Financial system regulation and policies

• The Prudential Toolkit with Shadow Banking

  Staff Working Paper 2025-9 Kinda Hachem, Martin Kuncl

  Can regulators keep pace with banks’ creative regulatory workarounds? Our analysis unpacks the trade-offs between fixed regulations and crisis-triggered rules, showing that the latter are especially prone to circumvention—and can trigger larger, costlier bailouts.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): D, D6, D62, E, E6, E61, G, G0, G01, G2, G21, G28

• Effects of macroprudential policy announcements on perceptions of systemic risks

  Staff Analytical Note 2025-4 Thibaut Duprey, Victoria Fernandes, Kerem Tuzcuoglu, Ruhani Walia

  We introduce a history of macroprudential policy (MPP) events in Canada since the 1980s. We document the short-run effects of MPP announcements on market-based measures of systemic risk and find that MPPs can influence the market’s perception of large banks’ resilience.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, G, G2, G21, G28, G3, G32
• January 16, 2025

  Back to normal for the balance sheet

  Speech summary Toni Gravelle VersaFi (formerly Women in Capital Markets) Toronto, Ontario

  Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle provides an update on when quantitative tightening will end and explains how the Bank of Canada will manage its balance sheet going forward.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Speech summaries Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission, Recent economic and financial developments
• January 16, 2025

  The end of quantitative tightening and what comes next

  Remarks Toni Gravelle VersaFi (formerly Women in Capital Markets) Toronto, Ontario

  Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle provides an update on when quantitative tightening will end and how the Bank of Canada will manage its balance sheet after that.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission, Recent economic and financial developments

• Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for CBDC Solutions

  Staff Discussion Paper 2025-1 Rakesh Arora, Han Du, Raza Ali Kazmi, Duc-Phong Le

  Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) could offer solutions to safeguard end-user privacy and meet rigorous data protection standards for central bank digital currencies. We consider how PETs can transform privacy design in financial systems and the implications of their broader adoption.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, O, O3, O31
• November 6, 2024

  Canada’s mortgage market—A question of balance

  Remarks Carolyn Rogers Economic Club of Canada Toronto, Ontario

  Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers looks at the mortgage market in Canada—past, present and future.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission
• November 6, 2024

  Finding balance in the mortgage market

  Speech summary Carolyn Rogers Economic Club of Canada Toronto, Ontario

  Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers talks about Canada’s mortgage market and how it has evolved over time.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Speech summaries Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission

• 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 Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial institutions, Financial system regulation and policies, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, G, G2, G21, G28, G5, G50, G51

• 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 Research Topic(s): Financial services, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing JEL Code(s): D, D6, D64, E, E2, E21, E24, G, G1, G18, G5, G51

• Credit Card Minimum Payment Restrictions

  Staff Working Paper 2024-26 Jason Allen, Michael Boutros, Benedict Guttman-Kenney

  We study a government policy that restricts repayment choices with the aim of reducing credit card debt and estimate its effects by applying a difference-in-differences methodology to comprehensive credit-reporting data about Canadian consumers. We find the policy has trade-offs: reducing revolving debt comes at a cost of reducing credit access, and potentially increasing delinquency.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): D, D1, D18, E, E2, E21, G, G2, G28, G5, G51