General

Banking regulator to oversee Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation

As Maclean’s predicted on Monday, the Conservative government has tabled a bill that would put the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation under the supervision of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

This could be major news for Canada’s housing market, which some believe is overheating. According to the Wall Street Journal:

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions will be given authority to review and monitor the “safety and soundness” of CMHC’s commercial activities, and report to the CMHC board, the finance minister, and the federal human resources minister.

Under Canadian law, home buyers with a down payment of less than 20 per cent are obliged to purchase mortgage insurance.

The budget legislation also included new rules governing covered bonds, which are issued by banks using mortgages as collateral that are almost always insured by the CMHC.

For more, see articles in today’s CBC, the Globe and the Financial Post.

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