Staff research

In this study, we measure SMBs’ access to cash using the driving distance to financial institution (FI) branches. First, we measure the distance between SMBs and the nearest FI branch. Second, we use a sample of 651 SMBs from the 2023 Merchant Acceptance Survey to examine SMBs’ banking choices.

Repo market imbalances can be large and persistent, and can lift the cost of short-term funding in Canada, including the CORRA benchmark. Banks’ holdings of settlement balances absorbed most of the repo imbalances during QE, but have become far less central by the end of QT.

We show that haircuts are rarely used in the Canadian dealer-to-client repo market and their usage did not increase materially during past stress events. Usage is concentrated among wealth managers and some foreign official institutions, likely reflecting regulatory or internal requirements.

Supply disruptions were a key driver of inflation during the pandemic. If such disruptions occur more often in the future, they could lead to more frequent and persistent periods of high inflation. Central banks could then find it harder to bring inflation back to target while supporting economic activity.

We present a measure of account-level credit card spending constructed using credit bureau microdata, capturing monthly spending for approximately 80% of adults in Canada. Our measure offers higher frequency than other publicly available consumption metrics, and can be disaggregated by age, geographic location and credit history.

We share insights about non-bank financial intermediation in Canada in 2024. These data were collected as part of the Bank of Canada’s contribution to the Financial Stability Board’s Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation.

This study investigates how extreme flood events can indirectly impact the global supply chain through production disruptions. The findings emphasize that the size of inventories is crucial; a lean-inventory system leads to faster shock propagation, higher losses, and fewer recoveries compared to an abundant-inventory system.

As businesses worldwide are adopting artificial intelligence to boost productivity, little has been known about how businesses in Canada are using it. Survey results from the Bank of Canada show that AI adoption remains at an early stage for many Canadian businesses. As well, businesses expect AI to affect capital spending and employment, but only gradually.

This paper shows that consumption activities toward which households reallocate more time in recessions see larger expenditure declines, revealing a systematic link between time-use and expenditure cyclicality. A two-sector New Keynesian model shows this time-expenditure substitution explains roughly forty percent of consumption's response to monetary policy shocks.

The 2025 Methods-of-Payment Survey provides insights into how Canadians pay for their day-to-day purchases and how they use cash (i.e. banknotes and coins). While contactless card payments dominate in-person transactions, most Canadians maintain favourable views on cash and still hold and use it. They are also increasingly adopting mobile payments.