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These are Exciting Times

I've only been hearing that on this board. Not the financial networks....

However, Manulife has a pretty strong US presence. A bank like BNS could do some damage right now, if it wanted to increase it's presence the US consumer/business banking segment, by buying a mid to large size bank at a relatively attractive price. And it would do wonders complementing their South American/Caribbean & Asian operations.
 
Of all the Canadian banks CIBC is most vulnerable, and most likely it'll get absorbed by one of the other banks at a major discount since foreigners won't be allowed to bid. There's still loads of CDSs & SIVs hiding on its balance sheet - when things really begin to unravel next year they'll have a hard time re-capitalizing. I hope I'm wrong of course, but if I had to bet, CIBC would be on top of my list. The other banks should be OK, although they too will incur some pain.
 
caltrane74 said:
I've only been hearing that on this board. Not the financial networks....

However, Manulife has a pretty strong US presence. A bank like BNS could do some damage right now, if it wanted to increase it's presence the US consumer/business banking segment, by buying a mid to large size bank at a relatively attractive price. And it would do wonders complementing their South American/Caribbean & Asian operations.
Click to expand...

Google Manulife AIG. Manulife may purchase assets from AIG. No firm commitments yet.
 
I am highly sceptical that the Canadian banks behaved more prudently than their international peers; however, that said the Canadian industry is effectively a regulated oligopoly. So the worst thing we would likely see is bank mergers, and yet they are not allowed and so would require government approval.

On the subject of "Exciting Times", I know that the large structures get the headlines and such but I wanted to point out how much has changed in the city on mainstreet as well. There has been a lot of re-investment in private residences, small businesses and yes even public realm amenities. These small scale changes may not be as dramatic, but they actually have a more significant impact on the quality of life of people. These changes are also more difficult to see, because it is difficult to visualize small evolutionary change even if it is cumulatively massive.
 
^Agreed. I would be interested to see whether the inability to et easy financing will promote the construction of smaller infill projects. Like Tricky said, they're less dramatic than a 70-storey tower, but they're better at strengthening our existing neighbourhoods.
 
Perhaps the title of this thread should read It Was an Exciting Time....
 
I am highly sceptical that the Canadian banks behaved more prudently than their international peers;
Click to expand...

Considering the lack of major writedowns the Canadian banks were certainly more prudent. You try getting a zero down mortgage from one of the Canadian banks. I had to put up my home as collateral when I needed to get a line of credit from my Canadian bank for my business. Meanwhile I was able to get a significant line of credit from a US bank with no collateral at all. In fact I was able to get this line of credit over the phone. They were playing a totally different game in the US during the last decade.
 
caltrane74 said:
This would be the perfect time for the Canadian banks to get into the US Market. - It's a fire sale down there....

Wachovia got sold to Citigroup for less than 10 billion dollars. - (probably only the value of the deposits/ or the outstanding assets)

As for financing of the Toronto projects, I don't see anything that would cause me to worry about the big projects. The sales have been exceeding expectations and the market here never got so overstated like say in florida...
Click to expand...

In my opinion, the problem is that so many of the sales in the big projects are not to end user buyers and therefore the construction lenders are refusing to fund them for fear that the speculation will unravel the market. Also, the secondary source of financing for these projects has evaporated with the rest of Wall Street.

We live in an interconnected world friends. A bird flaps its wings in India and a condo project gets killed in Toronto.

Peace & Kindness
 
It's known that TD Canada Trust was looking to possibly purchase WaMu (before it was snapped up)
 
Mr.Tang said:
The Cdn Banks are in no trouble. In fact they are now in a position of relative strength as they (more through luck and a ballessness than intellegence) have avoided most of the problems.
Click to expand...
Having no balls and being low risk are two entirely different things with entirely different consequences. Overly aggressive and liberal lending policies, over-extending and trading extremely complex instruments that nobody knows how to value didn't turn out so well for Wall Street, did it?
 
ONE STREET:

In the spirit of the thread (assumes intent), I attach an update of my Bloor/Yorkville elevations... as a before and after.

For newbies, yes this is a flattened compression of 3 n/s blocks but it remains a fun "to scale" look at change.

I added Cumberland and ghosted 4 Seasons redevelopment (who knows?).

Jarvis and Bloor is hilarious. Sorry CasaGuy.. couldn't find an elevation for BStneighbourhood.

Enjoy.

scaleBloor2.jpg
 
^ looks very good 3D! Shouldn't the Marriot be in the before and after?
Click to expand...

busted... I'll fix it. It was a rush job to counter all the end of the world posts. Good catch.

1 St. Thomas... it's optional along with many other buildings. It's an elevation scribble.
 
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