Domestic Stability Buffer Council Communiqué - Inaugural Meeting of the C.D. Howe Institute Domestic Stability Buffer

The DSBC provides OSFI, industry participants, and key economic policy voices with an independent assessment of the appropriate size of the buffer in pursuit of OSFI’s mandate of contributing to public confidence in the Canadian financial system. [...] Council members first emphasized the importance of clarifying the purpose of the DSB. [...] As a relatively new feature of the financial system (introduced is 2018), the DSB would benefit from increased public education about its purpose and role, in the view of Council members. [...] 1 These include, in addition to the DSB, the 4.5 percent minimum capital requirements, the 2.5 capital conservation buffer, and the 1 percent D-SIB surcharge. [...] Members debated the weight to be given to each, but concluded that, at present, the window has likely closed to raise the DSB buffer further and that doing so could be counterproductive.