Bio

Alexandra Lai is Senior Director (Regulatory Policy) in the Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Canada. In this role, she provides leadership to the development of policy advice on domestic and international regulatory policy, with a focus on regulated financial institutions (e.g., the bank resolution regime and other policy initiatives aimed at ending “too big to fail”), shadow banking, the federal housing finance framework, macroprudential policy, and the provision of central bank liquidity. Ms Lai holds a PhD in Economics from Queen’s University. She joined the Bank of Canada in 2000 and has held positions within the Bank in several areas, including Special Studies (Research), FMI oversight, and regulatory policy.

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Staff Working Papers

Modelling Payments Systems: A Review of the Literature

Staff Working Paper 2007-28 Jonathan Chiu, Alexandra Lai
Payments systems play a fundamental role in an economy by providing the mechanisms through which payments arising from transactions can be settled. The existing literature on the economics of payments systems is large but loosely organized, in that each model uses a distinct set-up and sometimes a distinct equilibrium concept.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, G, G2, G21

Credit in a Tiered Payments System

Staff Working Paper 2006-36 Alexandra Lai, Nikil Chande, Sean O'Connor
Payments systems are typically characterized by some degree of tiering, with upstream firms (clearing agents) providing settlement accounts to downstream institutions that wish to clear and settle payments indirectly in these systems (indirect clearers).
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services, Market structure and pricing, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, L, L1, L12, L13, L2, L22

Ownership Concentration and Competition in Banking Markets

Staff Working Paper 2006-7 Alexandra Lai, Raphael Solomon
Many countries prohibit large shareholdings in their domestic banks.The authors examine whether such a restriction restrains competition in a duopolistic loan market. Blockholders may influence managers' output decisions by choosing capital structure, as in Brander and Lewis (1986).
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G28, G3, G32, L, L1, L10

The Effects of Bank Consolidation on Risk Capital Allocation and Market Liquidity

Staff Working Paper 2002-5 Chris D'Souza, Alexandra Lai
This paper investigates the effects of financial market consolidation on risk capital allocation in a financial institution and the implications for market liquidity in dealership markets. We show that an increase in financial market consolidation can have ambiguous effects on liquidity in foreign exchange and government securities markets.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G2, G28, G3, G31, G34

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Technical Reports

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Bank Publications

Bank of Canada Review Article

November 17, 2016

Recent Changes to the Bank of Canada’s Emergency Lending Assistance Policy

Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Christopher Graham, Natasha Khan, Alexandra Lai
Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA) is a discretionary last-resort collateralized loan or ad-vance by the Bank of Canada to eligible financial institutions (FIs) and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) facing serious liquidity problems. In December 2015, the Bank revised its ELA policy to (i) replace the requirement for an FI’s solvency with the requirement for a credible recovery and resolution framework; (ii) include mortgages as eligible collateral; and (iii) clarify both the eligibility requirements for FMIs and provincially regulated deposit-taking FIs.
Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review Article Topic(s): Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Lender of last resort JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, G, G0, G01, G2

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Financial System Review Article

November 28, 2017

Shoring Up the Foundations for a More Resilient Banking System: The Development of Basel III

Financial System Review - November 2017 Sheryl King, Alexandra Lai, Tamara Gomes
The authors trace the development of the Basel III standards for banking regulation. Basel III builds on two earlier frameworks, in response to weaknesses revealed during the global financial crisis. They highlight how implementation of the standards will underpin greater financial stability and provide a sound foundation for economic growth.
Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review Article Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): G, G1, G2, G21, G28

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