Etienne Lessard is a Director in the Financial Intermediation Risks Evaluation (FIRE) unit in the Financial Stability Department. In this role, Mr. Lessard leads the assessment of systemic intermediation risks within the Canadian banking sector.
Since joining the Bank in 2001, Mr. Lessard has built extensive expertise in funds management, global financial markets, strategic policy development, trading, and portfolio management. He played a central role in managing the Government of Canada’s domestic debt issuance and directed the day-to-day management and strategic oversight of the Government’s international reserve assets and liabilities, totaling more than USD 100 billion.
Etienne Lessard has served on the Pension Fund Investment Committee (PFIC) since 2013, including five years as Head of the Pension Fund team. He is also the Co-Chair of the Bank’s Credit Risk Committee on financial institutions.
He holds a Master of Science in Finance from HEC Montréal and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations.
As the Government of Canada’s fiscal agent, the Bank of Canada provides strategic policy advice on the management of the government’s debt, in addition to being responsible for conducting debt-management operations. In this article, the authors review the evolution of the debt strategy over the past 20 years and outline the complex process of developing a sound strategy that balances various cost and risk considerations. This includes an examination of the tools and practices used to develop the new medium-term debt-management strategy, such as the modelling approach involved, market consultations and various debt-management metrics.
