Six years ago this month, Stephen Poloz was appointed governor of the Bank of Canada. And just like that, it’s the final year of his mandate.
An oligopoly that splits roughly $10 billion of profits between its five members every quarter has little incentive to mess with a good thing The financial crisis was good for Canada’s banks. They got a scare, but as soon as it became clear that Ottawa wouldn’t let them fail, they quickly got back to doing what they do best: taking advantage of their market power to make money for their investors. Competition for them was seeing who could sell more government-backed mortgages. Most of them got bigger by purchasing distressed American regional banks.
Banks crushed independents in equity too, after the gov bot their illiquid loans...