Canada

The Canadian bank said it will take at least a year to hit an inflection point in U.S. loan growth. It has been shedding assets in an effort to free up space for growth in more promising business lines.

Brookfield Asset Management and a private equity partner reached a friendly deal to take over First National Financial Corp., a mortgage company backed by Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith, for about C$2.9 billion ($2.1 billion).

Mostly prime Canadian consumers bolster securitized assets.

Canadian asset-backed commercial paper issuers eye chance to narrow massive financing gap created by the CDOR benchmark cessation.

Economists are also forecasting faster and deeper cuts to borrowing costs over the next year, and see the central bank reducing the policy rate from the current 4.5% to 3% by next July.

KeyCorp wasn't seeking capital but saw the benefits of Scotiabank's minority stake. The deal would enable the Canadian lender to step into the U.S. consumer market.

C$14.1 billion in purchases of federal government debt led the foreign inflows, as well as a C$6.6 billion investment in securities of government corporations and business enterprises.

CEO Scott Thomson has said that changes to the bank's operations may include "end-to-end digitization" as well as centralization of its international unit, rather than running it on a "country by country by country" basis.

Canada's banking regulator is proposing to make it more costly for lenders to accommodate mortgage borrowers who stretch out their loans in an effort to limit housing-market risks in the financial system.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is considering winding down the Canada Mortgage Bond program in a bid to reduce borrowing costs.