Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland met with the head of Canada’s bank regulator in the wake of a US regional bank collapse, with her office emphasizing that domestic institutions are secure.
“Significant structural and regulatory safeguards are already in place in Canada,” Adrienne Vaupshas, Freeland’s spokesperson, said by email Monday evening. “The government wants to assure Canadians our financial institutions are stable and resilient.”
Vaupshas said Freeland met with Peter Routledge, Canada’s superintendent of financial institutions, one day after his office announced it had seized control of SVB Financial Group’s branch in Canada. US regulators shut down its California-based Silicon Valley Bank on Friday.
Freeland has issued two brief statements but hasn’t spoken publicly since the collapse of SVB and New York-based Signature Bank. Yields on short-term Canadian government bonds are falling at the fastest rate in decades as investors reverse course and bet the Bank of Canada will start cutting rates in coming months.
The finance minister’s office said she has also convened meetings with the heads of national and regional Canadian financial institutions, which were attended by Routledge and by Bank of Canada officials. The central bank has so far not made any public statements about the market turmoil.