Canada’s Top Bank Regulator Says Capital Is in ‘Goldilocks Zone’

Peter Routledge, who leads Canada’s bank regulator, fired back against criticisms that the country’s biggest lenders face onerous capital burdens, arguing that current regulations are instead in a “Goldilocks zone.”

Canada’s systemically important banks — its six largest lenders, including Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank — hold more capital above binding regulatory limits than their peers in the US, Australia, the UK and Europe, according to a report from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions published Friday.

The banks as a group could lend as much as an additional C$1 trillion ($735 billion) without breaching ...