Mortgage stress tests and household financial resilience under monetary policy tightening Staff analytical note 2024-25 Jonathan Hartley, Nuno Paixão This note analyzes mortgage stress tests, a macroprudential tool. We find that when mortgage stress tests are applied to all mortgage purchase originations, they improve credit quality and reduce credit and house price growth. They also improve the resilience of borrowers to financial shocks, such as the large increase in interest rates during 2022–23. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, G, G2, G21, G28, G5, G50, G51 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation
Consumer Credit Regulation and Lender Market Power Staff working paper 2024-36 Zachary Bethune, Joaquín Saldain, Eric R. Young We investigate the welfare consequences of consumer credit regulation in a dynamic, heterogeneous-agent model with endogenous lender market power. Lenders post credit offers and borrowers—some informed and others uninformed—apply for credit. We calibrate the model to match characteristics of the unsecured consumer credit market and use the calibrated model to evaluate interest rate ceilings. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D15, D4, D43, D6, D60, D8, D83, E, E2, E21, G, G5, G51 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
BoC–BoE Sovereign Default Database: What’s new in 2024? Staff analytical note 2024-19 David Beers, Obiageri Ndukwe, Alex Charron The BoC–BoE database of sovereign debt defaults, published and updated annually by the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, provides comprehensive estimates of stocks of government obligations in default. The 2024 edition updates the historical data and revisits sovereign defaults on local currency debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): F, F3, F34, G, G1, G10, G14, G15 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, International markets and currencies, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk
Housing Affordability and Parental Income Support Staff working paper 2024-28 Jason Allen, Kyra Carmichael, Robert Clark, Shaoteng Li, Nicolas Vincent In many countries, the cost of housing has greatly outpaced income growth, leading to a housing affordability crisis. Leveraging Canadian loan-level data and quasi-experimental variation in payment-to-income constraints, we document an increasing reliance of first-time homebuyers on financial help from their parents, through mortgage co-signing. We show that parental support can effectively relax borrowing constraints—potentially to riskier borrowers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D6, D64, E, E2, E21, E24, G, G1, G18, G5, G51 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
The reliance of Canadians on credit card debt as a predictor of financial stress Staff analytical note 2024-18 Jia Qi Xiao I analyze the relationship between carrying a credit card balance and future financial stress. I find that carrying a balance significantly increases the likelihood that credit card holders miss future debt payments. This likelihood tends to rise as credit card balances grow and are held for long periods. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D1, E, E4, E5, G, G2, G21 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
Could all-to-all trading improve liquidity in the Government of Canada bond market? Staff analytical note 2024-17 Jabir Sandhu, Rishi Vala We find that on any given day, nearly half of Government of Canada bond transactions by clients of dealers can be offset with other clients, including during the turmoil in March 2020. Our results show that under certain conditions clients could potentially trade directly with each other and are a step towards understanding the relevance of broader all-to-all trading in the Government of Canada bond market. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D4, D47, D5, D53, G, G0, G01, G1, G12, G13, G14, G2, G21, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk
The Ecology of Automated Market Makers Staff discussion paper 2024-12 Annetta Ho, Cosmin Cazan, Andrew Schrumm This paper describes the ecology of automated market makers, which are the most popular decentralized exchange model for the pricing and trading of crypto assets within decentralized finance. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G2 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Financial system regulation and oversight, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech
Analysis of DeFi Oracles Staff discussion paper 2024-10 Xun Deng, Sidi Mohamed Beillahi, Cyrus Minwalla, Han Du, Andreas Veneris, Fan Long Oracles are constructs used in decentralized finance to price assets relative to each other. However, oracles contain defects that could lead to manipulation attacks. Such attacks exploit pricing models embedded within oracles to defraud creators and users. We automatically verify defects, which if mitigated, improves the security of digital currency. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, G, G1, G15, O, O3, O31 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures
How big is cash-futures basis trading in Canada’s government bond market? Staff analytical note 2024-16 Andreas Uthemann, Rishi Vala Cash-futures basis trading has grown alongside the Government of Canada bond futures market. We examine this growth over time in relation to Government of Canada bond and repurchase agreement markets and provide details on the type of market participants that engage in this type of trading activity. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D4, D47, D5, D53, G, G1, G12, G2, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk
Non-bank financial intermediation: Canada’s submission to the 2023 global monitoring report Staff analytical note 2024-15 Malcolm Fisher, Alan Walsh We share insights from Canadian data from 2002 to 2022 that the Bank of Canada collected. The Bank submits these data each year to the Financial Stability Board for inclusion in its Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, G22, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk