Awards for Excellence 2008: Canada

Best bank: TD Bank Best investment bank: RBC

Despite being neighbours and indeed competitors of US counterparts, Canada’s banks have fared much better than them in avoiding sub-prime related losses. And of all the Canadian financial groups one bank stands out as having enjoyed the best 2007-08 period – TD Bank. TD is the only large bank in Canada to have had no credit-related write-downs.

Ed Clark: “pretty obvious risks in sub-prime”

To have avoided sub-prime losses is testament to chief executive Ed Clark’s tutelage, and he has been vocal in admitting that it was not a result of genius but rather recognizing that “all the risks that brought the financial services [sector] down were well-known risks, much debated, and that anyone that sat down and studied these products could see it was pretty obvious.