Big Five facts for kids
The Big Five is a special name for the five biggest banks in Canada. These banks are super important because they pretty much run the banking world in the country! All five of them have their main offices in Toronto.
These banks are known as "Schedule I banks." This means they are Canadian banks that operate under special rules set by the government. Their shares can be owned by many different people or groups, but no single person or company can own more than 20% of any of these banks.
Canada's Big Five Banks
The Big Five banks are considered some of the strongest banks in the world! Here's how they rank globally:
- Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank)
- Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
- Scotiabank
- Bank of Montreal (BMO)
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Who Are the Big Five?
For a long time, the Royal Bank of Canada was always the biggest bank by far. But in recent years, TD Bank has grown a lot and sometimes even become larger than RBC!
Back in the 1990s, CIBC used to be the second-largest bank. After that came Bank of Montreal, then Scotiabank, and finally TD Bank.
How They Became So Big
The order of the banks changed quite a bit in the late 1990s and early 2000s because of some big changes and mergers:
- In 1993, Royal Bank bought a company called Royal Trust.
- Scotiabank bought National Trust in 1997. Scotiabank didn't merge with any of the other Big Five banks. Instead, it grew by expanding its business in other countries. This helped Scotiabank become bigger than the Bank of Montreal.
- TD Bank merged with Canada Trust. Canada Trust was the largest trust company in Canada for a very long time. This big merger helped TD Bank become one of the top banks.
- The Bank of Montreal hasn't had many big changes or mergers like the others.
- CIBC tried to expand into the United States market, but it didn't go well. They had to sell off their businesses there, which caused them to drop to the fifth spot among the Big Five.
See also
In Spanish: Big Five para niños
