RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:A long slogIf I can add my salt. The Canadian and US banking systems have huge differences.
We have 30 or 40 banks in Canada with a dominance by the 7 bigger banks and Desjardins (credit union). All the 8 dominant players offers all the services. 90% of the activity is concentrated in the hands of these 8 players.
In the US there 5000 banks, many specialized, locals, regionals etc. The larger part of the activity (80%) is by the 100 biggers. That competitive situation bring risk; smaller banks have to find specialized niches and have to take more risks to survive and to stand out. The SVB bank is a perfect example of that situation; it was specialized in the Silicone Valley firms financing..
Some write about the housing: there are also big difference in how the housing markets works between Canada and the US.
The first one is the interests paid for housing could be deduct from taxation in US and not in Canada. The consequence is that the goal in US is to keep your mortgage at a high level for a long time. In Canada , when you have cash, the goal is to reduce your mortgage as fast as you can.
Second, in case of payment default, in US the bank have to chose between the personal responsability of the owner or the house. In Canada, banks could sold the house and sue the owner for the missing amount after the sale.
So, it is very difficult to compare the 2 systems; we choose to have a concentration in few hands only with a system where the banks don't have to compete agressively and don't have to take high risks.
The result is that we have the exact same players in Canada as 40 years ago. No bankrupsy, no fusion ...no changes. Our banks CEO are there for 10 or 15 years and are changed by the second in ranks ....for another 10 years. Easy job.