Si le système bancaire canadien être le modèle pour une restructuration du système financier aux Etats-Unis? Oui, argues Canadian journalist Theresa Tedesco dans “Le Grand Nord solvant,” her recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times.

“Est-ce que le monde à l'envers?” she asks:

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

Tedesco écrit, “The Canadian banking system, qui s'est avéré 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. (Les Etats-Unis occupe la 40e place).

Au Canada, où “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, “les cinq grandes banques canadiennes — Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse, 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.”

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

Photo © Carolyn B. Vrai démon