The banking system in Canada is well-developed and mature. It is generally more conservative and regulated than the banking system in the United States, with more stringent rules governing leverage and capital ratios. Although federal bodies hold the majority of the financial sector in Canada, loan and trust companies and life insurance companies may be subject to both national and provincial regulations.
Here you can find some fast facts about the Canadian banking system
Canada’s banks are connected via a vast network of over 5000 branches, and 18,000 automated banking machines (ABMs) spread across the country. There are 35 domestic banks, 21 foreign bank subsidiaries, 28 full-service foreign bank branches, and four foreign bank lending branches in the region.
- In 2019, there were 5,820 bank branches in Canada.
- In 2019, there were 18,988 bank-owned ABMs in Canada.
- There are 88 banks in Canada.
Canada has one of the greatest per capita ABM numbers in the world and high levels of electronic channel penetration, such as debit cards, internet banking, and telephone banking. ABMs are used by nearly 26% of Canadians for the majority of their banking transactions.
- In 2017, 655 million transactions were recorded at bank-owned ABMs in Canada.
- In 2017, users completed 574 million online banking transactions with Canada’s six central banks.
- In 2017, customers completed 398 million mobile banking transactions with Canada’s six leading banks.
Canadians are cautious borrowers, and mortgage arrears are at historically low levels (in fact, as of May 2021, only 0.20 percent of bank mortgages are in arrears.)
- In 2019, the six largest banks in Canada paid $12.7 billion in taxes.
- Banks account for about 3.5 percent of Canada’s GDP.
- In Canada, banks and their subsidiaries paid $30 billion in salaries and benefits in 2019.
Over a quarter of a million Canadians work in the banking industry. Banks and their subsidiaries play an essential role in job creation and the labor market in Canada, and many of the banks’ human resource policies and practices are cutting-edge.
- Banks employed almost 280,000 Canadians in 2019.
- In 2019, the number of individuals employed by Canadian banks in foreign countries surpassed 110,000.
- Women account for 37.9% of senior management positions at the six largest banks in 2019. Women make up 56.5 percent of the workforce (excluding subsidiaries).
By the end of December 2017, Canadian banks had disbursed over $225 billion in credit to the country’s SMEs. In comparison to 2012, the credit amount increased by 22%.
- Across Canada, almost 3 million self-employed people and small and medium-sized businesses are served by banks.
- Dividend income paid to shareholders by Canadian banks in 2019 was $21.3 billion.
In Canada, technology has completely transformed the banking industry. Approximately 76 percent of Canadians now utilize financial services via the Internet and mobile apps. Furthermore, more than half of those polled, or 53%, feel that internet banking is their preferred form of banking.
- The six largest Canadian banks spent $14 billion on technology in 2018.
- In the last decade, the six central Canadian banks spent $100 billion on technology.
- The percentage of Canadians who believe that new technology has made banking much more convenient is 91 percent.
- Seventy-six percent of Canadians do the majority of their banking digitally via online and mobile banking.
- Twenty-three percent of Canadians say they use mobile banking as their primary means of banking.