Many countries are bidding to build Islamic finance hubs; France and Canada are no exception, but each is taking a very different course.

Scotiabank's need to provide a more rounded service for its customers across the globe led to a co-operation with Western Union, which has developed over the past 18 months. As the Canadian bank's managing director of core deposits and payments acknowledges, this arrangement has been mutually beneficial.

Canada, rarely observed in the international bond markets, sparked intense interest at the beginning of the year with its debut euro-denominated 10-year bond issue. Will there be more sightings to come, or is this just a one-time foray? Writer Edward Russell-Walling

Is a bank website the same as a bank branch? Canada's finance minister thinks so, which means that banks, which are not allowed to sell insurance through branches, are to be banned from selling it online too. Writer Michael Imeson

With mayhem in the banking sector in the US, the Canadian banks that have reported at their financial year end, October 31, 2007, appear to be sailing serenely on.

New pieces of legislation affecting tax and ownership are having a dramatic knock-on effect on Canada’s capital markets. Geraldine Lambe reports.

Stability and access to a wealth of natural resources makes Canada attractive for investors. Geraldine Lambe reports on the resulting buoyant activity in the country’s capital markets.

Chuck Winograd, chief executive of RBC Capital Markets; Doug McGregor, RBC’s co-president and head of global investment banking; and Mark Standish, RBC’s co-president and head of global markets, talk to Geraldine Lambe about the company’s need to grow outside of Canada.