En caso de que la Canadian banking system ser el modelo for a restructured financial system in the United States? Sí, argues Canadian journalist Theresa Tedesco en “El Gran Norte de disolventes,” her recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times.

“¿El mundo al revés?” she asks:

América, the capital of capitalism, is pondering nationalizing a handful of banks. Mientras tanto, Canadá, whose banking system had long been notorious for its stodgy practices and government coddling, is now being celebrated for those very qualities.

Tedesco escribe, “The Canadian banking system, que resultó resilient in the global economic crisis, is finally getting its day in the sun. A recent World Economic Forum report ranked it the soundest in the world, mostly as the result of its conservative practices. (Estados Unidos ocupa el 40o).

En Canadá, donde “the five major chartered banks, the few regional banks and handful of large insurance companies are all regulated by the federal government,” Tedesco argues that, “los cinco grandes bancos canadienses — Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal — survived the recent turmoil relatively unscathed. Their balance sheets remain intact and their capital ratios are comfortably above requirements.”

Tal vez, she concludes, “Since Mr. Obama seems to admire the Canadian banking system, his administration might want to take a page out of its playbook.”

Foto © Carolyn B. Heller