Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank all of the participants for being with us here today.
I want to begin my questioning with Mr. Campbell, from the Canadian Bankers Association. I want to talk a bit about Basel II and Basel III and OSFI and where we are in terms of that.
Under Basel II, the banks were required to maintain a 4% Tier 1 ratio and a total capital ratio of 8%. Basel III boosted it up to, I think, 7% and 10%. OSFI exceeds that standard.
You mentioned during the course of your remarks that the World Economic Forum has said that Canada has had the strongest financial institutions for five years in a row now. That's how we were largely able to withstand the economic storm that engulfed the world and why we were one of only two countries, I think, that didn't have any bank failures.
Could you speak a bit about how the banks feel about the more stringent OSFI standards vis-à-vis the Basel III standards? The banks are so competitive with each other globally now, not just within Canada but around the world. How do the banks view the more stringent standards they have to abide by under OSFI as opposed to Basel III, where their competitors are?