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Does Canada bar American banks from operating in the country? No, that's not true: As of this writing, 16 U.S.-based bank subsidiaries and branches were operating in Canada, according to the Canadian Bank Association. These banks hold around 113 billion Canadian dollars in assets and "make up half of all foreign bank assets in Canada," the association added. Canada's Department of Finance told Lead Stories that a social media post saying U.S. banks are not allowed to work in Canada is "false."
On March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump made this assertion (archived here) on his social media platform Truth Social, writing:
Canada doesn't allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn't it?
Below is how the post appeared on Truth Social at the time of this writing:
(Source: Truth Social screenshot taken Wed Mar 5 07:09:01 2025 UTC)
In an email to Lead Stories received on March 5, 2025, Canada's Department of Finance official said this claim is "false."
U.S. banks are active in Canada and play an important role in the Canadian financial sector. These include Bank of America, Citibank, JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon, and US Bank.
Canada has one of the strongest and most resilient banking systems in the world. Canada's financial regulatory framework supports and encourages the entry of foreign financial institutions into Canada as a means of promoting competition and innovation in the financial services sector.
Foreign financial institutions have a wide range of options for doing business in Canada and are given the same opportunities to offer financial services in Canada as domestic institutions. For example, a foreign institution can establish a Canadian bank subsidiary, a foreign bank branch, a foreign bank representative office, a Canadian insurance subsidiary, a foreign insurance branch, a Canadian trust and loan company or an unregulated Canadian finance entity.
On March 4, 2025, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), an organization representing Canada's banks, wrote (archived here) on X that 16 U.S.-based bank subsidiaries and branches were operating there. The caption on their post read in its entirety:
Canada has a strong and competitive banking sector comprised of both domestic and foreign banks. There are 16 U.S. based bank subsidiaries and branches with around C$113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada. These banks specialize in a range of financial services, including corporate and commercial lending, treasury services, credit card products, investment banking and mortgage financing. They serve not only customers with cross-border business activities, but also Canada's domestic retail market. U.S. banks now make up half of all foreign bank assets in Canada.
As of this writing, 113 billion in Canadian dollars converts to about US$78.7 billion.
CBA had previously issued the above statement to X on February 3, 2025.
The post also included a graphic listing U.S. banks operating in Canada, which included:
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Amex Bank
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Citibank
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J.P. Morgan Bank
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Bank of America, National Association
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Bank of New York Mellon
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Capital One, Nation Association
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Citibank, National Association
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Comerica Bank
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Fifth Third Bank, National Association
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J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, National Association
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M&T Bank
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Northern Trust Company
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PNC Bank, National Association
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State Street Bank and Trust Company
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U.S. Bank National Association
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Wells Fargo Bank, National Association
This list is also shown in a live embed of the post below:
Canada has a strong and competitive banking sector comprised of both domestic and foreign banks. There are 16 U.S. based bank subsidiaries and branches with around C$113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada. These banks specialize in a range of financial services,... pic.twitter.com/hBKKdNFc5R
-- Canadian Bankers Association (@CdnBankers) March 4, 2025
CBA told Lead Stories that "the 16 U.S. banks operating in Canada make up 2 percent of total bank assets located in Canada."
Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, which regulates more than 400 financial institutions, listed American-based banks on its website.
At the time this fact check was written, CNN and Reuters had debunked the claim.
Read more
Other claims related to Donald Trump can be read here.
Updates:
2025-03-05T21:28:21Z 2025-03-05T21:28:21Z Added statements from the Canada Department of Finance and Canadian Bankers Association.
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