Canada to reform bank ownership rules in bid to stoke competition

Financial Post · Bloomberg News · 2026-11-05 22:23 UTC

Changes will make it easier for mid-sized lenders to gather deposits and grow

Canada’s finance minister unveiled proposed changes to the ownership rules for banks, seeking to make it easier for mid-sized lenders to gather deposits and grow.

Currently, once a bank in Canada reaches $12 billion in equity, it must be widely held — no shareholder can own 20 per cent or more. The government plans to increase that threshold to $25 billion in equity, according to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s Budget 2026 documents.

That would allow so-called challenger banks to get larger while still under the control of a single investor or small group of shareholders.

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