Bank Loans in Canada

Canada's lending market is highly concentrated among its largest financial institutions. RBC and TD alone accounted for more than one-third of the loan portfolios tracked by WOWA Data Labs, while Scotiabank, BMO, and CIBC each held hundreds of billions of dollars in loans.

Loan portfolios include residential mortgages, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), personal and consumer loans, credit cards, and lending to businesses and governments.

Global Loan Portfolio of Canadian Lenders

Q2 2026

Nesto/CMLS

$80.0B (1.3%)

MCAP

$155.5B (2.6%)

mortgages under management

OLOther Lenders

$610.9B (10.1%)

First National

$166.2B (2.7%)

mortgages under management

Canada's five largest banks also have the country's largest bank loan portfolios. RBC was the largest, with $1.073 trillion in net loans, followed by TD with $998.4 billion and Scotiabank with $766.7 billion.

The difference between the largest banks and the rest of the market is substantial. Each of the Big Five had more than $600 billion in net loans, compared with about $315 billion at Desjardins and $310 billion at National Bank.

Beyond the Big Seven, Canada has a large group of regional banks, specialized banks, and credit unions with significant loan portfolios. While these institutions are much smaller than Canada's largest banks, many have important positions in regional lending, specialized lending, or the credit union market.

Canadian banks lend both domestically and internationally. Canada remains the largest lending market for each of the major banks, although international exposure varies significantly.

RBC, CIBC, and National Bank have particularly large Canadian shares of their global loan portfolios. TD and BMO have more substantial U.S. lending operations, while Scotiabank has significant lending outside Canada through its international banking operations.

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The loan portfolios of Canada's Big Seven span several major categories: residential mortgages, HELOCs, credit cards, consumer and personal loans, and business and government lending.

RBC had the largest residential mortgage balance among the Big Seven at $500.9 billion. TD had the largest consumer installment and personal loan portfolio at $274.7 billion, while RBC had the largest business and government loan and acceptance balance at $439.2 billion.

Loan growth from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026 differed considerably between Canada's largest lenders.

National Bank recorded the fastest annual growth in total loans and acceptances among the Big Seven, followed by RBC and Desjardins. Scotiabank and BMO saw comparatively little annual growth.

Deposits are an important source of funding for bank lending. One way to compare the two is the loan-to-deposit ratio, which divides a financial institution's net loans by its deposits.

Among banks and credit unions with more than $500 million in assets covered by WOWA Data Labs, there were $5.27 trillion in net loans and $7.19 trillion in deposits. That resulted in an overall loan-to-deposit ratio of 73.3%.

The largest banks generally had loan-to-deposit ratios below 80%. Some smaller banks and credit unions had ratios above 100%, meaning their net loans exceeded their deposit base and they relied more heavily on other forms of funding.

See our Bank Deposits page for a closer look at how deposits are distributed across Canadian financial institutions.

Canada's outstanding loans have grown considerably over the past two decades alongside the country's money supply.

In March 2026, Canada's M2 money supply was $2.796 trillion, while M3 was $4.018 trillion. The WOWA Data Labs report compares these measures with the long-term growth of loans to Canadian households and private non-financial corporations. Total loans exclude securities and are calculated as the combined loan liabilities of households and private non-financial corporations.

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RBC had the largest net loan portfolio among Canadian banks in Q2 2026, at approximately $1.073 trillion. TD was second at $998.4 billion.

The global loan portfolios of Canadian lenders tracked by WOWA Data Labs totalled approximately $6.05 trillion in Q2 2026.

The Big Five banks accounted for approximately 68.0% of the loan portfolios tracked in the Q2 2026 report. Including National Bank and Desjardins increased the Big Seven share to 78.0%.

Major Canadian banks hold residential mortgages, HELOCs, credit card balances, consumer installment and personal loans, and business and government loans and acceptances.

A loan-to-deposit ratio compares a financial institution's net loans with its deposits. A ratio of 75%, for example, means the institution has about $75 in net loans for every $100 of deposits.

No. The main lender rankings use global loan portfolios. Canada's largest banks also have lending operations in the United States and other international markets.

This page uses data from the WOWA Data Labs Canadian Lenders Report.

Banks, foreign banks, and credit unions are generally shown using net loans. Mortgage finance companies are shown using mortgages under administration, while mortgage investment entities (MIEs) are shown using assets under management (AUM) because these business models do not necessarily retain their full lending portfolios on their own balance sheets.

Figures are based on each institution's latest available reporting period and therefore do not all represent exactly the same reporting date.

Amounts are shown in Canadian dollars and rounded for readability.

Sources include OSFI, the Bank of Canada, and lenders' quarterly and annual financial reports.