What role do Canadian financial services play globally?

Canadian financial services are among the world's most stable and internationally active. The Canadian banking sector, dominated by the Big Five chartered banks (Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, and CIBC) plus the smaller National Bank of Canada, holds about $7 trillion in assets and consistently ranks among the world's safest by capital ratios and credit ratings. Canadian banks earned global recognition for stability through the 2008 financial crisis without requiring government bailouts.

Canadian banks operate substantial international networks. Toronto-Dominion Bank's TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, has more branches in the United States than in Canada. Bank of Montreal's BMO Harris and the 2023 acquisition of Bank of the West expanded its U.S. footprint. Bank of Nova Scotia operates in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago). RBC City National serves U.S. private-banking clients. CIBC owns CIBC US. Manulife and Sun Life are international insurers with major Asian operations.

Canadian pension funds are major global investors. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board manages over $670 billion. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec manages over $450 billion. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, OMERS, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and AIMCo round out the so-called Maple 8. Together these funds own stakes in airports, toll roads, real estate, infrastructure, and private equity around the world.

Canadian financial services are regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI, federally chartered banks and insurers), the Bank of Canada (financial stability and the Lynx payment system), and provincial securities regulators (the Ontario Securities Commission, the Autorité des marchés financiers in Quebec, the British Columbia Securities Commission, and others). The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada protects retail consumers. Canada's system has weathered every major banking crisis since the Great Depression without a single failure of a Big Five bank.