Canadian Banking Overview
There are more than 80 banks regulated in Canada. Notwitstanding this, the industry operates like an oligopoly, with 5 banks accounting for more than 80% of the market share, the rest taken up by smaller banks and local branches of foreign banks. The industry contributes approximately 3-4% to Canada’s GDP (2016). It employed 275,450 Canadians, and another 119,885 outside Canada (2016).
Categorization
Schedule I – banks that are not a subsidiary of a foreign bank, i.e., domestic banks
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- Royal Bank of Canada (aka RBC)
- Toronto-Dominion Bank (aka TD Canada Trust/ TD Bank)
- Bank of Nova Scotia (aka Scotiabank or Scotia)
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (aka CIBC)
- Bank of Montreal (aka BMO)
Schedule II – subsidiaries of foreign banks
- J.P. Morgan Chase
- Bank of America
- HSBC
- BNP Paribas
- Société Générale
- ICICI Bank
- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
Schedule III – branches of foreign banks
Government-owned banks
- Bank of Canada – This is Canada’s central bank.
- Business Development Bank of Canada (aka BDC).
- Farm Credit Canada.
- ATB Financial – This is owned by the Provincial government of Alberta.