Canadian Banking

I always enjoy a reference to Canada. Sitting quietly north of the self aggrandizing Americans, ignored by most of the press and blogs south of the border, it is refreshing when somebody remembers that there is something north of the 49th parallel.

Here's a reference by Scott Sumner in his TheMoneyIllusion blog:

Even during the prosperous 1920s the U.S experienced about 600 bank failures per year, as small rural banks often failed. During the Great Contraction (1929-33) about 4000 banks failed, and many more merged, reducing the total from about 25,000 to about 15,000. In Canada (a country one tenth our size), there were 11 banks, each having nationwide branching. None failed and one merged during a Depression comparable to that experienced by the U.S. So we might want to reconsider the view that smaller banks are a foolproof remedy for our current problems.

In this financial crisis, as in the Great Depression, the Canadian banks have remained solid. Canadians bask in analyses that rank the banking system here as being the most sound in the world.