Halifax

assassin · Jun 26, 2003

Canada Bank Mergers Shelved Until Sept. 2004

OTTAWA, June 23 (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister John Manley said on Monday that any bank merger proposals would have to wait until the end of September 2004 to be vetted by the federal government.

The announcement means the decision on mergers will be in the hands of whoever replaces Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who is due to retire in February 2004.

Manley also said Ottawa had to address the question of whether banks should be allowed to merge with insurance companies -- something which is currently banned.

He made his comments as he presented his formal response to two contradictory reports by parliamentary committees on whether to allow bank mergers.

A Senate panel recommended in December that Ottawa approve up to two bank mergers. A House of Commons committee in March put many caveats on mergers, such as keeping fees at comparable or lower prices than now, boosting small business access to credit and holding job cuts and branch closures to a minimum.

"Following the release of the government's policies (by June 30, 2004), there will be a three-month transition period until Sept. 30, 2004, to provide institutions with a reasonable period to position themselves in the new environment," Manley told a news conference.

Future mergers between financial institutions should be delivered at "a reasonable cost" and should ensure small businesses have continued access to capital, he added.

Ottawa sees domestic banks and insurers as separate pillars of the financial system and has banned so-called "cross-pillar" mergers of the biggest banks with top insurers since 1999 when big insurance firms became publicly traded companies.

But Manley said the time had now come to look again at the issue.

"We're now looking at the sector as one (where) the players are looking increasingly more and more like each other, with many areas of overlap," he said.

"And what we need to devise is a vision for the future of the financial sector in Canada and it's a bigger set of questions than just bank mergers. And that's why (it's) time -- they are difficult questions, they're not easy, they're complicated, they're technical in many cases," he added, calling for more consultation on the issue.

corey · Jun 26, 2003

Yeah right...

Canada's banking sector is already one of the most highly concentrated. This is like ExxonMobile wanting to merge with Shell.

assassin · Jun 26, 2003

6 main banks, correct?

WildBill · Jun 26, 2003

Duh, free market in Canada? Are you kidding? This is the country that gladly encourages their banks and businesses to become world powers, yet puts up big fat walls to most business that wants to come do business there. What Canada needs isn't domestic mergers as much as it needs open foreign markets for its capital. After all why is it ok for Scotiabank to be found all over Latin America, yet Scotiabank needs protection from foreign banks setting up in Canada? Why do Canadians continue to believe the lies of the government that everything that operates there needs to be protected from villainous foreign interests? Canada's inferiority complex is fed constantly by this sense that they can't compete against others, but it leads to costly measures that truly do hurt its abilities. These high costs and lack of services aren't going to get better until Candian companies are forced to be world players at home and abroad. If small business doesn't get enough loans now, it certainly won't get better with fewer competitors. If the goal is to avoid closing branches and laying people off, better let others come into the market because a merger implies that is exactly what will happen.

I lived in BC for a short time and its just amazing the way people there and in other countries view foreign competition. The US is vibrant precisely because we allow foreign competition and have among the freest policies for trade and investment in the world. If we are doing so many things right in the US, why is it that people in other countries think they can legislate and regulate their way into a better economy??? If Canadians want a stronger economy and better competitive position to the rest of the world they will have to accept that others can do a lot of things better and cheaper, but that isn't the worst thing that can happen when you get more of everything for less cost. Until then people will continue to unnecessarily pay more for everything and deal with less quality in the name of "preserving" the Canadian way of doing business.

assassin · Jun 26, 2003

Do yuo think, no insult intended, that at some time in the future the u.s will "acquire" or "merge" with Canada ? Not sure how many states would have to be alloted or how the specifics were work.
In the U.S. it wouldn't be that big a deal, not sure hw it would go over in Canada.
Hey at least your dollars would be worth a dollare.

WildBill · Jun 26, 2003

I put it at 0.000001% chance it will be done as a friendly merger

There is a chance at some point though that the US dollar becomes the currency in Canada and Mexico. With both countries now so dependent on the US economy its kind of pointless to pay a big price just to say you want interest rate flexibility. Money is a real big issue for many, the idea of having your own carries a lot of weight, but if the market goes off and completely ignores fundamentals like it did for a long time in Canada and does often in Mexico, then at some point the reality has to set in that standard of living could improve just through a currency switch. The fact that the Euro has gone without a glitch signals that maybe the world can put aside their sovereignty premium for the right to avoid the costs and haphazard ways of the currency exchange marketplace.

oldmantime · Jun 26, 2003

They Must be doing one thing RIGHT in Canada that The Giant US does not do!
They don't let the drug companies RAPE the older folks! But here--oh they pay big TAXES and of course -big contributions to the POLITICAL SYSTEM!

assassin · Jun 26, 2003

Has tourism recovered post SARS?
We were supposed to have a conference in Toronto, but cancelled it and had it in Texas instead.
Think the next one in August is in Vegas.

corey · Jun 27, 2003

I feel slighted....Pistols at 10 paces.

Wild Bill:

Contrary to popular (US) belief, there is no inferiority complex. Much the opposite.
*"high costs and lack of services" - in what??
*Canada already accepts HUGE amounts of foreign captial.
*talking about free trade - why don't you talk to your "free-traders" about wheat, steel, lumber, etc....it's a two-way street.
*Canada's ranking on competitiveness is almost as good as the US and better than most other developed countries.
*The Canadian way of doing business has worked pretty good so far.. why change it??

Assasin....

0% chance

Wild Bill (again)...

Dead wrong. Having an independent monetary policy has allowed the Canadian to grow while the US is stuck (even as the fed lowers the base rate ANOTHER .25 today). A common currency just doesn't make economic sense. Politically it would be a disaster (you know how pricky us Canucks can be when it comes to little things like freedom).

Oldtimeman...

No more big political contributions. The parlimentary system here has just done in a few months what the US gov't has been talking about (but will never do) for years. Namely limiting corporate contributions TO $5,000.

Assassin (again)

No - tourism has not recovered, which is why you can find spectacular deals on sports, theatre, restaurants and hotels. Seriously.

Halifax · Jun 27, 2003

Nanuk is right.

While there may have been a perceived inferiority complex in the past, there is not anymore, and has not been for at least 10 years (the 2 Olympic gold medals in hockey reaffirmed this

) ... and our economy has been stronger than the US economy for the last couple of years.

And regarding the banking system: On the domestic front, the Canadian domestic banking system is one of the most advanced in the world, and has been leading the way on THIS continent for quite a number of years with regards to country-wide integration, the effective use of the ABM network, implementation and acceptance of debit cards, etc.

WildBill · Jun 28, 2003

Big deal, outperform the US for about 4 out of the last 100 quarters. Ever since Montreal riots the Canadian economy has in general been lacking. I didn't say it was failing or anything, just that its always been perceived to be exactly what it is, dependent on the US economy. For once it has moved ahead but it surely can't claim that its independent of the US. If there was a common currency over the last five years there wouldn't have been the big blow up in the value either that every Canuck was crying that Canada was unfairly valued and that the world just didn't get the economy. That is a fact, I remember it well. All the ads talking about how cheap it was for Americans truly was the case, service goods and things that weren't subjected to high tariffs and GST (since Americans get rebates) were a lot cheaper. A short spurt where the economy is stronger doesn't make a long-term trend by any stretch of the imagination. If you really want to keep your money thats fine, no one is ever going to force you to give it up, but just admit its a huge cost and at times drag to the Canadian economy to have to hope the market focuses on the fundamentals and doesn't just throw your currency valuation out with the bath water whenever there is some sort of crisis or people think natural resources are getting cheaper. The cost of all those currency transactions, which hit Canada much harder than the US, is a heavy price to pay when in fact Canada could easily survive under US currency because the differential in market standards and cycle timing are very modest.

No one questions the quality of the Canadian banks or the Canadian economy, but your arguments merely reinforce the point here. The price that is paid to keep this fierce sense of independence is quite high. Yes there is a lot of foreign capital coming in, but it has a lot of very protectionist requirements. If a Canadian company comes to the US to do business, they aren't forced into setting up another corporation, they don't face a lot of regulations regarding local content, they don't get local and provincial governments holding them hostage for producing things locally. These things are true barriers to doing business in Canada and its hard to say what the costs are because what it does is discourage a lot of competition. The narrow minded say thats great, give job to Canadians, but the macro view is that you pay higher prices for lower quality goods. That is a fact, in almost competitive import product buying in Canada will cost more (before the high tax) than it will in the US. After all why for so many years have Canadians been the biggest consumers in US border towns, often crossing for the day to do simple shopping for things such as milk and bread as well as filling up a tank of gas? When people feel the incentive to cross for such simple everyday products then you are seeing the effects of overprotective tariffs and the cost burden that adds up quickly. These costs are unnecessary, they might save a few thousand jobs but if they cost millions hundreds of millions of dollars a year and force people to spend their money in a foreign country that is an unmitigated disaster and yet there is little concern about this? Its an even bigger shame since basic goods cost far more in Canada yet the people still have a modestly lower economic standard of living and therefore the high taxation in all regards takes an even bigger swing at the well being of an average citizen. How come when these points are brought up it becomes an issue of "the Americans want to take us over" instead of an issue of outrage at your government? I have seen this for myself, I have lived there and have family there enough to have seen the irrationality of it all. After all in the 80s people were saying in 10 years the Japanese and Germans were going to take over the US, haha, that really worked out well didn't it? I say all this because Canada will be stronger if it started following more consumer friendly policies and stopped acting like the French with their everything must be protected stance. Bad policy hidden by a nationalistic agenda is hard to overcome, but if people start believing that they truly live in a dynamic country that is fully on board with the global market then maybe the people will come to realize there is little to fear from their neighbors.