Canada’s Financial Institutions Remain the World’s Best

On September 6, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, announced that the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2013-2014 ranked Canada’s financial system as the strongest in the world for the sixth consecutive year.

“Canada’s financial institutions have long been recognized for being sound and well capitalized. Canada actively supports the global financial reform agenda, and on Basel III implementation our major banks already meet the key capital requirements, a full six years ahead of schedule,” said Minister Flaherty.

Canada was able to weather the global economic storm of 2008-2009 very well. Obviously we are fortunate to sit on plenty of valuable resources, but our financial system was able to stand its ground and retain the confidence of the Canadian public and international investors as well. Notably, the World Economic Forum praised Canada’s commitment to limiting the red tape and unnecessary expenses of entrepreneurial adventures, an objective confirmation of our government’s efforts to do just that.

The reward seems to be that the wealth of Canadians is indeed moving upward. Environics Analytic’s WealthScapes 2013 revealed in July that the average household net worth figure was over $400,000 as of December 31, 2012 – a 5.85 increase over the year before. See Evelyn Jacks' article Ready, Richer, and Energized for Prosperity for more on the WealthScapes 2013 report.