According to the survey of 1513 Canadians conducted in December 2008, 92% feel that the strength of Canadian banks is critical to the health of the overall economy. A further 91% feel their deposits are secure with the Canadian banks, and 82% believe they were well run. "How many other countries would score this well?" comments Sheen.
In fact, very few would. A recent survey by the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research showed that respondents in many major countries rated banks at or below five out of 10 in terms of their stability and solidity, including the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland.
And the strong results in Canada were despite the limited knowledge among Canadians that the country was recently rated as having the soundest banking system in the world by the World Economic Forum. "Canadians don't need to be told how solid their banks are; they know we're fortunate," notes Sheen.
Despite their resiliency though, Canadian banks were impacted by the financial turmoil. PwC's Annual Banking Survey shows that in fiscal 2008, combined annual profits for the Big Six banks dropped $7.5 billion to just over $12 billion from a record $19.5 billion in 2007. This puts 2008 income on par with the results from 2005. But in these unprecedented times, the Canadian banks are in relatively good shape to weather the difficult downturn.
