Four short years ago, my colleague Eric Reguly pounded out a column bemoaning the collective lack of courage among Canadian bank CEOs.
Mr. Reguly pointed out that the locals weren't keeping pace with American rivals in a size-obsessed sector. At the time, Citigroup and Bank of America were snapping up rivals. Canadian banks were falling out of the top 10 among North American players, shouldered aside by regional financial institutions such as Wachovia and Washington Mutual.
Well, in an Internet age, nothing written is ever forgotten. A prominent U.S. business web site called The Deal.com had some fun with Mr. Reguly's article, using his hand-wringing to show just how the tables have turned, as the cautious Canadians climb back into the top ranks to North American financial institutions.
Here's a quick list of how the locals rank, with The Deal.com's list of the current market capitalization of North American banks, in billions of U.S. dollars:
J.P. Morgan Chase: $76.9
Wells Fargo: $50.8
Goldman Sachs Group: $43.4
Royal Bank of Canada: $31.2
Bank of America: $25.0
Toronto-Dominion Bank: $23.3
Morgan Stanley: $21.4
Bank of Nova Scotia: $21.1
US Bancorp: $19.1
Citigroup: $13.7
CIBC: $12.6
Bank of Montreal: $11.2
