Let There Be More Light: Enhancing Public Accountability for Prudential Supervision
Lift “Veil of Secrecy” Around OSFI Supervision of Banks, Insurers Banks and insurers would benefit from greater clarity on how the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) conducts prudential supervision. In this report Mark Zelmer, former Deputy Superintendent of Financial Institutions at OSFI, reviews the prudential supervisory frameworks used by OSFI and its provincial […] Glen Hodgson – How Should Governments Assess Crown Corporation Financial Performance?
Canada’s Crown corporations form a major part of the economy, but rarely draw detailed scrutiny. In his latest C.D. Howe Institute Commentary and in this special Intelligence Memo series, Fellow-in-Residence Glen Hodgson sets out principles for effective governance for Crowns. Today, we examine the financial dimension. From: Glen Hodgson To: Overseers of Crown Corporations Date: June 2, 2021 […] Kronick, Omran – The Financial Sector Productivity Opportunity
From: Jeremy Kronick and Farah Omran To: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Date: May 21, 2021 Re: The Financial Sector Productivity Opportunity Rules and regulations holding back innovation and productivity in Canada’s financial sector should be updated to drive wider economic performance. In our recent C.D. Howe Institute paper, we updated our assessment of financial sector regulations and policies that […] Upping our Game: How Canada’s Financial Sector Can Spur Economic Performance
Unleash Financial Sector to Drive Economic Performance Rules and regulations holding back innovation and productivity in Canada’s financial sector should be updated to drive wider economic performance. Over the past 18 years, Canada has lagged behind many OECD countries – including Australia and the UK – in terms of productivity. And with the pandemic’s impact […] The Price of Protection: Benchmarking Canada’s Property & Casualty Industry Against its Global Peers
Canadian Premiums for P&C Insurance Among Highest in OECD Canadians are paying premiums for property and casualty insurance that are at the high end of international comparisons, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. Alister Campbell and Farah Omran provide a comparison of premiums between Canada and its international peers and explore not […] Glen Hodgson – The Coming End Of Libor: Adaptation Required
From: Glen Hodgson To: Canadian business borrowers and lenders Date: April 30, 2021 Re: The Coming End of Libor: Adaptation Required The widely-used global interest rate benchmark, Libor, is coming to an end, to be replaced by a more decentralized system of reference rates for various currencies that more accurately reflect the interest rate on a risk-free transaction […] Kronick, Laurin – Capital Gains On Housing Won’t Cool The Market
From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Alexandre Laurin To: Real Estate Watchers Date: April 8, 2021 Re: Capital Gains on Housing Won’t Cool the Market The housing market is hot, and has been for several years, especially in Canada’s largest cities. Many policy attempts and proposals have been made to slow it down, almost always focusing on the demand side. […] Canada risks becoming house-rich and everything else-poor – Financial Post Op-Ed
Canada’s buoyant housing market, with lots of new construction, booming renovations, and a torrid pace of transactions, has been a good news story in a year that had too few. But as underlined in a recent FP article called “The housing boom that never ends,” the news on housing has been a little too good.
Meanwhile, other business investment – in non-residential structures, machinery and equipment, and intellectual property – has languished. We ended 2020 in a troubling place: recent GDP numbers from Statistics Canada showed that private residential investment almost equaled all other types of private investment in the fourth quarter. In other words, almost half of all private non-consumption spending was on housing.…
S3 E5: The Next Green Bond Wave with Glen Hodgson
The explosive growth in demand for green bonds is expected to return post-COVID. C.D. Howe Institute Senior Fellow Glen Hodgson tells Michael Hainsworth the pandemic has given the oil patch, foreign investors, and Ottawa an opportunity to rebuild the economy around green thinking. Read the full report Glen Hodgson – Federal Green Bonds Could Build Capacity, Impose Order
From: Glen Hodgson To: Canada’s Ministers of Finance Date: March 16, 2021 Re: Federal Green Bonds Could Build Capacity, Impose Order The green bond market was growing rapidly – to $257 billion globally in 2019 – until the pandemic hit in 2020. As the recovery unfolds, green bonds – fixed-income securities used to finance sustainable projects – appear poised […] Leagh Turner – The Frictionless Future For The World Of Work
From: Leagh Turner To: Canadian Employers Date: March 12, 2021 Re: The Frictionless Future for the World of Work COVID-19 has accelerated changes in almost every aspect of daily life, especially work, where a sea of change is breaking decades-old paradigms to meet the demands of a more fluid and frictionless workforce. And as organizations navigate these uncertain […] Why federal green bond issuance can help build the Canadian market – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
The green bond market was growing rapidly until the pandemic hit in 2020 and its progress stalled under economic shutdowns. As the recovery unfolds, green bonds – fixed-income securities used to finance sustainable projects – appear poised to resume their trajectory, in Canada and abroad. But should the federal (and provincial) governments get into the action with their own green bond issues?
In a recent C.D. Howe Institute paper, I argue there are many good reasons for Ottawa to issue its own green bonds; chief among them is the setting of a benchmark price that can help build overall market capacity in Canada. The other key question is how the federal government can best play a role.
These bonds instruments,…