Grahame Johnson

Grahame Johnson

Executive Director, Policy

Executive

Bio

Grahame Johnson was appointed Executive Director, Policy, effective February 2026. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the Bank’s economic and financial sector analysis and research. He also provides oversight of the Bank’s function as fiscal agent for the Government of Canada.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Johnson served as Advisor to the Governor, providing advice on monetary policy operations and balance sheet management, the Bank’s fiscal agent activities, and international and domestic capital market forums. He also served as Assistant Deputy Minister at Finance Canada from July 2023 to April 2025.

Mr. Johnson has deep expertise in markets, the financial system, and monetary policy. He has held several senior leadership roles at the Bank, including Managing Director of the Financial Markets Department (FMD), the Banking and Payments Department (BAP), and the Financial Stability Department (FSD). Earlier in his career, he held progressively senior roles in the Financial Risk Office and FMD. Before joining the Bank, he worked on the fixed-income trading desk of a major Canadian financial institution.

Born in Montréal, Québec, Mr. Johnson has a degree in commerce from Queen’s University and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Speeches

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Staff research

A Review of the Bank of Canada’s Market Operations Related to COVID-19

Staff discussion paper 2023-6 Grahame Johnson
This paper reviews the range of extraordinary programs launched by the Bank of Canada in response to the pandemic-related financial market disruption. It provides some recommendations for future interventions to ensure the programs are appropriately structured for the financial and economic stresses they are intended to address.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D4, D47, E, E4, E41, E5, G, G0, G01, G1, G14, G2, G21, G23, H, H1, H12 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation

How does the Bank of Canada’s balance sheet impact the banking system?

Staff analytical note 2022-12 Daniel Bolduc-Zuluaga, Brad Howell, Grahame Johnson
We examine how changes in the Bank of Canada’s balance sheet impact the banking system. Quantitative easing contributed to an increase in the size of the banking system’s balance sheet and an improvement in bank liquidity coverage ratios. Quantitative tightening is expected to partially reverse these impacts. The banking system will have to adjust its liquidity management strategy in response.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E5, E51, G, G2, G21, G23, G3, G32 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation

Settlement Balances Deconstructed

Staff discussion paper 2022-13 Parnell Chu, Grahame Johnson, Scott Kinnear, Karen McGuinness, Matthew McNeely
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, public interest in the Bank’s balance sheet and, more specifically, the size of settlement balances, has grown. This paper deconstructs the concept of settlement balances and provides some context on their history, current state and possible future evolution.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, E59, E6, G, G0, G01 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Money and payments, Payment and financial market infrastructures

Implementation and Effectiveness of Extended Monetary Policy Tools: Lessons from the Literature

Staff discussion paper 2020-16 Grahame Johnson, Sharon Kozicki, Romanos Priftis, Lena Suchanek, Jonathan Witmer, Jing Yang
This paper summarizes the literature on the performance of various extended monetary policy tools when conventional policy rates are constrained by the effective lower bound. We highlight issues that may arise when these tools are used by central banks of small open economies.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E63 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation

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Bank publications

Bank of Canada Review articles

December 24, 2004

Government of Canada Yield-Curve Dynamics, 1986-2003

Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2004-2005 Grahame Johnson
A database of historical Government of Canada zero-coupon yield curves developed at the Bank of Canada is introduced in this article, which also includes an initial statistical analysis of the behaviour and evolution of the zero-coupon interest (spot) rates over the full period and two distinct subperiods. Specific areas of interest include the evolution of the levels of key interest rates and yield-curve measures over the sample as well as daily changes in the key interest rates and the yield-curve measures; the identification of a relatively small number of factors that drove the evolution of the yield curve; and the total returns that would have been realized by holding bonds of different maturities for a given holding period.
Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
August 22, 2003

Measuring Interest Rate Expectations in Canada

Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003 Grahame Johnson
Financial market expectations regarding future changes in the target for the overnight rate of interest are an important source of information for the Bank of Canada. Financial markets are the mechanism through which the policy rate affects other financial variables, such as longer-term interest rates, the exchange rate, and other asset prices. An accurate measure of their expectations can therefore help policy-makers assess the potential impact of contemplated changes. Johnson focuses on the expectations hypothesis, which measures expectations of future levels of the target overnight rate as implied by current money market yields. Although expectations can be derived from the current yield on any short-term fixed-income asset, some assets have proven to be more accurate predictors than others. The implementation of a policy of fixed-announcements dates has coincided with the increased predictive power of these short-term assets. As a result of this improvement, a relatively simple model of the yield curve can now provide an accurate measure of financial market expectations.
Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles

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Financial System Review articles