{"id":11429,"date":"2026-04-20T11:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/11429\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:55:16","slug":"why-the-ceos-of-canadas-big-banks-are-optimistic-even-as-the-economy-lags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/11429\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the CEOs of Canada’s big banks are optimistic even as the economy lags"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canada\u2019s economy<\/a> remains sluggish, as evidenced by the recent lacklustre gross domestic product<\/a> and job numbers, but that didn\u2019t stop the heads of the country\u2019s biggest banks<\/a> from maintaining their optimism<\/a> about future growth and the country\u2019s potential to become an energy superpower.<\/p>\n

The chief executives of the Big Five<\/a> agree the current situation is difficult for Canadians, but during their annual general meetings over the past week or so they also focused on how this was the right time for Canada to promote itself as a stable source of energy amidst the global uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t easy times and there are a variety of factors that are playing into that,\u201d Bank of Montreal<\/a> chief executive Darryl White said at the bank\u2019s AGM last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But compared to the rest of the world, as far as the flow of trade and the impact of the war on energy prices and inflation are concerned, he said Canada is \u201csitting in as good a place as anywhere as we look out over the course of the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said the current global environment has led to an \u201cuneven outcome\u201d for Canada with \u201cpockets of difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Bank of Nova Scotia<\/a>\u2018s AGM on April 14, chief executive Scott Thomson also talked about how parts of Canada are being hit unequally due to the rise in oil prices<\/a> from the ongoing war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

He referred to the war as a tragedy and something he hopes will get resolved soon, but said there is about a five per cent positive impact on Canada\u2019s economy for each US$10 increase in West Texas Intermediate, which is a benchmark price for crude oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a weird way, the war does help the economy,\u201d he said, before once again adding that \u201cwe all want the war to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge, Thomson said, is that all the provinces don\u2019t benefit equally. There is a lot of resource production in Western Canada, but not much in Ontario. As such, affordability becomes more of an issue in some places.<\/p>\n

Overall, Canada\u2019s economy performed better than what many had feared, but that still isn\u2019t good enough because \u201cbeing resilient doesn\u2019t create prosperity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For growth to take place, Thomson said Canada needs to restore investor confidence and get capital flowing into the country\u2019s major projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe capital exists, but misalignment between policy infrastructure and investment still holds Canada back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This mismatch is a concern shared more broadly across Bay Street. Royal Bank of Canada<\/a>, in a report published last week, said Canada needs to invest $1.8 trillion in capital investment over the next decade to meet its economic potential and finance major projects.<\/p>\n

This includes investing $705 billion in the oil and gas sector to help build new oil pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals and $670 billion in electricity systems to boost energy<\/a> from sources such as wind and nuclear.<\/p>\n

RBC said Canada doesn\u2019t lack capital for these investments, but that the capital doesn\u2019t flow to where it is needed at the speed or scale required.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because large investors have thresholds that need to be met for them to deploy their capital and Canada has too few of these projects and too few companies of sufficient scale to attract that capital.<\/p>\n

There are lots of mid-sized companies that need an extra leg of capital to grow and reach scale, so this mismatch needs to be addressed, RBC said.<\/p>\n

Still, there are signs that global investors are taking notice as foreign direct investment hit nearly $100 billion last year, which is the highest since 2015 and the first time in a decade when inflows exceeded outflows.<\/p>\n

For every dollar that flowed into Canada between 2015 and 2024, two dollars left the country, with the net outflow of $1 trillion being the \u201cmost significant capital exodus\u201d<\/a> in modern Canadian history, RBC said.<\/p>\n

Canadian investment abroad isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, but it took place when the country was \u201cstarved for capital domestically,\u201d<\/a> said Jordan Brennan, managing director at RBC Thought Leadership.<\/p>\n

The rise in foreign direct investment last year suggests global investors see Canada as a \u201cstable, reliable partner in a volatile world,\u201d and Canada needs to make the most of it, RBC chief executive Dave McKay said at the bank\u2019s AGM on April 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Canada can become the world\u2019s premier destination for long-term investment,\u201d he said. \u201cBut only if it moves with purpose, urgency and speed in a race for capital that\u2019s never been more intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

For that to happen, the private sector, government and Indigenous groups need to prove that they can \u201ccome together to get major energy and infrastructure projects built on time and on budget,\u201d Harry Culham, chief executive of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce<\/a>, said at the bank\u2019s AGM last Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actions we take today as a country will define the success we achieve tomorrow. Our collective ability to execute has never been more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culham also said he has been meeting CEOs, clients and political leaders and believes there is a cautious optimism regarding Canada\u2019s future despite complexity about the near term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is belief that our time is now,\u201d he said. \u201cIn every conversation, the urgency is clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Toronto-Dominion Bank\u2019s AGM on the same day, chief executive Raymond Chun expressed a similar sense of optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is uncertainty ahead, but one thing is absolutely clear: tomorrow will not look like today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But while the Big Five CEOs were generally optimistic about Canada\u2019s future growth<\/a> at their respective AGMs, RBC and Scotiabank subsequently dropped their climate targets due to the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

RBC, in its Annual Sustainability Report released on Thursday, said it has retired its 2030 emission reduction targets.<\/p>\n

The bank had initially set these targets in 2022 with respect to its oil and gas, power generation and auto sectors. In its last sustainability report, it said it was reviewing these targets given \u201cchanges to the facts and circumstances\u201d in areas such as geopolitical developments, energy demand and security.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing our review, we have concluded that the changing and uncertain operating environment makes some of our interim targets not reasonably achievable and the outlook for others unclear,\u201d it said in its latest report.<\/p>\n

Scotiabank, in its report released on Thursday, said it was withdrawing both its 2030 target and its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 for financed emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking into account current conditions and trends, there is much uncertainty as to their future path,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

The bank said projected energy demand is going to be higher than initially assumed, driven partly by the growth in demand for artificial intelligence. It also said that the uptake of carbon capture technology isn\u2019t progressing at the rate that was initially projected.<\/p>\n

It said recent government policy decisions, such as the temporary elimination of the federal fuel charge, the decision to not implement the oil and gas emissions cap and the postponement of other climate targets, are likely to decelerate decarbonization activities.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Email: nkarim@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s economy remains sluggish, as evidenced by the recent lacklustre gross domestic product and job numbers, but that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,6180,6181,6182,4666,1750,3747,3908],"class_list":{"0":"post-11429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-canadas-economy","10":"tag-chief-executives","11":"tag-darryl-white","12":"tag-major-projects","13":"tag-royal-bank-of-canada","14":"tag-scott-thomson","15":"tag-western-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}