A Yen for Profit: Canadian Financial Institutions in Japan

Greg Ioannou was the past president of the Freelance Editors' Association of Canada and a partner in The Editorial Centre, Toronto.

The sudden emergence of Tokyo as an international financial centre in the l980s has sent Canadian banks and securities firms scurrying to establish branches and representative offices. Progressive deregulation has allowed the Canadian banks access to the Japanese capital markets, which are potentially a source of low-cost capital to fund their activities elsewhere. The Japanese appetite for investing in foreign securities has provided opportunities for Canadian securities firms, which have focused on selling Canadian government bonds. This very short book (only 32 pages of text) describes the changes in Canadian participation in the Japanese financial markets from 1980 to 1985, and speculates on the impact of changes in Japanese and Canadian financial regulations.