Banking regulators took a page from their US counterparts and moved to take control of the Canadian assets of Silicon Valley Bank in order to stem contagion on this side of the border..On the weekend the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced it had stepped in to take temporary control of SVBs Canadian assets. It further announced that it intends to seek permanent control of the assets and request that the Attorney General of Canada apply for a so-called Winding Up Order — presumably to shut it down altogether..Although SVB is headquartered in California, it operates in Toronto as a designated ‘Foreign Branch’ — a legal definition under Canadian law — and is therefore regulated by the OSFI. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed as receiver, OSFI said..SVB has no retail depositors in this country and its business consists of commercial lending to corporate clients. According to filings, it had about $435 million of outstanding loans with asset values of about $864 million to the end of last year — which is extremely small compared to Canada’s Big Five banks, which held about $4.9 trillion US of assets in 2021 according to StatsCan..“By taking temporary control of the Canadian branch of Silicon Valley Bank, we are acting to protect the rights and interests of the branch’s creditors. I want to be clear: the Silicon Valley Bank branch in Canada does not take deposits from Canadians, and this situation is the result of circumstances particular to Silicon Valley Bank in the United States,” said Superintendent of Financial Institutions Peter Routledge..OFSI’s actions followed similar moves by financial institutions in the UK. All three countries are signatory to the Basel III agreement reached in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis designed to prevent a global meltdown..Still the world’s bank stocks were taking a hit Monday morning with some of the biggest names seeing large drops. Credit Suisse was down 12% while Barclays was down about 6% in London..Overall, Europe’s banking index was down about 6% Monday morning after a 3.8% shot to the bow on Friday, representing the biggest two-day drop since Black Monday in 1987. Likewise, Japanese banks were down 4%. Gold was up 1%..It’s not clear how Canadian banks will fare, but Monday promises to be a rough day for markets. Canadian financial institutions are generally more regulated than their international peers and came out of the financial meltdown relatively unscathed.
Banking regulators took a page from their US counterparts and moved to take control of the Canadian assets of Silicon Valley Bank in order to stem contagion on this side of the border..On the weekend the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced it had stepped in to take temporary control of SVBs Canadian assets. It further announced that it intends to seek permanent control of the assets and request that the Attorney General of Canada apply for a so-called Winding Up Order — presumably to shut it down altogether..Although SVB is headquartered in California, it operates in Toronto as a designated ‘Foreign Branch’ — a legal definition under Canadian law — and is therefore regulated by the OSFI. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed as receiver, OSFI said..SVB has no retail depositors in this country and its business consists of commercial lending to corporate clients. According to filings, it had about $435 million of outstanding loans with asset values of about $864 million to the end of last year — which is extremely small compared to Canada’s Big Five banks, which held about $4.9 trillion US of assets in 2021 according to StatsCan..“By taking temporary control of the Canadian branch of Silicon Valley Bank, we are acting to protect the rights and interests of the branch’s creditors. I want to be clear: the Silicon Valley Bank branch in Canada does not take deposits from Canadians, and this situation is the result of circumstances particular to Silicon Valley Bank in the United States,” said Superintendent of Financial Institutions Peter Routledge..OFSI’s actions followed similar moves by financial institutions in the UK. All three countries are signatory to the Basel III agreement reached in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis designed to prevent a global meltdown..Still the world’s bank stocks were taking a hit Monday morning with some of the biggest names seeing large drops. Credit Suisse was down 12% while Barclays was down about 6% in London..Overall, Europe’s banking index was down about 6% Monday morning after a 3.8% shot to the bow on Friday, representing the biggest two-day drop since Black Monday in 1987. Likewise, Japanese banks were down 4%. Gold was up 1%..It’s not clear how Canadian banks will fare, but Monday promises to be a rough day for markets. Canadian financial institutions are generally more regulated than their international peers and came out of the financial meltdown relatively unscathed.
