Annual Report, Bank of Canada Review, Bank of Canada Review articles, Books and monographs, Souvenir books, Business Outlook Survey, Financial Stability Report, Financial System Review articles, Monetary Policy Report, Quarterly Financial Report, Senior Loan Officer Survey

• June 12, 2014

  Financial System Review - June 2014

  

  The Reports section of the Financial System Review examines selected issues of relevance to the Canadian and global financial systems. The June 2014 issue features three reports on financial system initiatives: making financial benchmarks more robust; implementing the stronger Basel III capital and liquidity framework for banks; and using stress tests to assess financial system risks.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial Stability Report
• May 30, 2014

  Quarterly Financial Report - First Quarter 2014

  Quarterly Financial Report - First Quarter 2014 - For the period ended 31 March 2014

  Content Type(s): Publications, Quarterly Financial Report
• May 13, 2014

  The Canadian Dollar as a Reserve Currency

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Lukasz Pomorski, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Eric Wolfe

  This article provides an overview of the growth of Canadian-dollar-denominated assets in official foreign reserves. Based on International Monetary Fund data and on internal Bank of Canada analysis, we estimate that the total reserve holdings of Canadian-dollar assets increased from negligible levels before 2008 to around US$200 billion in the third quarter of 2013. We discuss the determinants of this increase, as well as its potential impact on Canadian debt markets, for example, lower yields and therefore reduced financing costs for the Government of Canada, and the possible negative impact on market liquidity.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Foreign reserves management, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, F, F3, F31, G, G1, G12
• May 13, 2014

  Understanding Platform-Based Digital Currencies

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Ben Fung, Hanna Halaburda

  Given technological advances and the widespread use of the Internet, various digital currencies have emerged. In most cases, Internet platforms such as Facebook and Amazon restrict the functionality of their digital currencies to enhance the business model and maximize their profits. While platform-based digital currencies could increase the efficiency of retail payments, they could also raise some important policy issues if they were to become widely used outside of the platform. Thus, it is important to closely monitor the evolution of these digital currencies.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42
• May 13, 2014

  The Art and Science of Forecasting the Real Price of Oil

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Christiane Baumeister

  Forecasts of the price of crude oil play a significant role in the conduct of monetary policy, especially for commodity producers such as Canada. This article presents a range of recently developed forecasting models that, when pooled together, can generate, on average, more accurate forecasts of the price of oil than the oil futures curve. It also illustrates how policy-makers can evaluate the risks associated with the baseline oil price forecast and how they can determine the causes of past oil price fluctuations.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E32, Q, Q4, Q43
• May 13, 2014

  Measuring Uncertainty in Monetary Policy Using Realized and Implied Volatility

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Bo Young Chang, Bruno Feunou

  Uncertainty surrounding the Bank of Canada’s future policy rates is measured using implied volatility computed from interest rate options and realized volatility computed from intraday prices of interest rate futures. Both volatility measures show that uncertainty decreased following major policy actions taken by the Bank in response to the 2007–09 financial crisis. Findings also indicate that, on average, uncertainty decreases following the Bank’s policy rate announcements.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy and uncertainty JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58
• May 13, 2014

  Beyond the Unemployment Rate: Assessing Canadian and U.S. Labour Markets Since the Great Recession

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Konrad Zmitrowicz, Mikael Khan

  This article provides a broad perspective on the performance of the labour market in Canada and the United States since the Great Recession. It also presents a simple way to summarize much of this information in a single composite labour market indicator (LMI) for both countries. The LMI suggests that the unemployment rate in Canada has evolved largely in line with overall labour market conditions since the recession, but may have modestly overstated the extent of recent improvement. The U.S. unemployment rate, in contrast, appears to have substantially overstated the post-recession improvement in labour market conditions.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): International topics, Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J23
• May 13, 2014

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014

  

  The five articles in this issue present research and analysis by Bank staff covering a variety of topics: the growth of Canadian-dollar-denominated assets in official foreign reserves; the emergence of platform-based digital currencies; methods of forecasting the real price of oil; measures of uncertainty in monetary policy; and the recent performance of the labour market in Canada and the United States.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
• April 16, 2014

  Monetary Policy Report – April 2014

  

  Economic growth in Canada is expected to average about 2 1/2 per cent in 2014 and 2015 before easing to around the 2 per cent growth rate of the economy’s potential in 2016.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Monetary Policy Report
• April 7, 2014

  Business Outlook Survey - Spring 2014

  The spring Business Outlook Survey offers encouraging signs for the economic outlook, although responses indicate that headwinds from intense competition and domestic uncertainty persist.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Business Outlook Survey