Bio

Jonathan Witmer is the Director of the Monetary Policy Analysis and Research Team in the Financial Markets Department. His primary research interests include the role of mutual funds in financial markets and the transmission of monetary policy. Jonathan has also worked on various policy issues such as the zero lower bound, monetary policy implementation, and OTC derivatives. He obtained his PhD in Finance from Queen’s University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.


Staff analytical notes

The impact of the Bank of Canada’s Government Bond Purchase Program

We assess the response of Government of Canada bond yields to the Bank of Canada’s initial announcement of the Government Bond Purchase Program (GBPP) as well as to the Bank’s later GBPP purchase operations.

Corporate investment and monetary policy transmission in Canada

Staff Analytical Note 2020-26 Min Jae Kim, Jonathan Witmer
Unexpected changes in interest rates lead small firms to materially change their investment rate. Large firms, in contrast, show a smaller response. This suggests both that financial conditions are an important channel for transmitting monetary policy and that firm characteristics can help us better understand fluctuations in business investment.

Announcing the Bankers’ Acceptance Purchase Facility: a COVID‑19 event study

Staff Analytical Note 2020-23 Rohan Arora, Sermin Gungor, Kaetlynd McRae, Jonathan Witmer
The Bank of Canada launched the Bankers’ Acceptance Purchase Facility (BAPF) to ensure that the bankers’ acceptance (BA) market could continue to function well during the financial crisis induced by the COVID‑19 pandemic. We review the impact that the announcement of this facility had on BA yields in the secondary market. We find that BA yield spreads declined by 15 basis points on the day of the announcement and by up to 70 basis points over a longer period. Using an econometric framework, we quantify the effect of the announcement and confirm early assertions presented in the Bank’s 2020 Financial System Review.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability JEL Code(s): G, G1, G2, G20, G23

The Canadian corporate investment gap

Staff Analytical Note 2020-19 Chris D'Souza, Timothy Grieder, Daniel Hyun, Jonathan Witmer
Business investment has been lower than expected in Canada and abroad since the financial crisis of 2007–09. This corporate investment gap is mirrored in firms’ other financing decisions, as they have increased cash holdings and dividend payments and decreased issuance of debt and equity.

Estimating Canada’s Effective Lower Bound

Staff Analytical Note 2015-2 Jonathan Witmer, Jing Yang
In 2009, the Bank of Canada set its effective lower bound (ELB) at 25 basis points (bps). Given the recent experience of Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the euro area with negative interest rates, we examine the economics of negative interest rates and suggest that cash storage costs are the source of a negative lower bound on interest rates.

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Staff discussion papers

Assessing the Impact of the Bank of Canada’s Government Bond Purchases

Staff Discussion Paper 2024-5 Chinara Azizova, Jonathan Witmer, Xu Zhang
In March 2020, the Bank of Canada implemented the Government of Canada Bond Purchase Program, eventually purchasing approximately $340 billion of government bonds. In this paper, we analyze the impact of this program on financial market prices and yields as well as on GDP and inflation.

Estimating the Appropriate Quantity of Settlement Balances in a Floor System

Staff Discussion Paper 2023-26 Narayan Bulusu, Matthew McNeely, Kaetlynd McRae, Jonathan Witmer
This paper presents two complementary approaches to estimating the appropriate quantity of settlement balances needed to effectively operate monetary policy under a floor system in Canada.

Reviewing Canada’s Monetary Policy Implementation System: Does the Evolving Environment Support Maintaining a Floor System?

Staff Discussion Paper 2023-10 Toni Gravelle, Ron Morrow, Jonathan Witmer
At the onset of the pandemic, the Bank of Canada transitioned its framework for monetary policy implementation from a corridor system to a floor system, which it has since decided to maintain. We provide a comprehensive analysis of both frameworks and assess their relative merits based on five key criteria that define a sound framework.

Summaries of Central Bank Policy Deliberations: A Canadian Context

This paper provides the context, rationale and key considerations that informed the Bank of Canada’s decision to publish a summary of monetary policy deliberations. It includes an analysis of how other central banks disclose minutes and summaries of their monetary policy deliberations.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Monetary policy communications JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E5, E58

Implementation and Effectiveness of Extended Monetary Policy Tools: Lessons from the Literature

This paper summarizes the literature on the performance of various extended monetary policy tools when conventional policy rates are constrained by the effective lower bound. We highlight issues that may arise when these tools are used by central banks of small open economies.

Market Timing of Long-Term Debt Issuance

Staff Discussion Paper 2009-14 Jonathan Witmer
The literature on market timing of long-term debt issuance yields mixed evidence that managers can successfully time their debt-maturity issuance. The early results that are indicative of debt-maturity timing are not robust to accounting for structural breaks or to other measures of debt maturity from firm-level data that account for call and put provisions in […]

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Staff working papers

Monetary Policy Implementation and Payment System Modernization

Staff Working Paper 2020-26 Jonathan Witmer
Canada plans to adopt a retail payment system to allow Canadians to pay in real time (or near real time) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, the traditional model for setting the overnight interest rate does not operate 24/7.

Following the Money: Evidence for the Portfolio Balance Channel of Quantitative Easing

Staff Working Paper 2018-33 Itay Goldstein, Jonathan Witmer, Jing Yang
Recent research suggests that quantitative easing (QE) may affect a broad range of asset prices through a portfolio balance channel. Using novel security-level holding data of individual US mutual funds, we establish evidence that portfolio rebalancing occurred both within and across funds.

Monetary Policy Implementation in a Negative Rate Environment

Staff Working Paper 2017-25 Michael Boutros, Jonathan Witmer
Monetary policy implementation could, in theory, be constrained by deeply negative rates since overnight market participants may have an incentive to invest in cash rather than lend to other participants.

Strategic Complementarities and Money Market Fund Liquidity Management

Staff Working Paper 2017-14 Jonathan Witmer
Following the financial crisis, there has been increased regulatory focus on the management of liquidity in mutual funds and, specifically, whether funds hold enough liquidity to guard against the potential for investor runs.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G0, G01, G1, G18, G2, G20

Does the Buck Stop Here? A Comparison of Withdrawals from Money Market Mutual Funds with Floating and Constant Share Prices

Staff Working Paper 2012-25 Jonathan Witmer
Recent reform proposals call for an elimination of the constant net asset value (NAV) or “buck” in money market mutual funds to reduce the occurrence of runs. Outside the United States, there are several countries that have money market mutual funds with and without constant NAVs.

Short Changed? The Market's Reaction to the Short Sale Ban of 2008

Staff Working Paper 2009-23 Louis Gagnon, Jonathan Witmer
Do short sales restrictions have an impact on security prices? We address this question in the context of a natural experiment surrounding the short sale ban of 2008 using a comprehensive sample of Canadian stocks cross-listed in the U.S.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G0, G01, G1, G18, G2, G20

The Cost of Equity in Canada: An International Comparison

Staff Working Paper 2008-21 Jonathan Witmer
This paper calculates an implied cost of equity for 19 developed countries from 1991 to 2006. During this period, there has been a decline in the cost of equity of about 10-15 bps per year, which can be partially attributed to declining government yields and declining inflation.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G30, G38

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Bank publications

Bank of Canada Review articles

May 16, 2016

Estimating Canada’s Effective Lower Bound

Recently, the Bank of Canada has estimated the effective lower bound (ELB) on its policy interest rate to be about -50 basis points. This article outlines the analysis that underpins that estimate by quantifying the costs of storing and using cash in Canada. It also explores how some international markets have adapted to negative interest rates, issues surrounding their implementation, as well as their transmission to other interest rates in the economy. Finally, it discusses theoretical ideas on how the ELB could be reduced further.

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Financial System Review articles

June 11, 2015

Canadian Open-End Mutual Funds: An Assessment of Potential Vulnerabilities

The authors examine the liquidity and leverage characteristics of Canadian long-term, open-end mutual funds in terms of their potential systemic effects on the Canadian mutual fund sector and on the Canadian financial system more broadly. In their overall assessment of this sector, they consider the regulation, market size and ownership structure of mutual funds in Canada and provide observations about the industry globally.

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Journal publications

Refereed publications