Financial Institutions

Canada has a highly developed, well diversified, and sound financial system which plays an important role in the economy. The banking sector has been largely dominated by five widely held domestic banks, with closely held foreign banks playing a relatively minor role; the “Big Five” chartered banks represent about 90 percent of banks' assets and deposits. The “Big Five” Canadian banks are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), TD, Scotiabank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and Bank of Montreal (BMO). The responsibility of the federal government in banking is explicitly set out in the constitution. Thus, all banks and federally chartered trust and loan companies fall under the jurisdiction of Canadian federal government.

The World Economic Forum in 2008 has ranked Canada's banking system as the best in the world which has caused global interest from other major industrialized and developing economies who want to learn more about Canada's financial architecture.  Canadian Banks have created widespread financial network consisting of over 8,000 bank branches and over 18,000 ABMs (automated banking machines). Canadian banks offer many electronic services like online banking and debit cards.

Chartered Banks, Trust Companies and Credit Unions