Canada Copes With Credit Crunch

Canada is the only country, alone in the industrialized world, that has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, and Britain's 44th.

Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15^th largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the 5^th largest. It hasn't grown in size – the fact is that the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1—compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking. Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. America has always insisted that the “Dream” should become a reality – that the average Joe Bloggs should be able to own his own home. What’s the situation nowadays?  Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes, whilst the rate of Canadian homeownership is 68.4 percent!

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far, (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes.

If Prime Minister Brown is looking for smart government, there is much he could learn from Canada’s policies. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach.

How I sometimes wish that my grandfather had stayed over there, instead of making the return journey across the Pond!