December 15, 2015 Indebted Households and Potential Vulnerabilities for the Canadian Financial System: A Microdata Analysis Financial System Review - December 2015 Gino Cateau, Tom Roberts, Jie Zhou Over the past decade, an increasing proportion of households in Canada have become highly indebted relative to their income. These highly indebted households now hold one-fifth of total Canadian household debt.Simulations suggest that this greater degree of household indebtedness could exacerbate the impact of shocks to income and interest rates relative to the pre-crisis period. However, an assessment of the vulnerability of the Canadian financial system should, among other factors, account for the ability of Canadian financial institutions to withstand losses from the household sector. Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Housing, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, E, E5, E51
December 15, 2015 Residential Mortgage Securitization in Canada: A Review Financial System Review - December 2015 Adi Mordel Residential mortgage securitization plays an important role in the Canadian system of housing finance, especially given the rising share of government-supported (i.e., public) securitization over the past 15 years. Mordel and Stephens analyze the evolution of two types of mortgage securitization in Canada— private and public — focusing in particular on the underlying public policy and economic benefits of the latter. They review the potential implications of the extent of public securitization and conclude with a discussion of policies that could be considered to reinvigorate private securitization in Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing JEL Code(s): G, G2, G28
Credit Cards: Disentangling the Dual Use of Borrowing and Spending Staff Analytical Note 2015-3 Olga Bilyk, Brian Peterson Over the past 15 years, aggregate credit card balances have been increasing, except for a brief spell in the aftermath of the 2007–09 financial crisis. Determining whether the growing balances are due to increased usage of credit cards as a method of payment or whether they reflect increased short-term borrowing is challenging because aggregate balances are snapshots of charges on credit cards before households make their monthly payments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability
Emergency Liquidity Facilities, Signalling and Funding Costs Staff Working Paper 2015-44 Céline Gauthier, Alfred Lehar, Héctor Pérez Saiz, Moez Souissi In the months preceding the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, banks were willing to pay a premium over the Federal Reserve’s discount window (DW) rate to participate in the much less flexible Term Auction Facility (TAF). We empirically test the predictions of a new signalling model that offers a rationale for offering two different liquidity facilities. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Lender of last resort JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G2, G21, G28
Monetary Policy and Financial Stability: Cross-Country Evidence Staff Working Paper 2015-41 Christian Friedrich, Kristina Hess, Rose Cunningham Central banks may face challenges in achieving their price stability goals when financial stability risks are present. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity among central banks with respect to how they manage these potential trade-offs. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial stability, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5, G, G0, G01
Credit Conditions and Consumption, House Prices and Debt: What Makes Canada Different? Staff Working Paper 2015-40 John Muellbauer, Pierre St-Amant, David Williams There is widespread agreement that, in the United States, higher house prices raise consumption via collateral or possibly wealth effects. The presence of similar channels in Canada would have important implications for monetary policy transmission. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Domestic demand and components, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E0, E02, E2, E21, E4, E44, G, G2, G21, R, R2, R21, R3, R31
October 12, 2015 Integrating Financial Stability into Monetary Policy Remarks Stephen S. Poloz National Association for Business Economics Washington, D.C. Governor Poloz speaks about the Bank’s research agenda and how it supports efforts to integrate financial stability concerns into monetary policy. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Central bank research, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, International topics, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy framework
On the Nexus of Monetary Policy and Financial Stability: Recent Developments and Research Staff Discussion Paper 2015-7 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Miguel Molico, Ben Tomlin Because financial and macroeconomic conditions are tightly interconnected, financial stability considerations are an important element of any monetary policy framework. Yet, the circumstances under which it would be appropriate for the Bank to use monetary policy to lean against financial risks need to be more fully specified (Côté 2014). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial stability, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E0, E4, E44, E5, E52, E58, G, G1, G18
Shock Transmission Through International Banks: Canada Technical Report No. 105 James Chapman, H. Evren Damar In this paper, we investigate how liquidity conditions in Canada may affect domestic and/or foreign lending of globally active banks and whether this transmission is influenced by individual bank characteristics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, F, F3, F36, G, G2, G21, G3, G32
August 25, 2015 The Long-Term Evolution of House Prices: An International Perspective Remarks Lawrence L. Schembri Canadian Association for Business Economics Kingston, Ontario Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri discusses the international evidence of underlying determinants of long-term movements in house prices. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, International topics, Sectoral balance sheet