Banks Archives - AB Pol Econ

Watching and Weathering the Withering Rise in Interest Rates

24Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Banks, Economic Data, Financial Institutions, Government Finances

Watching and Weathering the Withering Rise in Interest Rates

Last Thursday I was invited to present some thoughts about the impact of rising of interest rates to the weekly KEI Webinar. The recording can be found here. There was an engaging conversation afterwards which touched on the recent banking crisis, crypto-currencies, government deficits, prospects for a global recession, performance of central banks particularly the U.S. Federal Reserve, and the future of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. Some humour was intended to be inserted with a showing of the famous Two Johns- Bird and Fortune on the Subprme Crisis The following text are speaking notes which were loosely followed. All date is from the Federal Reserve Board website. "Well thank you Perry for inviting me to provide some commentary around the imp...

<strong>OSFI’s new guidelines: A step toward making banks and insurers more conscious of their climate impacts</strong>

22Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Banks, Energy, Environment, Intergovernmental

OSFI’s new guidelines: A step toward making banks and insurers more conscious of their climate impacts

This article of mine was published yesterday in The Conversation. Reproduced with permission from The Conversation. After an extensive consultation process, the organization that supervises banks and large insurance companies in Canada — the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) — has released guidelines for financial institutions to address climate change. This is timely, considering banks and insurers are massive funders of the fossil fuel industry. The release of the guidelines, called the B-15, comes more than a year after a January 2022 pilot study by Canada’s central bank and OSFI on how resilient financial institutions would be under new climate policies. The study found that the creditworthiness of oilsands producers is expected to fall over the next few...

21Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Banks, Credit Ratings, Financial Institutions

A Run on the Banking System?

Over the weekend, I turned my attention to rapidly evolving financial fissures, fissures which may portend another Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The earthquake's tremors began over a week ago when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) tried to raise 2 billion dollars US in new equity. Quickly, investors asked why this was necessary and large depositors ran for the exits. SVB's broad tentacles through California's tech sector brought more pressure as tech companies and wealthy individuals sought the exits. It was the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. On Monday 13 March it was announced that the Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors would lead a a review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank, SVB's problems stemmed from a bad decision last year to inv...

30Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions, Fiscal History, Opinion/Research, Politics, Uncategorized

What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada’s banking system

Reproduced with permission from The Conversation. January 30, 2023 2.05pm EST Author Robert L. Ascah Robert L. Ascah is a Friend of The Conversation. Research Fellow, The Parkland Institute, University of Alberta Disclosure statement Robert (Bob) L. Ascah is affiliated with Alberta NDP. Partners University of Alberta provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. University of Alberta provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. View all partners We believe in the free flow of information Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Print What is the Free Alberta Strategy, the co-creation of two lawyers and a Calgary political scientis...

30Jan

By Bob Ascah2 Comments

Bankruptcies, Banks, Employment, Energy, Environment, Politics, Uncategorized

Smith as CEO Alberta Enterprise Group to Savage: 29 July 2021- “RStar”

Below is the full text of the letter from then AEG President Danielle Smith to then Energy Minister Sonya Savage concerning a proposed royalty credit for legally required environmental remediation. Analysis of letter is below. ALBERTA ENTERPRISE GROUP 11626-119 Street Edmonton, AB T5G 2X7 July 29, 2021 Minister Sonya Savage Minister of Energy 394 Legislature Building 10800-97 Avenue Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6 Dear Minister Savage: It was a pleasure meeting with you to discuss a pilot project this fall, to test out the RStar program as a new approach to address the issue of decommissioning and closing inactive wells. I would like to summarize our conversation as you are working with your department officials to understand why this pilot project is so important to ou...

11Dec

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions

Hyndman papers- Pocklington introduced to the Alberta government via ATB- 1983

The following extract, from Lou Hyndman's files when he was Provincial Treasurer, is an undated, unsigned briefing note about Alberta Treasury Branches (now ATB Financial) concerning a refinancing and resecuring of debt. From the note it appears that Pocklington's primary bank dealings were not with ATB but with another undisclosed financial institution. According to the note, dealings between ATB and Pocklington were "satisfactory." Pocklington at that time had interests in Edmonton Motors, the Oilers and Fidelity Trust whose ownership had been effectively taken from Pocklington. At the bottom of the briefing note was the very clear statement that ATB nor the Government of Alberta was interested in acquiring any interest in the Oilers' hockey club. The $11-million debenture soon gr...

4Sep

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Banks, Energy, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

How the Big Four compare to the Big Five (banks)

How the Big Four with Big Five (banks) In this post I compare the financial performance between the Big Four oilsands producers and the five biggest banks by examining their first half performance. For the Big Four the data is for thee first two quarters and first half ending 30 June 2022. Since the banks have a unique fiscal year end, I compare their first two quarters for the period ending 30 April 2022. The purpose is to inform readers of the relative economic, financial and political power of the two industries. This is achieved by presenting the following metrics Total Revenue Net Income after taxes Royalties payable (not relevant to banks) Taxes payable Taxes payable as per cent of net income Total equity or capital Net income as percent of total equity Share buybacks Dividends p...

22Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Energy, Environment, Financial Institutions

Central bank, OSFI take reins on climate change- Alberta’s oil and gas economy will be changed by federal regulators

Updated 7 February 2022 On Friday 14 January the Bank of Canada and Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released a report on a pilot study respecting the potential impact of climate change on Canada's major financial institutions. Canada's central bank and OSFI are jointly responsible for the stability of Canada's financial system. As international organizations mobilize resources to understand the linkages between national and global climate change policy shifts, there is a growing unease among regulators on how prepared banks and insurers are in understanding and managing credit risk and market risk of clients who are especially exposed to climate change policies. Bank of Canada, Ottawa Source: Bank of Canada See my article in The Conversatio...

27Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

Hyndman Papers- ATB and the chartered banks

In the following correspondence between the Provincial Treasurer and TD-Bank's vice-president of the Alberta South Division, a longstanding complaint by the chartered banks about unfair competition from Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) is revealed. Backdrop In the late 1970s, the North American economy faced surging inflation rates in the low teens and Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Paul Volcker was determined to drive the economy into recession by imposing high interest rates. The Bank of Canada, led by Gerald Bouey followed suit and Canada's bank rate approached 20 per cent. Inevitably, heavily indebted famers, home buyers, and businesses appealed to various orders of government to shield them from the effects of high interest rates. As the correspondence reveals, Alberta's Treasur...

12May

By Bob Ascah2 Comments

Banks, Environment, Opinion/Research

Mark Carney’s magnum opus: A Book Review

Mark Carney, the much-celebrated central banker from Canada has a new book entitled Value(s). This 600-page (with endnotes) book represents a much-awaited synthesis of his ideas from his days as bank governor, senior Finance official and Goldman Sachs investment banker. His return to Ottawa, appointment at Brookfield and earlier appointment as the U.N. Special Envoy for the Environment might seem like a crowning achievement but Dr. Carney’s career has probably not peaked yet. Naturally there is much speculation about his future relationship with the Liberal Party of Canada but it strikes me that his ambitions (and talents) are more global in nature. Carney is not what I would consider a conventional economist. His D.Phil at Oxford was entitled "The dynamic advantage of competition,”...