The latest Economic Dashboard report was presented at today’s meeting of the City of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee. The dashboard reports on Toronto’s economy from an international, national and local perspective, based on statistics compiled from multiple sources.

“As Canada’s five largest banks are all headquartered in Toronto, their tremendous growth has helped transform Toronto into a global financial centre,” said Mayor Rob Ford.

This report outlined the following highlights about Canada’s five largest banks:

• In 2003, the combined market value of the five largest Canadian banks was less than that of the two largest Swiss banks. By 2011, this had shifted to the five largest Canadian banks being worth more than three times the two Swiss banks.

• Since 2003, all five Canadian banks have risen in international influence with each moving up in the ranks of the world’s 50 largest banks in terms of market capitalization. Royal Bank Canada is now in 11th place globally from 29th, TD Bank Group has risen to 13th place from 39th, Scotiabank has moved to 20th from 33rd, BMO Financial Group now ranks 34th from 44th and CIBC is now 43rd   from 50th.

“Not only are our banks strong but they are sound,” said Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre), Chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee. “The World Economic Forum has rated Canadian banks the soundest in the world for five consecutive years.”

The report also showed that downtown Toronto’s commercial vacancy rate is strong in comparison to the Greater Toronto Area. The downtown Toronto vacancy rate of 4.5 per cent is less than half of the 9.6 per cent vacancy rate for the “905″ municipalities (second quarter of 2012).

More information on these and additional economic indicators for the City of Toronto is available at http://www.toronto.ca/business_publications/indicators.htm

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.7 million people. Toronto’s government is dedicated to delivering customer service excellence, creating a transparent and accountable government, reducing the size and cost of government and building a transportation city. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can dial 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.