Canadian Banks are rock solid

Canadian financial system has been strong and 'different' than its big brother: USA. It has been clearly shown in the ongoing financial crisis that not only the Canadian banks have not fallen apart but have been strong and actually looking to strengthen their US franchise and grow in other parts of the world. They have been prudent, conservative and cautious with strong support by the Govt. The budget surplus and high commodity and oil prices have only strengthened the system over the last few years without taking any careless risks. Now, more US companies have reason to invest in Canada given that the Canadian dollar has weakened by 20% over the past 6 months, just like Microsoft (mentioned in the article below) did in 2007 and large US auto manufactures did in other years, more companies may do so in the future.

The latest article from Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek is well written and talks about how the Canadian financial system evolved over the last few decades, both politically and business wise.

The Canadian banking system was declared as the second strongest financial system in the world, after Denmark. With over 33 million citizens and growing by 250,000 every year, Canada is doing just fine.

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
By Fareed Zakaria

Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1--compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1.
Published Feb 7, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Feb 16, 2009