Canada

Bank of Montreal (BMO) is winding down its indirect retail auto finance business and shifting focus to other areas in a move that will result in an unspecified number of job losses, Canada's third-largest bank said, Reuters reported. The bank, which announced the move on Saturday, has conducted this business in Canada and the United States. The move comes after BMO's overall bad debt provisions rose to C$492 million, compared with C$136 million a year earlier, for the quarter ended July 31 in a sign of growing stress consumers face from a rapid rise in borrowing costs.

Canada's Canopy Growth said yesterday that it would seek bankruptcy protection for its sports nutrition products' segment BioSteel, in the pot producer's latest attempt to rein in costs. Canopy's shares rose 9.6% in early trade after the company said it expects to lower debt by C$95 million over the next two quarters after starting legal proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in a Canadian court in Ontario and seeking recognition under chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Canada plans to amend its competition laws to enable the regulator to act against anti-competitive mergers in the grocery sector, as the government steps up efforts to battle rising food prices, Reuters reported. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said he had summoned the heads of Canada's top grocers to Ottawa next week to discuss their plans to control food prices. The government could impose new taxes on the grocery chains if they do not provide a convincing plan to limit the rise of food prices, Trudeau said.

A numbered company is petitioning the B.C. Supreme Court to force Skeena Sawmills and its affiliated entities into bankruptcy, The Interior News reported. According to a Sept. 8 court filing, 1392752 B.C. Ltd., seeks to appoint a receiver and manager of all properties associated with Skeena Sawmills, Skeena Bioenergy and ROC Holdings to sell them and distribute the proceedings. Alvarez & Marsal Canada was named as a potential receiver.

Laurentian Bank of Canada ended its strategic review without finding a buyer and plans to carry on as an independent firm with a slimmer management team. The company’s shares plunged, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian bank announced in July it was examining its options. It hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to run the process and considered a number of possibilities, including a sale of the whole bank or parts of it. Instead, it will try to ramp up its current strategy, which includes growth in commercial lending and technology upgrades.

Most Canadians are prepared to see home values fall, according to a new poll, suggesting some homeowners are willing to give up a bit of their own wealth to improve affordability for others, Bloomberg News reported. Some 70% of respondents said they would be happy (40%) or somewhat happy (30%) to see home prices go down, says the poll conducted by Nanos Research for Bloomberg News. When asked about solutions to the high cost of shelter, Canadians’ preferred option is to build more homes, faster — including government-subsidized ones. But 12% said the best answer is to curb immigration.

Canadian Housing Minister Sean Fraser is keeping a wide range of options on the table as he looks to make a dent in a national housing shortage, the CBC reported. "There's a range [of incentives] that we're considering right now. Some could include potential tax incentives for builders to build. Some could include other low-cost financing arrangements," Fraser said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday.

Validus Power Corp., which operates a power plant in northern Ontario, has been forced into receivership, CTVNews.ca reported. Validus ran the power plant under an agreement with Macquarie Equipment Finance Ltd. In April 2022, Macquarrie bought the turbines, plant and equipment from Iroquois Falls Power Corp. for $45 million, then leased it back to Validus to operate. Under the lease agreement with Validus, Macquarie was to receive monthly rent payments, with the understanding that the corporation could be forced into bankruptcy if it defaulted.

The Bank of Canada held its main interest rate steady at 5% after back-to-back rate rises in June and July, saying the economy has shifted into a weaker phase and labor-market pressures have eased, the Wall Street Journal reported. Nevertheless, the central bank Wednesday said it remained concerned “about the persistence of underlying inflationary pressures,” and is prepared to raise rates again should conditions not improve. Along with the U.S.

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday is expected to keep rates on hold at a 22-year high of 5% after the economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter, analysts said, Reuters reported. The central bank hiked rates by a quarter point in both June and July, and then said it was prepared to raise rates again to tame inflation that has remained above the bank's 2% target for 27 months. While the economy turned negative in the second quarter, inflation has been stubborn, unexpectedly rising to 3.3% in July as core measures remained well above 3%.