The banking sector in Canada is known for its stability and strength. Yet in October (year-end for most domestic lenders) a historic upset occurred when TD Bank Group overtook long-standing leader Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to become the biggest bank in the country by Tier 1 capital. RBC had held the title for the past 16 years. TD now holds C$94.4bn ($70.8bn) in core capital, compared with RBC’s C$84.2bn.
The former managed to increase its Tier 1 by an impressive 24.7%, versus the latter’s muted growth of 2.4%. But it was Bank of Montreal (BMO) that made the largest jump in core capital, of 34.3%, allowing it to leapfrog Scotiabank to become Canada’s third-largest lender. The last time BMO occupied third place was in 2008.
