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  • May 18, 2002

    Foreign Takeovers and the Canadian Dollar: Evidence and Implications

    Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2002 Lawrence L. Schembri
    Since 1995, acquisitions of foreign firms by Canadian residents and acquisitions of Canadian firms by foreign residents have increased. Through most of this period, the dollar has depreciated, but the cumulative net balance of foreign direct investment acquisition flows has remained close to zero. The recent upward trend in bilateral acquisition flows is part of the globalization process as firms consolidate and rationalize their operations, and is not related to the value of the Canadian dollar. Standard models of international asset pricing imply that there should not be a relationship between the Canadian exchange rate and foreign takeovers of Canadian firms because an exchange rate movement does not give foreign buyers a systematic advantage over domestic buyers. Purchases of domestic firms by foreign residents are likely to be welfare-improving. Transactions between foreign and domestic residents are voluntary, and they imply that the foreign buyers expect to obtain higher profits from the firms' assets.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates
  • January 18, 2002

    Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2001–2002

    BoC Review - Winter 2001-2002

    Cover page

    Byzantine 40-Nummi Piece

    The 40-nummi piece was the largest and heaviest copper coin minted under Justinian. About the size of an old Canadian silver dollar, it weighs 22.76 grams. It was struck in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire and is part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.

    Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
  • December 18, 2001

    The Resolution of International Financial Crises: Private Finance and Public Funds

    Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2001–2002 Andy Haldane, Mark Kruger
    Over the past year and a half, authors Andy Haldane of the Bank of England and Mark Kruger of the Bank of Canada have been developing a framework for the resolution of international financial crises that aligns incentives for all parties in a way that deals with the crisis and preserves the integrity of the international financial system. The framework is built on principles, not rules. It attempts to be clear about the respective roles and responsibilities of the public and private sectors. A central element in shaping private sector expectations is knowledge that the official sector will behave predictably. Constraints on lending by the International Monetary Fund are a key step in that direction. They ensure that private sector involvement is a crucial part of crisis resolution, and they help encourage debtors and creditors to seek co-operative solutions to a crisis. Characterized by constraints, clarity, and orderliness, the framework has the potential to reduce the incidence and cost of financial crises.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): International topics
  • December 17, 2001

    The Canadian Fixed-Income Market: Recent Developments and Outlook

    Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2001–2002 Éric Chouinard, Zahir Lalani
    The Canadian fixed-income market is in the midst of a structural transformation similar to those occurring in other national financial markets around the world. The authors examine recent developments and trends in the market and discuss their possible effects. The simultaneous shrinking of the federal government's financial requirements and steady rise in issues of corporate securities have significantly altered the composition of Canada's fixed-income market. Government of Canada securities constitute a predominant portion of outstanding fixed-income securities and play a pivotal role, serving as benchmarks for the valuation of other traded securities and as a hedging vehicle for market participants trying to control their exposure to risk. The reduced issuance of federal government securities has contributed to a decline in the liquidity of the benchmark market. This raises broader issues regarding the future of the Canadian fixed-income market, since the corporate market is still fairly underdeveloped and illiquid compared with that for Government of Canada issues. There are thus currently few benchmark and hedging alternatives. The federal government is, however, committed to preserving the integrity of the market for benchmark issues and is adopting initiatives to enhance market liquidity and alleviate some of the pressures on the effective supply of these securities. Another evolving trend in the market is the emergence of electronic trading platforms. These platforms have the potential to facilitate the price-discovery mechanism, increase cost efficiency, and improve the liquidity and transparency of the market.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets
  • December 16, 2001

    Risk Management in the Exchange Fund Account

    Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2001–2002 Michel Rochette
    In this article, author Michel Rochette of the Bank's Risk-Management Unit briefly describes the initiatives undertaken to identify, analyze, model, and manage the principal risks inherent in the transactions of the Exchange Fund Account (EFA), where the international reserves of the federal government are held. The author focuses on five types of risk: credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and legal risk. In addition, the author presents the risk-management principles underlying the activities of the EFA and the governance structure of the Account.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
  • November 18, 2001

    A New Measure of Core Inflation

    Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2001 Tiff Macklem
    While the Bank of Canada's inflation-control target is specified in terms of the rate of increase in the total consumer price index, the Bank uses a measure of trend or "core" inflation as a short-term guide for its monetary policy actions. When the inflation targets were renewed in May 2001, the Bank announced that it was adopting a new measure of core inflation. This measure excludes the eight most volatile components of the CPI and adjusts the remaining components for the effect of changes in indirect taxes. In this article, the author discusses the definition of the new measure of core inflation and describes some of its advantages relative to the previous measure. He notes that the new measure has a firmer statistical basis, has a better correspondence with economic theory, and does a better job of predicting future changes in overall inflation. While the new measure has these advantages, the Bank will continue to monitor a broad range of indicators when assessing the likely future path for inflation.
    Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation targets
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