November 11, 2008 The Role of Dealers in Providing Interday Liquidity in the Canadian-Dollar Market Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Chris D'Souza Access to information about the future direction of the exchange rate can be extremely valuable in the foreign exchange market. Evidence presented in this article suggests that Canadian dealers are more likely to provide interday liquidity to foreign, rather than Canadian, financial customers, since foreign financial flows can be more informative about future movements in the exchange rate. The author reveals a statistical relationship between the supply of liquidity provided by non-financial firms and that provided by dealing institutions across time, and across markets, and suggests that the relationship between the positions of commercial clients and market-makers, and the role played by dealers in interday liquidity provision, has been understated in the market microstructure literature. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing
November 11, 2008 Merchants' Costs of Accepting Means of Payment: Is Cash the Least Costly? Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Carlos Arango, Varya Taylor In a competitive sales environment, merchants are compelled to offer consumers the option of paying for goods and services using a variety of payment methods, including cash, debit card, or credit card. Each method entails different costs and benefits to merchants. To better understand the costs of accepting retail payments, the Bank of Canada surveyed over 500 Canadian merchants and found that most consider cash the least costly. This article investigated this perception by calculating the variable costs per transaction of accepting different means of payment. The findings are that costs for each payment method vary by merchant and transaction value, with debit cards the least costly payment for a broad cross-section of merchants. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Bank notes
November 11, 2008 The Market Impact of Forward-Looking Policy Statements: Transparency vs. Predictability Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Christine Fay, Toni Gravelle Central banks continuously strive to improve how they communicate to financial markets and the public in order to increase transparency. For this reason, many central banks have begun to include guidance on the policy rate in the form of forward-looking statements in their communications. This article examines the debate over the usefulness of providing such statements from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. The evidence presented here suggests that the use of forward-looking statements in Bank of Canada communications has made the Bank more predictable, but not necessarily more transparent. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Interest rates, Monetary policy transmission
November 11, 2008 Conference Summary: International Experience with the Conduct of Monetary Policy under Inflation Targeting Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Philipp Maier Central bankers from inflation-targeting and non-inflation-targeting countries around the world and several distinguished scholars assembled at the Bank of Canada in July 2008 to review the international experience in some detail. This article highlights topics covered in the special lectures and sessions, including how inflation targeting can manage external shocks, various ways in which monetary policy decisions are taken, and the issues of transparency and communications. It also reports on the discussion in the closing panel, which considered options for the future of inflation targeting. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework
November 10, 2008 Results of the 10 November 2008 Term PRA Transaction for Private Sector Money Market Instruments The results of today's term PRA operations are as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
November 10, 2008 The Quest for Confidence: 400 Years of Money – from La Nouvelle France to Canada Today Remarks Pierre Duguay students and faculty of Laval University Québec, Québec As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec, I thought it would be fitting for me, as a central banker, to take a look at how money has evolved over part of the past four centuries. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
November 10, 2008 Results of the 10 November 2008 Term PRA Transaction The results of today's term PRA operations are as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
November 10, 2008 Bank of Canada Announces the Minimum Bid Rate for Today's Term PRA Facility for Private Sector Money Market Instruments The minimum bid rate for 14-day Term PRA Facility for Private Sector Money Market Instruments is 2.980%. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
The Role of Foreign Exchange Dealers in Providing Overnight Liquidity Staff Working Paper 2008-44 Chris D'Souza This paper illustrates that dealers in foreign exchange markets not only provide intraday liquidity, they are key participants in the provision of overnight liquidity. Dealing institutions receive compensation for holding undesired inventory balances in part from the information they receive in customer trades. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, F, F3, F31, G, G2, G21
November 7, 2008 Bank of Canada Announces Details of its 28 Day Term PRA Transaction In accordance with the schedule of term purchase and resale agreement (PRA) auctions announced on 3 November, the Bank of Canada announced today that it will enter into a 28-day term PRA transaction as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices