The Canadian Banking System, 1890-1966
JACK CARR FRANK MATHEWSON NEIL QUIGLEY Stabilityin the Absenceof DepositInsurance: The CanadianBanking System, 1890 1966 THESTABILITY OF THE CANADIAN BANKING SYSTEM in the period before the introductionof formaldeposit insurancein 1967, and in particular, the Canadianbanks' immunityfrom the crisis that afflictedthe U.S. bankingsystem in the GreatDepression, are well known. Between 1890 and 1966, only twelve Ca- nadian charteredbanks failed; six of these failures resulted in losses to the deposi- tors. No bank failures occurredafter the suspensionof the Home Bank of Canadain 1923. Explanationsfor the relative stability of Canadianbanking have focused on the structureof the system, particularlythe economies of scale and portfolio diver- sification achieved by the large branch banks in Canada (Friedmanand Schwartz 1963; Haubrich1990) and the creationof a governmentrediscount facility in 1914. Some (Bordo 1986; Shearer, Chant, and Bond 1984; White 1983) suggestthat the Canadianfederal authoritiesand the CanadianBankers Association (CBA) implic- itly guaranteedbank deposits by arrangingmergers. Most recently, Kryzanowski and Roberts (1993, p. 362) claim that all of the major Canadianbanks were insol- vent during the 1930s, and explain the absence of a banking crisis by the fact that the Canadiangovernment provided "an implicit one hundredpercent guaranteeof bank deposits." The authorsthank the staff of The Bank of Nova Scotia Archives, The CanadianBankers Association Library,and the NationalArchives of Canadafor their assistance in compiling our data. Michael Bordo, John Chant, Ian Drummond,Ron Shearer,anonymous referees, and participantsat the l9th Conference on the Use of QuantitativeMethods in CanadianEconomic Historyprovided helpful comments. Funding for this research was provided by the Institutefor Policy Analysis at the University of Torontoand the University of Westem Ontarioas partof a largerproject on deposit insurancein Canada(CalT, Mathew- son, and Quigley 1994a).
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