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HIGHLIGHTS-Bank of Canada's Poloz and Wilkins speak in Ottawa

Published 2017-06-08, 11:58 a/m
© Reuters.  HIGHLIGHTS-Bank of Canada's Poloz and Wilkins speak in Ottawa

TORONTO, June 8 (Reuters) - Below are some key quotes from an appearance on Thursday by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins in Ottawa, after the release of the semi-annual Financial System Review. ON RISK OF HOUSING CORRECTION

"We're only looking at what I call extreme events. So we're looking at something that is a little bit more probable than something else, both of them are still what economists call tail risks. Things that we need to be mindful of but no one predicted that they're about to occur."

"Moderate means more than low, and through time, I'm more comfortable observing that that risk that we talk about, the risk of a price correction in specific housing markets appears to be growing through time. It's not just a static thing, it's becoming more of a vulnerability, not less. That doesn't mean it's become highly probable."

POLOZ ON SIGNS OF ECONOMIC STRENGTH

"It's important piece of the setting when we talk about these risks, that the economy has shown more signs of strength in recent months, and that we still have questions around sustainability and what risks we face on the macro front."

POLOZ ON BANK ACTIONS AND OIL SHOCK

"It does appear that the actions that we took in 2015 have done a good job to facilitate the economy's adjustment to that shock. That's encouraging."

WILKINS ON CAUSES OF U.S. CREDIT CRISIS, CONTRAST TO CANADA

"It is important to look at the U.S. experience and see to what extent there are similarities and differences and I think when you see house prices where they are and you see indebtedness it is quite tempting to draw parallels and at the same time when you understand what really led to the severity of the financial stress in the U.S., which was actually quite global in 2008 and 2009, it was related to a number of factors that are not present in Canada.

"And one of them is just the underwriting standards in Canada are high and they are effectively enforced. We are not seeing the kind of ninja loans, if you remember those, just as an example, you look at delinquency rates, they are historically low, they still are.

"I think really importantly is just the difference in laws, lenders in Canada have recourse to other household assets. It is not always the case in the U.S., and that changes the recovery rates for institutions if there is a problem but it also means that households have greater incentives to hang on and not walk away."

WILKINS ON SECURITIZATION IN CANADA

"And then I think finally and probably the most important thing is just how the mortgages were financed in the U.S. which related to very complex securitization products that packaged up risk and spread it around in a way that was completely mispriced and so when it unwound it just amplified the situation.

"So what might have been a macro cycle ended up being a financial crisis. And so when you look at Canada we have much less securitization it's public, it's plain Jane."

POLOZ ON ALTERNATIVE LENDING SECTOR

"There are lots of folks out there who are self-employed or have recently moved to Canada, other cases where they just don't have the paperwork it takes to walk in and be approved at a bank for a mortgage in 60 seconds because they don't fit the template."

"So this alt-lending sector does an important service, it fills that space. It takes longer to kick the tires and do its credit approvals, but people do get a mortgage and as you can tell from the stats that have been published, they have very, very low default rates, so it's a business that works."

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