democratic Party.
FP - Robert Hutton and Kitty Donaldson (2019-10-21)
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said one shouldn’t be granted. But EU officials say that despite Macron, who made similar noises before approving a Brexit delay in April, it’s unlikely that he or any other leader would refuse another one, particularly if the U.K. was headed for a general election.
Reuters - Kylie MacLellan, Paul Sandle (2019-10-21)
The British government insisted on Sunday the country will leave the European Union on Oct. 31 despite a letter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced by parliament to send to the bloc requesting a Brexit delay.
WSJ - Kate O'Keeffe (2019-10-21)
Christine Lagarde, who is set to take over as president of the European Central Bank, said in an interview that the U.S. risks diminishing its role as a global leader and warned of dire consequences of its trade war with China.
G&M - David Berman (2019-10-18)
Can voters affect stock prices in Canada? Investors are about to find out.
CBC - Jonathon Gatehouse (2019-10-17)
"These barriers prevent the free flow of people, goods and services across provincial borders. They make it more expensive to run a business. They hurt consumers with higher prices and less competition and they discourage and frustrate big dreaming innovators who want to change the world," Scheer said during a campaign stop in Quebec City. "It should not be easier to trade with other countries than between Canadian provinces. We are one free country. We should have one free market."
Reuters - Reuters (2019-10-17)
Britain clinched a Brexit deal with the European Union on Thursday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, just a few hours before the start of a summit of the bloc’s leaders in Brussels.
Bloomberg - Jess Shankleman (2019-10-15)
More time needed as deal hanging in the balance as of Tuesday.
WSJ - James Mackintosh (2019-10-15)
The Federal Reserve has been clear that its latest Treasury-buying plan shouldn’t be construed as QE, or quantitative easing. They may have a point.
FP - Zane Schwartz (2019-10-15)
The Bank of Canada is considering launching a digital currency that would help it combat the “direct threat” of cryptocurrencies and collect more information on how people spend their money, The Logic has learned.
FT - Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Eva Szalay (2019-10-15)
A decade ago, China launched a high-profile challenge to the dominance of the US dollar, projecting a greater role for the renminbi in the global financial system.
FP - Philip Cross (2019-10-11)
Despite a return to deficit spending intended to boost the economy, Canada’s annual real GDP growth over the past four years has remained stuck in the range of 1.0 to 2.0 per cent, where it has been mired for most of the past decade. In a recent paper for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, I summarized how the persistence of mediocre growth for over a decade is a sobering reminder of the failure of extraordinary monetary and fiscal stimulus to lift long-term growth rates.
Reuters - Matt Scuffham (2019-10-11)
Deutsche Bank says it does not have copies of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax returns, a U.S. appeals court said on Thursday, closing one possible avenue for the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives to obtain the returns.
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-10-11)
Lael Brainard, a Fed Board governor, said that while she supported some of the adjustments approved on Thursday, the overall package of changes went too far.
Bloomberg - Jim Bianco (2019-10-09)
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-10-09)
The Federal Reserve will provide new clues about its thinking on where to set interest rates when it releases the minutes of its Sept. 17-18 meeting on Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT.
FT - Joe Rennison (2019-10-09)
Ten minutes after Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell insisted that the central bank restarting its Treasury purchases was “in no way” the same as the post-financial crisis policy of quantitative easing, one Wall St analyst sent a note to his clients saying that the new strategy “sure sounds like QE”.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-10-08)
“The Liberals would loosen fiscal policy by more than the Conservatives if they won October’s election, but neither party’s plans would seriously transform the economic outlook,” said Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics.
Bloomberg - Andreas Kluth (2019-10-08)
WSJ - Avantika Chilkoti, Paul J. Davies (2019-10-03)
The euro has drifted toward its lowest levels against the dollar in years as Europe takes the brunt of a global growth slowdown. Investors are now questioning: How low can it go?
Bloomberg - Brian Chappatta (2019-10-02)
Heading into October, it was clear Federal Reserve officials would face a difficult decision at their meeting at the end of the month. Just one day into October, the challenges have already become even more intense.
NY Times - Amie Tsang (2019-09-30)
FT - Martin Arnold (2019-09-26)
Tensions between the European Central Bank and Germany have again exploded into public view after the resignation of Sabine Lautenschläger, who represented the eurozone’s biggest economy on the central bank’s executive board.
G&M - Video (2019-09-25)
Premier Jason Kenney responds to a Federal Court judge issuing an injunction against Alberta's legislation giving it the power to reduce oil shipments to B.C.
G&M - ROD NICKEL AND NIA WILLIAMS (2019-09-23)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has cast himself as a champion in the fight against climate change while pushing to expand an oil pipeline to help struggling producers, a contradiction that may hurt his re-election bid next month.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-09-23)
The Washington Post published an interesting bit of trivia this week. As of Sept. 18, Donald Trump had tweeted or retweeted nasty things about the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, an astonishing 43 times since the end of July.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-09-20)
The Bank of Canada has appointed long-time insider Toni Gravelle as one of its deputy governors, filling the vacancy created over the summer by the retirement of Lynn Patterson.
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-09-20)
A weakening global economy and continued trade fears — and emphatically, he said, not angry words from U.S. President Donald Trump — convinced U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates on Wednesday for the second time this summer.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-09-19)
If you’re a suburban homeowner lying awake at night stressing about how you’ll ever get out from under your mountain of mortgage-infused debt, congratulations. You’re the most important voter in next month’s federal election.
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-09-19)
Despite the fact that the quarter point cut was widely expected, the move had an immediate effect on the Canadian dollar which fell promptly after Powell's announcement.
CBC - AP (2019-09-18)
Economists do not see the action as a signal about where the Fed plans to move its key policy rate, known as the federal funds rate, but rather as a technical exercise to keep the rate in the range set by the central bank.
G&M - Ian McGugan (2019-09-18)
Pity Jerome Powell. The chair of the United States Federal Reserve has just been called a bonehead by his boss. Now he faces the unenviable task of explaining the Fed’s latest interest-rate decision to increasingly baffled investors, while dealing with the aftermath of an unexpected squeeze in short-term funding markets.
Bloomberg - Ferdinando Giugliano (2019-09-17)
G&M - MARTIN EICHENBAUM AND CHARLES MOSKOS (2019-09-16)
Canadian monetary policy is the legal responsibility of exactly one person, the Governor of the Bank of Canada. This single decision-maker structure is unique among the central banks of advanced economies. The last review of the bank’s governance structure was conducted by a parliamentary subcommittee in 1992 (known as the Manley Committee). It is time to assess the structure governing monetary policy decisions at the Bank of Canada once again.
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-09-16)
With last week's declaration that the very smart people at the Federal Reserve are "boneheads," U.S. President Donald Trump has become perhaps the world's highest profile prognosticator of a North American crisis.
WSJ - David Harrison and Paul Hannon (2019-09-13)
The European Central Bank’s decision Thursday to lower its key interest rate further below zero while relaunching an asset-purchase program means monetary policy in Europe is now even more stimulative than in the U.S.
WSJ - Jon Sindreu (2019-09-13)
ECB President Mario Draghi’s emphasis on fiscal policy is an admission that further monetary stimulus can do little for the economy.
CBC - Reuters (2019-09-13)
As Draghi's eight-year mandate nears its close, the ECB cut rates deeper into negative territory and promised bond purchases with no end-date to push borrowing costs even lower, hoping to kick-start activity nearly a decade after the bloc's debt crisis.
G&M - Robert Fife (2019-09-11)
Former justice minister and attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould met with RCMP investigators this week to discuss political interference in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., and is calling on the Trudeau government to waive cabinet confidentiality for her and all other witnesses to allow a thorough probe into potential obstruction of justice.
G&M - Howard Schneider (2019-09-11)
“The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt. INTEREST COST COULD BE BROUGHT WAY DOWN, while at the same time substantially lengthening the term,” Trump tweeted. “We have the great currency, power, and balance sheet... The USA should always be paying the … lowest rate. No Inflation!”
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2019-09-11)
Jean Boivin wants to be clear about one thing: Neither he, nor his colleagues at the BlackRock Investment Institute, are predicting a global recession any time soon. Which seems incongruous, considering that he has been telling central bankers they need to get ready now for the next big one.
CBC - Catherine Tunney (2019-09-11)
Canadians "have an important choice to make" about their country's future path, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said today as he triggered the official launch of the federal election campaign.
CBC - CP (2019-09-11)
But the most important is the participation to the national debate," Bernier said on Wednesday, the first day of the campaign ahead of the Oct. 21 vote.
G&M - MICHELLE ZILIO, JANICE DICKSON KRISTY KIRKUP MARIEKE WALSH (2019-09-10)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to visit Governor-General Julie Payette on Wednesday morning to kick off the election campaign, Liberal sources said.
FP - Diane Francis (2019-09-10)
The budget predicts deficits of $19.8 billion in 2019-20; $19.7 billion in 2020-21; and $14.8 billion in 2021-22. Not only have they broken promises to adhere to fiscally responsible spending, but they have no timetable to reduce deficits for the near future should they be re-elected.
Bloomberg - Charlotte Ryan and Matthew Boesler (2019-09-10)
G&M - BRENNA HUGHES NEGHAIWI AND JOHN REVILL (2019-09-09)
The U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to act “as appropriate” to sustain the economic expansion in the world’s biggest economy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday in Zurich, sticking to a phrase that financial markets have taken to signal further rate reductions, but declining to be more specific.
Bloomberg - Marcus Ashworth (2019-09-09)
Bloomberg - Mohamed A. El-Erain (2019-09-09)
The European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve will be under even greater scrutiny over the next 10 days as their policy-making committees discuss recent economic developments, update their assessment of prospects and adopt whatever actions and guidance they deem necessary. The outcome will most likely satisfy those looking for the world’s two most influential central banks to further loosen monetary policy.
G&M - FARAI MUTSAKA AND CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA (2019-09-06)
Robert Mugabe, the former leader of Zimbabwe forced to resign in 2017 after a 37-year rule whose early promise was eroded by economic turmoil, disputed elections and human rights violations, has died. He was 95.
G&M - Ann Saphir (2019-09-05)
Trade policy uncertainty driven by the Trump administration’s escalating dispute with China means hundreds of billions of dollars in lost U.S. output and as much as US$850-billion lost globally through early next year, research published this week by the U.S. Federal Reserve suggests.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-09-05)
When the central bank left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, it emphasized that inflation was right at its rough target of two per cent. And the first speech by one of the institution’s leaders since early July was based on, you guessed it, the Bank of Canada’s latest thinking about inflation.
CBC - CP (2019-09-04)
Governor Stephen Poloz is widely expected to hold the overnight interest rate at 1.75 per cent as the bank delivers its first policy announcement — or public commentary of any kind — since early July.
Reuters - Howard Schneider, Ann Saphir (2019-09-04)
The dueling views - from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who called for a half-a-percentage-point rate cut, and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who saw no immediate need for any move - show the tight spot Fed Chair Jerome Powell finds himself in as the Fed’s next policy-setting meeting approaches.
Bloomberg - Natalie Wong and Paula Sambo (2019-09-04)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to make housing more affordable for first-time buyers. His efforts may be of little help to people in the country’s priciest cities.
WSJ - Natasha Kha, Neil Western (2019-09-04)
In a major concession to protesters, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam plans to withdraw the China extradition bill that sparked months of at times violent street demonstrations.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-09-04)
The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, which has recently stopped shrinking, may once again start growing later this year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday.
G&M - Nathan Vanderklippe (2019-09-04)
Canada has selected Dominic Barton as its next ambassador to Beijing, moving to end a months-long gap without a top diplomat in the world’s second-largest economy amid a damaging dispute between the two countries.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-09-04)
In the face of a burgeoning international trade crisis and rising global recession fears, the Bank of Canada had a golden opportunity to signal that it is preparing to jump onto the rate-cutting bandwagon that most of the world’s major central banks have already boarded over the summer.
G&M - Roger E. A. Farmer (2019-09-04)
Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers and Anna Stansbury recently cast doubt on the future of central banking, suggesting that the prevailing monetary-policy framework is in dire need of a rethink. I agree and have been calling for a reconsideration of “Old Keynesian economics” for more than a decade, starting with an article I published in 2006, two years before the Great Recession made it fashionable to question the way we think about macroeconomic theory. I am heartened that the narrative and body of research I have developed continues to gain public support.
G&M - Bill Curry (2019-09-04)
The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate unchanged at 1.75 per cent Wednesday, but said the U.S.-China trade conflict is having a more damaging impact on global growth than previously thought.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-09-04)
The BOC resisted pressure from investors to signal it will follow global easing trends.
Bloomberg - Mohamed A. El-Erian (2019-09-04)
Fearing market disruptions, both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve will most likely take more stimulus measures this month regardless of what their analyses tell them about the potential impact on the economy and financial assets. That has implications for both future economic prosperity and medium-term financial stability, and it adds to the to-do list for policy makers and investors.
G&M - Don Pittis (2019-09-03)
Inevitably, Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz must do his job in the shadow of his powerful U.S. equivalent at the Federal Reserve.
Canadian Business - Andy Blatchford (2019-08-30)
Canadians last heard the Bank of Canada’s take on the economy in the early days of summer — and the timing of its next update has the potential to tinge political debate during the federal election campaign.
Since the bank’s most recent public comments in early July, there’s mounting evidence of a slowing global economy mostly due to the escalating U.S.-China trade war — including fresh Chinese tariffs Friday and new threats on Twitter from U.S. President Donald Trump that shook up markets.
The Bank of Canada’s latest message underlined the resilience of the domestic economy, and it appeared in no rush to move its policy even as other central banks were poised to lower rates to respond to the already dimming international outlook.
The next policy meeting is scheduled for Sept. 4, while the election campaign is widely expected to start at some point during the first two weeks of September. The central bank will release a statement with its rate decision, and the following day deputy governor Lawrence Schembri will provide more detail about the governing council’s thinking when he gives a speech and holds a news conference in Halifax.
Bloomberg - Carolina Millan and Jorgelina Do Rosario (2019-08-29)
Hemmed in by an uphill re-election bid and a worsening debt and currency crisis, Argentine President Mauricio Macri will try to cajole creditors into giving the country more time to repay them as he struggles to simply finish his term.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-08-28)
A former Federal Reserve official took the unusual step of calling on the central bank to help prevent President Trump’s re-election by refraining from taking measures to stimulate the U.S. economy.
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-08-28)
G&M - Mark Mackinnon (2019-08-28)
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, a nominally non-partisan figure who oversees parliamentary proceedings, was among those disturbed by the Prime Minister’s actions. “However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country,” Mr. Bercow said in a statement. “At this time, one of the most challenging periods in our nation’s history, it is vital that our elected Parliament has its say.”
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-08-27)
The world’s central bankers are increasingly worried that President Trump’s tactics to reorder global trade are destabilizing economies in ways that they can’t easily fix.
NY Times - Stephanie Saul (2019-08-27)
CBC - AP (2019-08-26)
Billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, who with his older brother Charles transformed American politics by pouring their riches into conservative causes, has died at age 79.
CBC - AP (2019-08-26)
Federal Reserve officials were widely divided at their meeting last month when they decided to cut rates for the first time in a decade, with some arguing for a bigger rate cut while others insisted the Fed should not cut rates at all.
Reuters - Brendan Pierson (2019-08-26)
Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court on Friday to block Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) from handing the financial records of the president’s family and the Trump Organization to Democratic lawmakers.
CBC - AP (2019-08-21)
The minutes of the July 30-31 discussions released Wednesday show two officials believed the Fed should cut its benchmark policy rate by a half-percentage point, double the quarter-point reduction the central bank eventually agreed upon. On the other end, some Fed officials argued for no rate cut at all, believing that the economy was beginning to improve after a soft patch in the spring.
WSJ - Michael S. Derby (2019-08-21)
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari wants the Fed to make a firmer commitment to getting inflation back up to its 2% target.
WSJ - Gabriele Steinhauser, Thandi Ntobela (2019-08-21)
South Africa’s finance minister stirs controversy, especially in the kitchen.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Argitis (2019-08-21)
Bloomberg - Bloomberg Video (2019-08-21)
Zero interest bond flops.
Bloomberg - Chris Bourke and Michael Heath (2019-08-21)
Australia and New Zealand’s central banks are pondering what until recently seemed unthinkable: deploying the types of extreme monetary policies that were spawned globally by the 2008 global financial crisis. Bond-purchase programs and negative interest rates were for years seen Down Under as the preserve of countries that had gorged on risky derivatives and been reckless with debt. There’s been a sharp change of tune, however. Now, the two central banks are at the forefront of what appears to be a race to the bottom -- where even interest rates at zero may not be far enough.
G&M - STEVE HOLLAND AND LISA LAMBERT (2019-08-20)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration was considering potential tax cuts on wages as well as profits from asset sales, and sought to play down market anxieties that the world’s top economy could be heading for a recession.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-08-19)
FT - Adam Samson and Tommy Stubbington (2019-08-19)
Investors are anticipating a fresh wave of stimulus measures to tackle flagging growth, as the White House said it was considering a new round of tax cuts to boost the economy.
G&M - KONRAD YAKABUSKI (2019-08-16)
From the very start, Mr. Trudeau was poorly served by his own advisers in the PMO and by former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick. All of them should have known they were playing with fire by seeking to put pressure on Ms. Wilson-Raybould to reconsider her decision not to overturn the Director of Public Prosecutions’ refusal to grant SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement that would have spared the Quebec-based engineering giant from facing a trial on fraud and bribery charges.
CBC - Robyn Urback (2019-08-16)
Six months ago, Trudeau told Canadians that a report his office pressured the AG was 'false.' He lied
Finextra - Finextra (2019-08-15)
The impending launch comes after five years of work. The People's Bank set up a research team to investigate a digital currency back in 2014.
G&M - Reuters (2019-08-14)
The Bank of Canada said on Tuesday it plans to buy back up to $500 million worth of bonds from up to nine outstanding issues in a cash management repurchase operation on Aug. 20.
G&M - Jeffrey Frankel (2019-08-14)
The trade war between the United States and China is heating up again, with U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announcing plans to impose a 10-per-cent tariff on the US$300-billion worth of imports from China that he had so far left untouched. The Chinese authorities then allowed their currency, the renminbi, to fall below the symbolic threshold of seven yuan for every U.S. dollar. The Trump administration promptly responded by naming China a “currency manipulator” – the first time the U.S. had done that to any country in 25 years. Pundits declared a currency war, and investors immediately sent global stock markets lower.
Bloomberg - Michael Heath (2019-08-14)
WSJ - Lalita Clozel (2019-08-14)
Federal Reserve officials are weighing whether to use a tool known as the countercyclical capital buffer, which could reduce the risk of a credit crunch in a downturn.
G&M - S.R. Slobodian (2019-08-14)
Canada’s Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau contravened a section of the Conflict of Interest Act by using his position of authority over then-justice-minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to get her to overrule the director of public prosecution’s decision to not negotiate a deal with SNC-Lavalin that would avoid criminal prosecution.
Reuters - Kevin Yao, Ryan Woo (2019-08-13)
China’s yuan is at an appropriate level currently and two-way fluctuations in the currency will not necessarily cause disorderly capital flows, a senior official at the People’s Bank of China told Reuters on Tuesday.
WSJ - Daniel Kruger (2019-08-12)
Federal agencies, banks and investment firms are pushing Wall Street to install their preferred replacement for the London interbank offered rate, the interest-rate benchmark underpinning trillions of dollars in financial contracts.
G&M - Matt Lundy (2019-08-09)
Expectations are mounting the Bank of Canada will be forced to cut interest rates and join a growing number of central banks that have eased monetary policy as the U.S.-China trade war intensifies and recession signals ripple through financial markets.
Reuters - Leika Kihara (2019-08-09)
The Bank of Japan may seek to prevent unwelcome yen rises by tolerating temporary, market-driven falls in long-term interest rates, former BOJ board member Sayuri Shirai said on Friday.
FT - Henry Foy, Max Seddon (2019-08-09)
As pro-democracy protests hit central Moscow this summer, student vlogger Egor Zhukov promoted peaceful resistance to his 100,000 followers on YouTube. Violent clashes on the city’s streets — which have seen armour-clad, helmeted riot police pin down unarmed protesters on stone pavements as their colleagues beat their knees with batons — showed Russia’s security services doling out “political repression”, he said. “Life is a struggle for power,” Mr Zhukov said in a video uploaded last week. “People with no power are fighting to have any at all. People who have any power are fighting for it to be absolute.”
Bloomberg - Tim Duy (2019-08-08)
The Federal Reserve can try to be coy about the chance of an interest-rate cut at the September meeting, but that train has already left the station. Stuck in a negative feedback loop with President Donald Trump and financial market participants, while simultaneously under pressure amid falling global interest rates, policy makers will find themselves left with few options but to further ease short-term rates.
CBC - Reuters (2019-08-06)
But later on Tuesday, China's central bank buttressed the yuan by fixing it at a slightly stronger rate, which ratcheted down the tensions a little.
FT - Kadhim Shubber (2019-08-06)
A US appeals court has bolstered the power of federal prosecutors to grab records from foreign banks even if the transactions at issue did not pass through US accounts. In a ruling released on Tuesday, three appeals court judges in Washington sided with the Department of Justice against a trio of Chinese banks, including one that had received a subpoena under the Patriot Act.
FT - Mure Dickie (2019-08-06)
The departing Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive has backed Bank of England warnings about the impact of a no-deal Brexit, saying that leaving the EU without an agreement would cause some medium-term “pain and anguish”.
G&M - ANDREW GALBRAITH AND WINNI ZHOU (2019-08-05)
The U.S. government has determined that China is manipulating its currency and will engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate unfair competition from Beijing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Monday.
Reuters - Pete Schroeder (2019-08-05)
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Monday it planned to develop its own round-the-clock real-time payments and settlement service, with an expected launch in 2023 or 2024.
NY Times - NY Times (2019-08-05)
Not all Fed policymakers agreed to the cuts. Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed and Esther George of the Kansas City Fed voted against yesterday’s decision, the second and third dissents of Mr. Powell’s tenure. They preferred to leave rates unchanged, saying that the U.S. economy remains strong.
WSJ - William Mauldin, Nick Timiraos and Paul Kiernan (2019-08-05)
The U.S. Treasury labeled China a currency manipulator after the Chinese central bank let the yuan depreciate, capping a day of trade-war escalations that sparked a global fall in financial markets and fears the clash could stall the U.S.’s economic expansion.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-08-02)
Geoff Zochodne talks to FP columnist Kevin Carmichael about the Fed’s first rate hike in a decade and where it goes from here.
Reuters - Ann Saphir, Richard Leong (2019-08-02)
In a series of tweets, Trump said he will slap 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports starting Sept. 1, saying he was unsatisfied with the pace of trade negotiations between the two superpowers.
G&M - Matt Lundy (2019-07-31)
The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008, marking the start of a new phase in monetary policy.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-07-31)
By deciding to cut interest rates, the Federal Reserve has positioned itself as a shield, protecting the U.S. economy from its own government’s worst instincts. But it may have also set itself up to be President Donald Trump’s enabler.
CBC - CP (2019-07-31)
The Bank of Canada sent signals earlier this month that the Canadian economy is very much on its own path and, at least in the short term, has no reason to follow any move by the Fed to lower rates.
WSJ - Greg IP (2019-07-30)
When Federal Reserve policy makers gather in Washington this week to weigh cutting interest rates, a big part of their decision will already have been made—in Frankfurt.
WSJ - Nathaniel Taplin (2019-07-30)
Will the People’s Bank of China follow the Federal Reserve and cut interest rates on Wednesday? Actually, it has found a stealthy way to do that already.
WSJ - Megumi Fujikawa (2019-07-30)
Japan’s central bank said it wouldn’t hesitate to ease monetary policy further should the need arise, an attempt to keep pace with other major central banks that are preparing to cut rates.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-07-29)
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates this week, but a big question is whether markets will be satisfied with what the U.S. central bank does and says.
Reuters - Ann Saphir (2019-07-29)
U.S. central bankers are expected to lower borrowing costs this week for the first time since the depths of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. That’s the easy part.
WSJ - Kate Davidson (2019-07-29)
Borrowing by the federal government is set to top $1 trillion for the second year in a row as higher spending outpaces revenue growth and concern about budget deficits wanes in Washington and on Wall Street.
G&M - DAVID PARKINSON (2019-07-28)
The U.S. Federal Reserve is poised to deliver an interest rate cut this week to safeguard a strong U.S. economy against rising trade-war risks – a move that will heighten questions about whether Canada’s central bank will follow suit to address its own trade worries.
G&M - Jeffrey Frankel (2019-07-28)
The United States Federal Reserve has some reasons to cut interest rates at its July 31 meeting, or subsequently if the U.S. economy weakens. (There is also a case for holding rates steady, if growth remains as strong as it has been over the past year.) But one argument for easing is less persuasive: a perceived imperative to get U.S. inflation up to or above 2 per cent.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-07-28)
Former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said she endorses a quarter-percentage-point cut in the central bank’s benchmark interest rate this week because of worries over global growth and low inflation.
CBC - AP (2019-07-26)
The ECB's rate-setting board left its key interest benchmarks unchanged at a policy meeting Thursday but said it could cut them as its next move. It also said it was telling staff to study ways to restart its bond-buying stimulus program in coming weeks.
WSJ - Tom Fairless (2019-07-26)
The European Central Bank signaled it is preparing to cut short-term interest rates for the first time since early 2016 and possibly restart its giant bond-buying program.
Reuters - Reuters (2019-07-24)
Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane sought to push back against market bets that the central bank’s next move will be an interest-rate cut, saying he would resist lowering borrowing costs unless there was a sharp downturn.
WSJ - Tom Fairless (2019-07-24)
European Central Bank officials are preparing to step up with fresh stimulus, echoing similar signals by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The question for investors is, when, and how, will the ECB act?
WSJ - PAUL J. DAVIES (2019-07-24)
The ECB has convinced financial markets that it will act. The question is, among its grab bag of possible moves, will it do more than investors expect?
G&M - PAUL WALDIE (2019-07-23)
The Boris Johnson era gets under way Wednesday as the colourful politician becomes Britain’s prime minister and faces the daunting challenge of pulling the country out of the European Union in just three months.
G&M - Nicolas Van Praet (2019-07-23)
he Quebec government is adding its voice to those pressing SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. to execute a quick turnaround, saying the work needed to set the company back on course is “enormous.”
NY Times - David Mueller (2019-07-23)
WSJ - Brent Kendall (2019-07-23)
The Justice Department is opening a broad antitrust review into whether dominant technology firms are unlawfully stifling competition, adding a new Washington threat for companies such as Facebook Inc., Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc.
WSJ - Brian Blackston (2019-07-22)
Central banks around the world are poised to unleash the most synchronized monetary stimulus since the financial crisis one decade ago.
Economist - Economist (2019-07-22)
Central-government officials were quick to respond. A statement on the office’s website said the slogans “insulted the country and its people” and accused the demonstrators of going “well beyond the scope of peaceful protest”. It said they had “seriously challenged the central government’s authority” as well as tested the “bottom line” of what China calls the “one country, two systems” arrangement under which it has ruled Hong Kong since Britain handed the territory back in 1997.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-07-22)
For the next few months or so, some of us here at the Financial Post will be filing dispatches from the trade wars, which arrived in Canada on the last day of May 2018, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned U.S. President Donald Trump’s fire with a volley of retaliatory tariffs on imports worth about $17 billion.
FT - James Politi and Lauren Fedor (2019-07-22)
The White House has struck a two-year deal with Democratic party leaders in Congress to raise America’s $22tn borrowing limit, removing the threat of a US debt default and significantly raising federal spending.
FT - James Politi (2019-07-22)
The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — the core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy — is running at 1.7 per cent year-on-year compared with the central bank’s target of 2 per cent — and inflation expectations have also weakened.
FP - Martin Eichenbaum (2019-07-19)
In sum, powerful forces are working to keep the supply of savings high and the demand for funds to invest low. The net result has been and will continue to be low nominal and real (inflation-corrected) interest rates.
WSJ - Nina Trentmann (2019-07-19)
The U.K. government named a new chief executive for the Financial Reporting Council, a move that comes as the audit and accounting watchdog prepares for a wide-ranging overhaul amid concerns about its effectiveness.
WSJ - Josh Zumbrun, Bojan Pancevski (2019-07-19)
The career of the next European Central Bank chief shows the institution is getting a diplomat and negotiator, not a technocrat or economist. “She is extremely charming and that is part of her style of politics.”
WSJ - Brian Blackstone (2019-07-19)
Central banks in Asia and South Africa lowered their interest rates, joining a global easing bandwagon that started earlier this year in the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to include the U.S. and Europe within weeks.
Reuters - Reuters Video (2019-07-18)
G7 finance ministers and the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday all added to the chorus of concerned voices about Facebook's new cyrptocurrency.
Bloomberg - Shull Ren (2019-07-18)
Yahoo Finance - Leigh Thomas (2019-07-17)
France wants to use its presidency of the two-day meeting in the picturesque chateau town of Chantilly north of Paris to get broad support for ensuring minimum corporate taxation. Facebook's recent announcement of plans to launch a digital coin has met with a chorus from regulators, central bankers and governments insisting it must respect anti-money-laundering rules and ensure the security of transactions and user data.
The Guardian - Paul Karp (2019-07-17)
Australia’s prudential regulator will gain new powers to prevent “inappropriate” directors and senior executives being appointed, the federal government has promised.
FP - Karin Strohecker (2019-07-16)
Debt owed by governments, companies, financial institutions and households across developing economies soared to US$69.1 trillion or 216 per cent of gross domestic product from US$68.9 trillion a year earlier. Debt-to-GDP ratios had risen at the fastest pace in Chile, Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan and China over the past year, the IIF found.
NY Times - Jack Ewing, Amie Tsang (2019-07-16)
She doesn’t have the typical résumé — no doctorate in economics, no post as a central banker — for running the body that sets monetary policy for one-fifth of the global economy. But investors are betting that Christine Lagarde, the surprise nominee to be the next president of the European Central Bank, will act in much the same way as the bank’s last leader.
WSJ - Dave Michaels, Sam Schechner (2019-07-16)
G&M - James Bradshaw (2019-07-16)
The Bank of Canada will take over as administrator of a key interest-rate benchmark that is undergoing an overhaul as part of global reforms to benchmarks, some of which have been vulnerable to manipulation.
G&M - PETE SCHROEDER AND KATIE PAUL (2019-07-16)
Democratic and Republican lawmakers said on Tuesday that Facebook Inc’s history of what they described as untrustworthiness should stand in the way of it launching a digital currency, labelling the plan “delusional” and “crazy” at a Senate hearing.
G&M - STEVE AMBLER AND JEREMY KRONICK (2019-07-15)
The Bank of Canada held its overnight rate constant at 1.75 per cent this week. Markets had completely priced this in, but nevertheless, there are reasons to be surprised by this decision, and perhaps even consider it a missed opportunity.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-07-15)
We're heading toward key central bank meetings that promise to move financial markets.
CBC - CBC (2019-07-15)
But as global trade threats linger, Canada's top central bankers warn that many people who should know better, including stock market investors, seem to think cuts to interest rates can solve all problems.
G&M - Niall McGee (2019-07-15)
The World Bank has ordered Pakistan to pay Barrick Gold Corp. and Chile’s Antofagasta PLC US$5.8-billion in damages stemming from a long-running international arbitration dispute over mine rights for a massive copper gold project.
G&M - David Milstead (2019-07-12)
U.S. policies that force governments to buy certain products from American factories are harming Bombardier Inc.’s railcar factories in Canada, the company says.
CBC - AP (2019-07-12)
Deficit to top $1 trillion US by end of fiscal year, Trump administration projects
CBC - AP (2019-07-12)
France has adopted a pioneering tax on internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook despite threats from the U.S.
FP - Reuters (2019-07-12)
RBC, a primary dealer of British government bonds, said in a research note to clients that the BoE will soon have to ditch its main message that rates will need to rise at some point — even if Brexit goes smoothly.
G&M - GIUSEPPE VALIANTE (2019-07-11)
Guilbeault in 1993 helped found a major environmental advocacy group in Quebec called Equiterre. The activist also worked for Greenpeace for ten years before returning to Equiterre as its director and spokesman in 2007.
FT - Adam SamsonMamta Badkar and Matthew Rocco,and Siddarth Shrikanth (2019-07-11)
The Nasdaq Composite, which rose 0.8 per cent, set a new closing high while the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which finished up 0.3 per cent, touched a fresh intraday record during the session.
Bloomberg - Matthew Burgess (2019-07-11)
Australia’s prudential regulator has ordered three of the nation’s largest banks to increase their capital holdings after finding weaknesses in risk management akin to those at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
G&M - Fergal Smith (2019-07-10)
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday looks set to raise its second-quarter economic growth forecast and stand pat on interest rates, taking a different tack from some major peers, which are signaling plans for additional stimulus.
Bloomberg - Laura Curtis (2019-07-10)
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-07-10)
The Federal Reserve’s meeting this month was never going to be an easy one given that officials remain split over when — or whether — to cut interest rates. The last few weeks could set the Fed up for an even more difficult call.
WSJ - Nathan Allen (2019-07-10)
European equities decline
G&M - Bill Curry (2019-07-10)
The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and avoided signalling its plans, even as its U.S. counterpart set the stage for a rate cut as soon as this month.
CBC - AP (2019-07-10)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that "many" Fed officials believe a weakening global economy and rising trade tensions have strengthened the case for looser interest-rate policies.
Reuters - Howard Schneider (2019-07-10)
A confidence shock driven partly by the U.S. trade war is at the center of an increasingly persuasive argument for Federal Reserve policymakers seriously considering cutting rates for the first time in a decade
Reuters - David Shepardson (2019-07-10)
“The United States is very concerned that the digital services tax which is expected to pass the French Senate tomorrow unfairly targets American companies,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement announcing the investigation.
Bloomberg - Theophilos Aargitis (2019-07-09)
Bloomberg - Katherine Greifield (2019-07-09)
G&M - Andrew Willis (2019-07-08)
In one of the great contrarian investments of our time, billionaires such as Murray Edwards and Li Ka-Shing are pouring money into Alberta’s oil sands.
FP - Kevin Carmichael (2019-07-08)
Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service offered via Twitter this week to help executives struggling with this question: What is a free trade agreement?
NY Times - Jeanna Smialek (2019-07-08)
Federal Reserve officials worry that the uncertainty caused by the trade war between the United States and China could be constraining business spending and may be contributing to a manufacturing slowdown that is dragging on growth.
CBC - Catharine Tunney (2019-07-08)
"The federal government must put measures in place to ensure that this situation never happens again."
FP - William Watson (2019-07-08)
There is a reductionist economic interpretation of Canadian confederation that says it was all about the British colonies of northern North America getting together so they could borrow more effectively in London’s capital market. Though an economist, I’m not an economics reductionist so I don’t entirely buy that story. Many things motivate people besides more-efficient borrowing.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-07-05)
The “quality” of Canadian jobs is eroding as increases in low- and mid-pay employment far outstrips that of higher-paying positions, CIBC World Markets says.
G&M - Mumal Rathore (2019-07-05)
The Bank of Canada will diverge from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s expected policy easing path and keep interest rates on hold at least through this year, according to economists in a Reuters poll who said however that the risk of a recession has risen.
Finextra - Finextra (2019-07-04)
In a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, democrats on the House Financial Services Committee demanded an immediate moratorium on the implementation of Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency and digital wallet, Libra and Calibra..
G&M - Joseph E. Stiglitz (2019-07-04)
Facebook and some of its corporate allies have decided that what the world really needs is another cryptocurrency – and that launching one is the best way to use the vast talents at their disposal. The fact that Facebook thinks so reveals much about what is wrong with 21st-century American capitalism.
G&M - Michelle Zilio (2019-07-04)
U.S. President Donald Trump pressed his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the cases of two Canadians detained by China in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese telecom executive on an American arrest warrant, Canadian sources say.
CBC - Geoff Leo (2019-07-04)
In December 2015, the Crown filed a series of charges against Wang and Cui, accusing the married couple of receiving payments from Chinese nationals seeking permanent residency in Canada in exchange for securing them job-offer letters, often for positions that didn't actually exist.
G&M - PAUL WALDIE (2019-07-04)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has emerged as a leading candidate to take over as head of the International Monetary Fund, one of the most important positions in the global economy.
G&M - Johnson Lai (2019-07-03)
China’s government strongly backed Hong Kong’s beleaguered administration on Tuesday, saying pro-democracy protesters who occupied and vandalized the city’s legislature committed “serious illegal acts” that endangered the social order.
G&M - Rob Nickel (2019-07-03)
An Indigenous-led group plans to offer to buy a majority stake in the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from the Canadian government this week or next, a deal that could help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mitigate election-year criticism from environmentalists.
Bloomberg - Robert Tuttle (2019-07-03)
G&M - Matthew McClearn (2019-07-02)
A federal review of Export Development Canada has exposed serious shortcomings at the Crown corporation, noting its disclosure practices fall far short of other financial institutions, and that the agency is not legally obligated to consider the environmental or human-rights impact of the financial support it provides to exporters.
WSJ - James Glynn (2019-07-02)
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates for the second time in as many months, moving to bolster the resource-rich economy against an increasingly murky global outlook, and drive faster job creation locally.
WSJ - Tim Fairless (2019-07-02)
Mario Draghi is teeing up some of the boldest policy moves of his eight-year term as European Central Bank president only four months before he steps down, potentially binding the hands of his successor for years.
CBC - Peter Zimonjic, Hannah Thibedeau (2019-06-26)
A Canadian government official, who spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be named, confirmed the CFIA notified its Chinese counterparts it had uncovered faked veterinary certificates for some Canadian meat products.
FP - Larysa Harapyn - video (2019-06-26)
Mark Warner of MAAW Law speaks with the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about the upcoming G20 summit in Japan.
WSJ - Spencer Jacob (2019-06-26)
Pundit Stephen Moore didn’t get onto the Federal Reserve Board, but he has joined a “decentralized central bank” that hopes to tame cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
WSJ - Vibhuti Agarwal (2019-06-26)
The Reserve Bank of India’s deputy governor stepped down on Monday, reigniting a debate on the independence of monetary policy in the world’s biggest democracy.
FP - Geoff Zochodne (2019-06-26)
Judith Robertson was named on Tuesday as the next commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, a job that has been vacant after the term of the organization’s previous leader expired earlier this month.
G&M - KANISHKA SINGH (2019-06-25)
Three large Chinese banks could lose their access to the U.S. financial system after a judge found them in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in a probe into violation of North Korean sanctions, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
CBC - CBC (2019-06-25)
But Matt Stoller, a former financial policy advisor to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, says this move would take the company out of the business world and into the realm of a sovereign nation.
FP - Victor Ferreirra (2019-06-25)
Each time the price of gold poked its head above a technical level of US$1,350 an ounce, speculators would immediately take profits and slam it back down, he said. The last three times prices hovered above that level in intraday trading, they couldn’t hold it until close.
BNN Video - Ed Devlin-Video (2019-06-25)
BNN Bloomberg asked economists and analysts whether the Bank of Canada can afford to not follow the Fed if it indeed cuts rates. Here’s what they had to say.
NY Times - Powell speech (2019-06-25)
Discusses concerns with global economy and policy decisions.
fsim.ca - Mark Sibthorpe (2019-06-25)
This report is a scorecard I designed in order to rank the performance of the current Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau. I do regular rankings because, otherwise, I cannot measure the performance in a meaningful way. The scoring is based on a variety of metrics as detailed on the ‘score-table’ on page 3.
BNN - BNN Video (2019-06-24)
The Bank of Canada is facing a meaningfully different macroeconomic environment, so I do not believe they will be in lockstep with the Fed.
G&M - Janet McFarland (2019-06-24)
The chief executive of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) has overseen a transformation of the Crown corporation since 2014, shifting CMHC’s focus from its long-time role as Canada’s largest mortgage insurer to a new role as the front-line administrator of the Liberal government’s National Housing Strategy, a program of loans and grants to fund housing for vulnerable groups.
G&M - Michael Babad (2019-06-24)
“There are too many reasons to be gloomy about the Canadian dollar to forecast a sharp appreciation, and our forecast essentially looks for it to underperform others as the U.S. dollar finally corrects in the face of a slowing economy.”
Mr. Juckes, global fixed income strategist, projected the loonie would be at slightly over 75 US cents by December, just shy of 76 by next March, and almost 77 by June, 2020.
CBC - Don Pittis (2019-06-24)
A law that would force Hong Kong courts to send people charged with crimes under Chinese law to mainland China to face penalties has the two groups worried for different reasons, and this time business is weighing in. And it appears at least some factions within the Chinese political establishment are listening, even as Beijing blames the forces of foreign capitalism for instigating the massive protests.
Bloomberg - Alistair Marsh (2019-06-24)
CBC - CBC (2019-06-20)
The U.S. central bank has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate right where it is, in a range between 2.25 and 2.5 per cent.
WSJ - Greg IP (2019-06-20)
Like it or not, the Fed is the world’s central bank. Thus, it is now signaling it will likely cut rates in coming months, not because the U.S. is headed into recession, but because shadows are growing over the rest of the world.
G&M - Adrian Morrow (2019-06-20)
U.S. President Donald Trump is vowing to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Canada’s behalf over Beijing’s detention of two Canadians in apparent retaliation for Ottawa’s arrest of a Chinese telecom executive.
G&M - HALLIE GU AND DOMINIQUE PATTON (2019-06-19)
China will block pork imports from a third Canadian firm after a shipment was found to contain the banned feed additive ractopamine, the customs agency said on Tuesday, deepening a trade and diplomatic dispute with Canada.
WSJ - Mike Bird (2019-06-19)
In the rally currently roaring through the global bond market, Japan is being left behind, exposing the key flaws in its unique monetary policy platform.
G&M - Geoffrey York (2019-06-18)
In Djibouti, two superpowers have built heavily guarded bases only a few kilometres apart, watching the crossroads between Asia, Africa and the Middle East in an increasingly tense standoff for global supremacy. What could possibly go wrong?
G&M - Barrie McKenna (2019-06-17)
Depending on who’s talking, Canada’s farm export sector is either on the cusp of greatness or headed for disaster.
G&M - David Luggren (2019-06-17)
Ottawa looks set to approve a hotly debated plan to expand an oil pipeline this week, people familiar with the process told Reuters, but the move is unlikely to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rebuild flagging support ahead of an October election.
BBC - BBC (2019-06-17)
The scenes are reminiscent of 2003 - when half a million people protested against proposed national security legislation. The unpopular chief executive at the time, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned months later. Critics have said the legislation would expose people in Hong Kong to China's deeply flawed justice system and lead to further erosion of the city's judicial independence.
WSJ - Nick Timiraos (2019-06-17)
Sometimes the Fed cuts rates as a form of insurance, because the risk of bad things happening has gone up: For parallels to questions the Fed faces, analysts point to two rate cuts from the 1990s.
WSJ - Akane Otani (2019-06-17)
Markets are sending conflicting signals about how big a threat the global trade rift presents, underscoring the difficulty investors face in sizing up the fallout from the U.S. and China’s spat.
NY Times - Neil Irwin (2019-06-17)
They want it known they’re basing their decisions on sound economics rather than political considerations. They wish not to be pushed around by what traders in financial markets and cable news pundits want. Or even by the president of the United States.
WSJ - Lawrence Norman (2019-06-17)
Iran said it would exceed limits on its enriched-uranium stockpiles before the end of this month, as the U.S. said it would send an additional 1,000 troops to the Mideast in response to “hostile behavior” by Tehran.
WSJ - WSJ (2019-06-17)
Chinese regulators made fresh attempts to calm frayed nerves in the country’s financial sector, as bank liquidity remained tight by some measures three weeks after authorities took over a struggling city lender.
FP - Philip Cross (2019-06-13)
It is no surprise that of all the former governors of the Bank of Canada, only John Crow had the gravitas and legacy to write a book about his tenure. By comparison, the current governor, Stephen Poloz, whose seven-year term has just entered its final year, barely has accomplishments, never mind a legacy. That is, unless one counts a track record of subpar growth, two near-recessions, monumental bubbles in Canada’s two largest housing markets and a substantial devaluation of the currency. But he did put the face of a female civil-rights activist on the $10 bill.
G&M - Nathan Vanderklippe (2019-06-12)
Protesters crowded onto the streets of downtown Hong Kong Wednesday morning, installing barriers on roads and snarling traffic as they prepared for a day of action to protest a bill that would make it easier for authorities in China to extradite people from the city.
G&M - MATTHEW MCCLEARN, GEOFFREY YORK (2019-06-11)
In Latin America, billions of dollars in Canadian government-backed loans have been funnelled to two of the region’s most notorious oil companies: the state-owned petroleum corporations of Mexico and Brazil, each riddled with frequent reports of bribery, bid-rigging and inflated contracts.
WSJ - Brian Blackston (2019-06-11)
As the global economy slows, central bank policies won’t follow the same path as a decade ago.
WSJ - Vivian Salama (2019-06-11)
President Trump said that the Federal Reserve has given China a competitive advantage over the U.S. with its monetary policy, adding that it is clear some officials haven’t listened to his advice to cut interest rates.
Reuters - Clare Jim, Kane Wu (2019-06-11)
Hong Kong geared for more protests, including strikes, transport go-slows and even picnics, against a proposed extradition law that would allow people to be sent to China for trial, even as the city’s leader vowed on Tuesday to push ahead with the bill.
NY Times - Ben Dooley (2019-06-10)
Spend big and never mind the deficit. That’s what proponents of modern monetary theory, the unorthodox set of economic ideas that has inspired politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, see as the winning formula for American prosperity.
