Canada Financial Services Correspondent

Reuters is looking for an experienced journalist to cover Canada's financial services industry, the mainstay of the country's stock market. From Royal Bank of Canada, the world's No. 4 lender, to prolific dealmaker Brookfield and top-ranked global pension CPPIB, the industry is laced with top global names in finance that are expanding overseas and plowing billions of dollars to buy everything from technology to energy companies around the world. From the global financial crisis to economic collapse caused by the pandemic, the Canadian banks have weathered it all. While that has burnished the industry’s reputation as risk-averse entities with strong internal controls, they have been slow to embrace technological advancements and adopt global regulatory changes. Now a sudden and sharp rise in interest rates by the central bank is choking one of the main revenue source — mortgages. As the economy faces headwinds from a slowing housing market, record household debt and elevated interest rates, some investors are questioning banks’ ability to ride a housing-driven economic downturn.