jULY/AUGUST 2018 BCBusiness 87 ISTOCK
A
decade ago, the global nancial
crisis pushed central banks to
slash interest rates in an attempt
to stimulate the economy. In
Canada, the key rate dropped to a record
low of 0.25 percent in early 2009, rising
slightly the following year. Then in 2017 the
Bank of Canada (BoC) cautiously started
raising its rate, which has been a giddy
1.25 percent since the beginning of this year.
The upward trend is a signal from the
BoC that the economy is strong, points out
Mal Grewal, B.C. nancial services practice
leader with EY (Ernst & Young) in Vancou-
ver. That's generally a good sign for invest-
ment banking, Grewal notes. "The last few
years have been relatively tough, [but] start-
ing in January we started to see the number
of banking deals increase quite dramati-
cally," including activity in new sectors like
In The pAsT YeAr, The federAl
governmenT hAs rAIsed ITs keY InTeresT
rATe And InTroduCed neW fInAnCIAl
regulATIons. WhAT does ThIs meAn for
b.C.'s bAnkIng seCTor?
b y F E L I C I T Y S T O N E
Show Me the
Money
F I N A N C E
