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The fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse has led to a continent-wide selloff in financial stocks erasing $19.7 billion in value from Canada’s top banks in the last four days.
Large Canadian banks have acquired regional U.S. banks in recent years, increasing their exposure to the fallout from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which entered receivership Friday. SVB Financial Group had opened a Canadian office in 2019 and listed e-commerce darling Shopify Inc. as a client. Shopify did not respond to a request for comment and was among the biggest decliners in Toronto.
“Liquidity positions across the Canadian banks are strong,” CIBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Holden wrote in a note defending Canada’s financial sector.
Deposits in the U.S. fell two per cent in the latter half of last year while Canadian deposits rose four per cent, according to Holden. “We do not think that deposit trends will force the liquidation of bond holdings, similar to SVB,” he said.
There could be other consequences though. TD is the largest shareholder in Charles Schwab. The Texas-based brokerage posted its worst two-day drop on record.
TD is also in the process of acquiring First Horizon Corp., where deposits have fallen by 10 per cent over the past two quarters. The Canadian financial giant may seek to renegotiate terms, Holden said.
“Risk premiums for U.S. regional banks have increased materially,” he said. First Horizon shares fell four per cent Friday.
