Op-Eds
Publié dans La Presse le 30 Juillet, 2012.
Par Stéphane Rousseau
Depuis la crise financière, les régulateurs déploient des efforts pour encadrer les agences de notation de crédit. Malheureusement, les réformes canadiennes ne vont pas suffisamment loin. Et certaines d'entre elles vont malheureusement dans la mauvaise direction.
Nombreux sont les observateurs qui signalent que les agences de notation ont joué un rôle central dans la crise. Alors que les turbulences sur les marchés s'accentuaient, les agences ont procédé à des décotes substantielles de titres notés triple A. Par la suite, des rapports ont identifié des défaillances de la part des agences qui ont affecté la qualité et l'intégrité du processus de…
Published in the Financial Post on April 11, 2012
By Philippe Bergevin and James MacGee
As a percentage of income, Canadian household debt levels are higher than at any point in recent history and now higher than those of U.S. households. This raises concerns over the sustainability of household finances, the risks to the broader economy and the merits of government intervention.
Recent debate has understandably focused on the housing market and on the risks associated with household mortgage debt. But consumer credit, which excludes mortgages but includes household debt such as auto loans, credit card debt and lines of credit, has risen by more than a factor of five since the late 1970s and, at 43% of disposable…
Published in the Financial Post on March 30, 2012
By Finn Poschmann
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March 29 budget reveals some interesting thinking on key financial sector and business policy issues.
First up is a commitment to a legislated covered-bond framework. The housing market, and the housing-finance system, will benefit from a mature financing vehicle that is backed by residential mortgages and the full faith and credit of lending institutions. Even better, as this market continues to develop, housing finance will flourish, out from under the wing of taxpayer backing. This would be good, and Canadians should watch closely for the details — that is because the budget advertised the commitment to a framework…
By Finn Poschmann
Published in the Financial Post on March 22, 2012
The federal budget due March 29 almost certainly will unveil the government’s thinking on the future of the Canadian covered bond market. This may prove strangely important, because covered bonds lie at the heart of one of the most contentious public policy issues in the Canadian financial system.
The bonds are “covered” because they are backed, normally, by high quality, or low loan-to-value ratio, mortgage loans. Canadian banks originate mortgage loans, and sell them to a bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle, which in turn sells bonds, typically with five-year terms, to foreign and domestic investors. The stream of interest and principal…
Published in the Financial Post on March 7, 2012
By Philip Cross
After Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested that Canada's oilsands exports raised the exchange rate and the loonie to the detriment of Ontario's manufacturing base, many came to believe that oil prices are driving the exchange rate, and that the loonie is a petro-currency.
Before this becomes an orthodoxy in public discussions about our economy, let's consider another feature of our economy that has been increasingly attractive to people outside of Canada in recent years: our financial system.
Canada's banking system is easily the soundest in the G20 group of nations, having emerged virtually unscathed from the financial crisis that…
