The NUMBER ONE reason to Love Toronto & Canada…
Call them signs of the times: Bank of America branches have posted notices by each teller window, informing customers that their deposits are safe. The chartered banks headquartered in Toronto don’t need to offer such assurances. As Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Citibank, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Iceland’s entire banking system crashed, our banks—rated by the World Economic Forum as the soundest in the world—were continuing to pay out moderate dividends and even report modest profits. Curious regulators are traipsing here from around the world, and Obama is scratching his head, wondering why our big five aren’t bottomless money pits. Well, here’s the answer: during the boom, we had stricter lending criteria and kept higher reserves. As the former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge says, “The banks at the top of the cycle thought we were being too tight-assed.†The words “I told you so†have never sounded so comforting.
—Alec Scott
Toronto Life Magazine
http://www.torontolife.com/features/50-reasons-love-toronto-right-now/?pageno=2