deposit insurance | Page 2 | General comparisons | Discussion forum

If anyone has actual concern about a specific institution, or, say, credit unions in general, the answer is simple. Choose a CDIC institution (and if you are very conservative, a large and stable one) and respect the limits, at whatever cost in lower interest rates. Even if you could actually calculate it (you can't) "Risk premium" is NOT a phrase that should be associated with your cash or basic GIC investments... 🙂

For pure intellectual curiosity about regional economy differences or the stability of credit unions, handwaving about Manitoba farms or Toronto housing bubbles is probably of little use. You'd want to take a look at their annual financials, to see how much of their mortgage book is covered by CMHC, for instance (no risk), and how much equity they have that can be eaten through. You could estimate the losses on the remaining non-guaranteed residential mortgages, commercial and farm loans, etc. from whatever hypothetical crisis situation you come up with. There's probably going to be liquidity support or a sale/merger or other measures before the institution goes kaput, and you'll want to factor in the resources of the provincial guarantee corp.