1. At the start of the 21st century, RBC was Canada’s leading bank and largest bank in terms of assets and market capitalization. It was a full-service bank with five main lines of business: personal and commercial banking, insurance, wealth management, corporate / investment banking, and transaction processing. The commercial bank of RBC (Royal Bank) accounted for nearly 50% of the company’s net income and had an extensive delivery network with branches, Automated Banking Machines (ABM’s), point of sale terminals, mobile sales staff, and 1.4 million online banking customers and 2 million phone customers. The bank also had an extremely strong international network.
Within the past decade, Canada - specifically ontario, has seen and experienced a rapid increase in its housing market. Although some speculate a crash nearing, its strong growth in Ontario has become one of this decade’s largest issues. During the year of 2016 the average price of a home in the metropolitan area was $688,011, however, prices have increased by 33% in 2017 making the average home worth $916,000 dollars. This issue presents many difficulties as it affects Canada’s economy, it’s residents, immigrants, and more. Although some have tried to pass bills in order to reverse the increase, the presented plans are much worse. Take for example, Kathleen Wynne's proposed “foreign buyers tax”. With a plan as such being passed, all of
“The Bank of Canada immediately took over bank note operations from the Department of Finance. Offices of the Receiver General across the country became agencies of the new central bank. The Foreign Exchange and Securities Divisions started work right away, and a Research Division was established to advise on financial developments and business conditions” (Watts, G., & Rymes, T., 1993, p.9). Vardy, J. states in the “The Bank of Canada: An illustrated history” that the Bank of Canada was “privately owned with shares (at a par value of $50) sold to the public. Soon after the Bank began operations, a new government introduces an amendment to the Bank of Canada Act to nationalize the institution. In 1938, the privately held shares were purchased by the government and the Bank became entirely publically owned” (Watts, G., & Rymes, T., 1993, p.9) as it remains today.
With a low, stable rate of inflation, unemployment rate fluctuating within a couple percentage points, and job creation continuing to rise, indications are that Canada’s economy is thriving. While the Great Recession of 2008 was disastrous to its southern neighbor, Canada managed to keep its economy from tanking in tandem. Canada’s monetary, fiscal, and government policies are
Despite the close geographic coordinates, the two countries have very little in common regarding their financial sectors. The American banking system flourishes when the population has a high borrowing amount that unfortunately carries a larger risk for the government. In comparison, the Canadian system is most prosperous when the population has a high security level on their finances and the banks hold a substantial portion of liquid assets to assist with any financial issues.
Beginning in 2007 and reaching critical mass in 2008, repercussions of economic downturn were being felt by nations across the globe. In North America, the collapse of the United States housing and mortgage market along with the wreckless actions of financial institutions and Wall Street can be identified as some of the main triggers in the downturn. Other nations were feeling declines as well, and the eventual decline in some European Union countries further contributed to this worldwide situation. This economic downward spiral quickly made its way into Canada, and was a huge issue of concern during the 2008 federal election. Out of this federal election walked a minority elected
In 2008, a financial crisis that originated in the United States led to the “Great Recession”, the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. While the well-regulated Canadian banks did not collapse as they did in the United States, Canada was still impacted severely. The Canadian economy should be examined in the context of the Great Recession, which it is still recovering from.
Canada is similar to the US in its market-oriented economic system, production, and standards of living. Canada’s economy grew steadily from 1993 through 2007; however, due to downturns in the global financial markets, Canada’s economy followed suit. By the end of 2008’s meltdown, Ottawa experienced its first financial deficit in twelve years. “Canada’s major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the early intervention by the Bank of Canada and the financial sector’s tradition of conservation lending practices and strong capitalization” (CIA, 2015). Canada achieved some moderate growth in 2010-14 and plans to balance the budget by the end of 2015, despite the recent drop in oil prices. Previous growth in its dealings with the U.S. have made Canada the world’s fifth-largest oil
The mortgage crisis we are experiencing in the United States today is already ranking as among the most serious economic events since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Hardly a day goes by without a story in the newspaper or on the cable news stations reporting about the increase in the number of foreclosures across the United States. The effects of this crisis have spread across all financial markets, where in the end all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. When the housing market collapsed, so did the availability of credit which our economy depends upon. The home mortgage crisis, the financial crisis and overall economic crisis all need to address by the
In 2008 America’s financial system was brought to a stand still as decades of negligence and financial decisions caused our economy to sink into the worst recession since the great depression. Cultivating a problem worse than America has seen in roughly a century points one finger not at a particular cause, but a string of events that finally gave way. Now, eight years later our economy is still recovering, and time has allowed us to look back at decades of mistakes to try and connect the dots of the perfect storm that collapsed our financial market in 2008. In 2009 Brookings Institution, one of Washington’s oldest think tanks, concluded there were three causes that resulted in the crisis. Economists Martin Baily and Douglas Elliot stated that the results of government intervention in the housing market, the influences Wall Street had on Washington, and global economic forces were the three main causes of the economic collapse. They believed that a housing bubble inflated when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises, intervened in the housing market. The banking industry was called out to be blamed for years of manipulation of our political and financial systems. Lastly, Baily and Elliot cite the global economy and the existence of a credit boom throughout European and Asian nations. Low inflation and consistent growth throughout the world economy spiked investors’ interest in acquiring riskier investments, which encouraged
Canadian Banks has never attracted that much of attention of the whole world until the subprime meltdown in 2007/2008. Canada was the only G7 country that did not have a government bank bailout. Canadian banks remained profitable through the crisis. A World Economic Forum report ranked Canada first among 134 countries on the soundness of its banks.
The housing market in Canada has exponentially increased across the country in a very short time frame. Housing prices have reached highs that have never been seen before in certain cities, especially Vancouver and Toronto. Foreign buyers, although a small amount has directed the housing market in Canada, especially from investors in China. From the currency earned in their native country and their buying demographics have been the driving force behind the growth. Canadian incomes cannot compete with foreign buyers as they do not reflect the local market thus eliminating local competition and purchasing. Studies have also shown that white collar crime could be common occurrence regarding of foreign buyers. Many Canadians feel buying a
To begin, a brief history recap of the financial crises in 2008 will be given. Following that will be a breakdown of how the financial systems were set up in Canada and the U.S. We will then, in detail, discuss the Canadian and the U.S financial markets, in particular, the housing market and how each country was affected by the 2008 financial crisis. Lastly, we will proceed to evaluate the overwhelming differences between Canada and the U.S; from their core financial system to mortgages that allowed the Canadian market to remain excluded from the dire consequences of the US market recession, which followed shortly after the financial crisis.
• Credit underwriting: Evaluating underwriting practices on new or renewed loans for easing in structure and terms. Reviews will focus on new products, areas of highest growth, or portfolios that represent concentrations. Examiners will continue to assess banks’ efforts to mitigate risk for home equity lines of credit approaching end-of-draw
The Royal Bank of Canada was founded in 1869; Royal Bank was Canada’s largest financial institution with assets of Canadian$245 billion in September 1997. Royal bank was ranked first or second among Canadian financial institutions in earnings, market capitalization, and in virtually every financial service it delivered. The bank had 10 million personnel, businesses, government, and financial institution clients that were serviced through one of the world’s largest delivery networks. This network included more than 1,600 branches and over 4,000 automated banking machines. In Canada it was selected as number one among all companies regardless of industry in the categories of “Leader in Investment Value,” “Leader in Responsibility” (which measured equality and charity), and “Leader in Financial Performance.” Royal Bank operates to date in over 30 countries and has over 100 delivery units. The bank was strongly represented in the major international financial centers of the world, including New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Royal Bank was located through Latin America and Europe. Business clients were offered services in corporate banking, trade financing, treasury services, and