Bank of Canada

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Bank of Canada
Banque du Canada
Logo Headquarters
Logo Headquarters
Headquarters Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 45°25′15″N 75°42′11″W﻿ / ﻿45.42088°N 75.702968°W﻿ / 45.42088; -75.702968Coordinates: 45°25′15″N 75°42′11″W﻿ / ﻿45.42088°N 75.702968°W﻿ / 45.42088; -75.702968
Established 1935
Governor Stephen Poloz
Central bank of Canada
Currency Canadian dollar
ISO 4217 Code CAD
Bank rate 1.00%



The bank headquarters are located at the Bank of Canada Building in the nation's capital, Ottawa. The structure also houses the Currency Museum, which opened in December 1980.[12]


On March 11, 1935, the central bank began operations, following the granting of Royal Assent to the Bank of Canada Act. Initially the bank was founded as a privately owned corporation in order to ensure it was free from political influence. Earlier in 1933, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett called a Royal Commission[13] and it reported in favour of a central bank. Its members consisted of Britain's chief propagandist during the early part of World War II, Lord Macmillan, who supported central banking, as well as various British and Canadian bankers. Gerald Grattan McGeer was one of the most forceful voices in Canada advocating government intervention in the monetary system and nationalizing the credit system. His vision of monetary reform predated the establishment of the Bank of Canada. Also involved was John Edward Brownlee, then Premier of Alberta, petitioning in favor of a central bank because western farmers wanted cheap credit.[14] In 1938, under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, it became "a special type of " Crown corporation, fully owned by the government; thus, in effect, by the Canadian taxpayers; with the governor appointed by Cabinet.

Prior to the creation of the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Treasury was responsible for printing Canada's bank notes. The Bank of Montreal, then the nation's largest bank, acted as the government's banker. A major proponent was the Royal Bank of Canada, which wanted to see the government business taken away from its rival. When the central bank was founded, the government claimed it was constrained by its foreign debts and it would be less costly to borrow money if it could be repaid in debased currency. The government also claimed it was constrained by its inability to deal directly with its foreign debts. The farmers were joined by manufacturing interests and other groups in favor of a depreciating currency, all demanding a central bank. The original name the Bank of Canada (commercial) was a private bank and was renamed the Canadian Bank of Commerce. In 1949, the private banks were ordered to remove their currency from circulation and the central bank became the sole issuer of legal tender bank notes in Canada.[15]

The bank played an important role in financing Canada's war effort during World War II[16] by printing money and buying the government's debt. After the war, the bank's role was expanded as it was mandated to encourage economic growth in Canada. An Act of Parliament in September 1944 established the subsidiary Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to stimulate investment in Canadian businesses. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker central bank monetary policy was directed towards increasing the money supply to cause low interest rates, and have full employment. When inflation began to rise in the early 1960s, the governor James Coyne ordered a reduction in the money supply.

Since the 1980s, keeping inflation low has been the central bank's main priority. In the early 1990s the fractional banking rules of Canada were changed so the Bank of Canada could no longer dictate the amount of fiat currency reserves that Canadian chartered banks must own.

Roles and responsibilities[edit]

The mandate of the Bank of Canada is defined in the Bank of Canada Act preamble and it states,


The bank's current mission statement is: The Bank of Canada's responsibilities focus on the goals of low, stable and predictable inflation; a safe and secure currency; a stable and efficient financial system in Canada and internationally; and effective and efficient funds-management services for the Government of Canada, as well as on its own behalf and for other clients.[11]

In practice, however, it has a more narrow and specific internal definition of that mandate: to keep the rate of inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) between 1% and 3%. Since the Bank's creation, the average annual inflation rate was 3.13%.[17] The most potent tool the Bank of Canada has to achieve this goal is its ability to set the interest rate for borrowed money. The Bank of Canada periodically asks Statistics Canada to adjust the way the Consumer Price Index is calculated, a crucial factor in the calculation of inflation.[18]

The Bank of Canada is the sole authority authorized to issue currency in the form of bank notes in Canada. The bank does not issue coins; they are issued by the Royal Canadian Mint.

$1 Bank of Canada note issued in 1935.

Historically, the Bank of Canada functioned as the financier of Canadian public deficits in the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal budgets providing loans to fund government spending at interest rates as low as 1%. This practice allowed for public debts to be repaid more quickly, but at the cost of higher inflation. The growth of the federal government through the 1960s led to rapidly increasing federal deficits. As these were covered by the Bank of Canada, inflation rose steadily from 2% in 1961 to a high of 12.5% in 1974. That year, with inflation at a 20-year high, the Government of Canada abandoned this method of financing in favor of borrowing from private banks at market rates on the reasoning that paying interest on its debt was less harmful to Canadians than high inflation - a policy now followed by most advanced economies.

It is important to distinguish between the right to "issue money," which is the right of the Bank of Canada, and the ability to "create credit," which, through legislation and regulation enacted by Parliament, is largely done by commercial banks through the issuance of loans. While all of Canada's money is created by the government through deficit spending, if "money" is thought of as the combination of issued money and bank-created credit, then presently, the Bank of Canada "issues" less than 5% of Canada's money, with the remainder (95%) being "created" by commercial banks through the process of fractional-reserve bankingCanada's provinces and federal government has the right to borrow money at almost zero % from the bank of Canada, instead to borrow from other country or commercial bank at compound interest..[19]

Type of government institution[edit]

The Bank is not a government department as it performs its activities at arm's-length from the government; it is a Crown corporation owned by the Government. Shares are directly held by the Minister of Finance on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada which are registered by the Bank in the name of the Minister in the books of the Bank at Ottawa, and the bank's earnings go into the federal treasury. The Governor and Senior Deputy Governor are appointed by the Bank's Board of Directors. The Deputy Minister of Finance sits on the Board of Directors but does not have a vote. The Bank submits its spending to the Board of Directors, while federal departments submit their spending estimates to the Treasury Board. Its employees are regulated by the Bank and not the federal public service agencies.[2]

Bank of Canada's balance sheet[edit]

The Bank has a zero book value policy on its balance sheet—matching total assets to total liabilities—and transfers any equity above this amount as a dividend to the Government of Canada. The Bank of Canada owns C$61 billion in Government of Canada debt and had a net income in 2011 of $1.25 billion. The Bank of Canada matches its liabilities of $61 billion in currency outstanding—to its assets owning $61 billion in Government of Canada debt. The bank notes in circulation have changed from $55.4 billion in two years to $61 billion. In 2008, the Bank of Canada had its highest annual report total asset, total liabilities number at $78 billion. The Bank of Canada lists cash on its 2012 third-quarter balance sheet at $4.4 million in currency and foreign deposits.[13] The Bank of Canada's books are audited by external auditors who are appointed by Cabinet on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, and not by the Auditor General of Canada.

It is important to note, the balance sheet policy employed by the Bank of Canada is that this base money is not permanent, as for each created dollar of credit there is a matching liability created on the Bank of Canada's balance sheet—and is a zero sum once the debt is paid off. True money is only issued as reserve currency for commercial bank lending by the government. Also called high-powered money, this money can then be multiplied by a factor outside of government control through bank lending.

Quantitative easing in Canada[edit]

The Bank of Canada 2008 balance sheet expanded to $78.3 billion from $53.7 billion from the year previously. After the financial crisis, these emergency asset purchases were unwound and removed from the central bank's balance sheet. This specific quantitative easing represented a fifty percent increase in the size of the central bank's balance sheet. This central bank transaction was referenced under "securities purchased for resale" from Canada's major banks. It was termed advances to members of the Canadian Payments Association and were liquidity loans made under the Bank’s standing liquidity facility as well as term advances made under the Bank’s commitment to provide term liquidity to the Canadian financial system.[20]




See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Lender of Last Resort". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "Bank of Canada Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. B-2)". Canada Department of Justice. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  3. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions—Who owns the Bank of Canada?". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  4. ^ "Who We Are". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  5. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions—What is the Bank of Canada?". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  6. ^ "Bank of Canada - Monetary Policy". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  7. ^ "Currency". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  8. ^ "Banknote Printing and Currency Processing". Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  9. ^ "Financial System". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  10. ^ "Funds Management". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  11. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions—What does the Bank do?". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  12. ^ "About the Museum". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  13. ^ a b "Proceedings of the Royal Commission on Bankingand Currency, Canada, Ottawa,1933". Scribd. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  14. ^ Powell (December 2005). A History of the Canadian Dollar. Bank of Canada. p. 47-49. ISBN 0-660-19571-2. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  15. ^ "Bank Note Series". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  16. ^ Mackenzie, Hector M. "Mutual Aid". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  17. ^ "Inflation Calculator". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  18. ^ "Consumer Price Index (CPI)". Statistics Canada. 21 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  19. ^ "Money, Monetary Policy, and Transmission Mechanisms". Bank of Canada. November 1999. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  20. ^ Annual Report 2008. Bank of Canada. 27 February 2009. ISSN 1487-0452. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  21. ^ "Mark Carney named new Bank of England governor". BBC News ( 26 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-20. 
  22. ^ "Stephen Poloz Named Bank of Canada Head Replacing Carney". Bloomberg ( 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-02. 

Further Reading[edit]

External links[edit]