Bay St. beckons as Wall St. fumes

[Art Vandelay]

Obama proposal could drive U.S. banks to shift some operations north of the border


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...wall-st-fumes-over-obama-plan/article1439501/

 

[billonlogan]

Bring it on, we have lots of available office space in Toronto's financial district.

 

[Filip]

Not as much as these companies would need. This could be the single biggest boost our financial district gets in Toronto's history.

This also means thousands of new jobs could be available. Good news for guys like me graduating in Finance.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

I certainly wouldn't complain if banks started moving in. Heck, they might even set up shop in other parts of the Golden Horseshoe and boost urbanization efforts elsewhere--another bonus!

I do wonder, though: are the US banking rules going to be any more strenuous than what Canada has already?

 

[Eug]

It'd be good to see some move here, but I suspect most of this is just empty threats on the US banks' part, and wishful thinking for the Canadians.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Funny, I didn't see any word of this in any American newspaper of record. You'd think they would be really concerned about their banks moving major operations to a foreign country.

 

[Team Me]

It'd be good to see some move here, but I suspect most of this is just empty threats on the US banks' part, and wishful thinking for the Canadians.

Agreed. This is probably a way to get all the American news networks talking about the threat to the banking industry, and to rile up the Fox News crowd to rally against the regulations in hopes of turning public sentiment against Obama's plan.

The Canadian banking system is much more regulated anyway, which is what the banks are worried about south of us. While it may be more stable here, I think it's hardly worth picking up and leaving.

 

[Blues]

Funny, I didn't see any word of this in any American newspaper of record. You'd think they would be really concerned about their banks moving major operations to a foreign country.

Not me. I think they could give a "F-you" to banks right now. Bonuses, bailouts, and Of course, we paint the Citibank, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs as the banking industry as a whole. Lot of good, well-managed banks that aren't all "Evil" that sort get thrown into the mix with the tag. Its kind of because a "us against them" theme, instead of a "lets get together and figure this out" that we need.

Of course, people don't realize how much revenue to tax income they provide (I believe that NY state and NY City gets about 20% of it's tax income revenue from Wall Street alone) and the trickle-down impact they have due to the spending habits they have.

Toronto has around 250,000 people working on Bay Street, correct?

Of course, even if these threats don't happen, the Big 5 and the rest of financial/insurance businesses hub in Toronto are becoming aggressive in growth through acquisitions.