Banks/Banking in Canada

Banking in Canada is regarded to be the safest and most efficient banking system. It is ranked as the soundest system as per the World Economic Forum 2008 report. Banks in Canada also include chartered banks with more than 8000 branches and 18000 ATMs throughout the country.

Canada has the highest per capita and benefits from its various penetration levels featuring electronic channels like Interne banking, debit cards and telephone banking. Banks are in two categories namely the 5 national banks and the second tier banks that have smaller banks.

Large Banks

The large and top banks in Canada include Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal. The major five banks are known as international financial conglomerates.

These banks also handle other activities such as insurance, brokerage activities, mutual funds and credit cards.

They also have international subsidiaries and mainly the banking operations of these top five banks are conducted by the individual parent company.

The second notable tier banks are HSBC bank and ING bank of Canada, the National Bank of Canada and the Desjardins Group (this group is a credit unions alliance and not a bank). The second tier organizations represent domestic Canadian banking organizations.

Banking in Canada

Banking in Canada is an industry comprising of 22 domestic banks, 22 full-service foreign bank branches, 26 foreign bank subsidiaries and seven lending branches of foreign banks operating in Canada. All these institutions close their assets to $2.9 trillion states the November 30, 2009 sources of office of the superintendent financial institutions.

Banks in Canada play a vital role in shaping the financial future and every Canadian virtually is viewed as a shareholder or even is considered owing to his mutual funds and pension plans. The domestic banks offer financial and investment services, besides other ranges of banking. The international banks specialize in niche financing and banks in Canada such as HSBC have a strong retail presence.

The Canadian banks are scheduled as I, II and III banks where the schedule I banks are bank authorized and domestic banks accepting deposits and provide insurance. To name few banks are Bridgewater Bank, Citizens Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, and more. Schedule II banks include foreign bank subsidiaries and schedule III banks are foreign banks doing business in Canada.