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.

Bank of America has stolen the crown of Citigroup. The bank, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, motored ahead of the erstwhile number one bank in our list and is now the largest bank in North America and in the world, with Tier 1 capital of $91,065m.

Strong domestic retail banking performance has been the key to the continuing profitability of the top five Canadian banks ranked by Tier 1 capital (see table download).

A newly-elected minority Liberal government has left the prospects for Canadian bank mergers looking uncertain. Sheldon Gordon reports from Toronto. Canada’s general election on June 28 produced the worst possible outcome for the country’s banking sector. Prime minister Paul Martin’s Liberals were returned to office but, with only a plurality of the seats, they will have to cater to two smaller, left-wing parties in order to command a majority in parliament. Bankers would clearly have preferred the stability of a clear-cut victory by either Mr Martin’s Liberals or their main opponent, the Conservative Party.