An amusing moment – Reading the Bank of Canada financial statement

Reading the Bank of Canada’s 1st quarterly statement in 2023, the key table is:

Indeed, they booked a comprehensive income loss of $1.535 billion for the quarter, or about $40.13 per diluted Canadian.

The thought that immediately went into my mind was… “How come the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions hasn’t taken over this bank yet?”

It’s exactly the same situation as Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bankcorp – you have a balance sheet that is addled with low-coupon long-term government securities, coupled with paying out most of your balance sheet with a higher interest rate. At least with SIVB and SBNY you had a positive net interest margin, while the Bank of Canada’s is running at an annualized NEGATIVE 1.6%! That’s even after having a captive audience of over $110 billion of zero-yielding deposits (in the form of coloured polymer banknotes!).

That’s government I guess!

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Only one question.
How do you dilute Canadians?