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(Bloomberg) — The Canadian government has invited representatives from US banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. for a meeting, according to people with knowledge of the matter, after US President Donald Trump complained that American banks have trouble doing business in Canada.
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Bank of America Corp. is also among the firms invited, the people said. Details of the meeting with officials from Canada’s Department of Finance, including timing, are still being determined, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Representatives for JPMorgan and Bank of America declined to comment, while a finance department spokesperson didn’t provide a comment.
Trump has claimed on a number of occasions, including in a February CNN interview, that American banks aren’t allowed to do business in Canada. That is not the case. More than a dozen US banks currently operate in Canada, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. But Canadian banks dominate in many lines of business, including retail banking.
Canadian banks underwrote 96% of loonie-denominated corporate bonds — a key part of activity in Canadian capital markets — in 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In other countries, foreign banks often have larger market share of such deals. US banks accounted for a little over half of US-dollar debt deals, and in Australia, domestic banks accounted for 65% of debt underwriting last year.
The three American banks licensed to receive retail deposits in Canada do not offer a full array of consumer banking services and instead tend to focus on wealth management and services for business.
Banco Santander SA last month won a Canadian banking license, though the bank’s plan for the market is unclear.
The last foreign bank with a significant branch banking operation in the country, HSBC Holdings Plc, sold that operation to Royal Bank of Canada last year. Stifel Financial Corp. closed its Calgary office last year, ending a run in Canada’s energy investment banking sector.
Canada is in the midst of an election that will conclude on April 28.
–With assistance from Christine Dobby.
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