Good morning. Chris Wilson-Smith is off today, but don’t worry, we found another Chris for you: me, Chris Hannay. I cover the business of health care, so I will have to include here the passage of the government’s pharmacare bill Thursday and what it means for the private insurance industry. But there are so many fascinating business stories on deck, we’ll have to get to it later. Here are a few headlines to get us warmed up:
In the news
- Mission critical: Teck Resources chief executive Jonathan Price says government investments in battery plants are pointless without similar focus on the minerals and metals that make them work.
- Will the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up? A new documentary says a Canadian cryptographer is the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, but he says it isn’t him.
- Federal fuel charge forecast: The PBO released an updated analysis of carbon pricing that shows Canadian households will still be worse off on average in broad economic terms – but not by as much as previously estimated.
Happening today
- Statistics Canada reports employment for September at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- Bank of Canada releases its business outlook survey at 10:30 a.m. ET.
- And Britain reports GDP for August.
Business Brief is taking the Monday off for the long weekend, but we will be back in your inbox on Tuesday.
In focus
Five takeaways
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that TD Bank will plead guilty to money-laundering charges and pay a US$3-billion settlement at the Justice Department in Washington DC on Oct. 10, 2024.Carol Guzy/The Globe and Mail
1. TD troubles
The fallout from Toronto-Dominion Bank’s money-laundering scandal continues, with details of the U.S. Department of Justice’s punishment.
“By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday.
“Today, TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law – a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties.”
- Staff knew the bank was favoured by money launderers because of its lax controls, but failed to stop the problems and even joked in e-mails about its reputation.
- The bank faces an asset cap on its U.S. retail banking division and a restriction on opening new branches. Among the possible penalties, this was considered one of the harshest.
- It faces more than US$3-billion in fines, plus other non-monetary penalties
Columnist Andy Willis says: TD Bank’s ‘LOL’ culture reverses two generations of southward expansion
A Sheriff's Department vehicle moving through flooded streets in Tampa, Florida, after Hurricane Milton's destruction on October 10.BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP/Getty Images
2. Hurricane devastation
Hurricane Milton has passed through Florida and while it wasn’t the “worst-case scenario” (as Governor Ron DeSantis put it), the powerful storm still left extensive devastation in its wake.
The worst damage, of course, is the loss of life. At least eight deaths have been identified, and unfortunately, that number is likely to rise as authorities comb through the path of destruction.
The costs of rebuilding are expected to be high. Before Milton hit land, analysts predicted the insurance bill could range between US$30-billion and US$60-billion. Although no individual storm can be pinned on climate change, rising global temperatures will continue to pose mounting challenges to the global insurance industry.
3. A marriage of convenience (stores)
The high takeover drama continues:
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. upped its offer for 7-Eleven parent Seven & i Holdings to US$47-billion.
- Seven & i posted disappointing earnings, with profits down 35 per cent year-over-year in the six months ending in August.
Seven & i has so far rebuffed the offer, but the combination of the above factors is ratcheting up pressure for the company to accept – and make Couche-Tard a worldwide convenience-store giant.
4. Labour relief
Air Canada passengers are breathing a sigh of relief as the airline’s pilots voted to ratify a new contract.
The four-year collective agreement will see pilots get a front-loaded 42-per-cent raise over four years. It is the group’s first new contract in a decade.
- No such luck at the Port of Montreal, though, where nearly 1,200 longshore workers have begun an overtime strike to put pressure on management during contract talks.
5. Pharmacare
The Liberal government’s Bill C-64 has passed the Senate without amendment, which would create the beginnings of a national, universal pharmacare plan with public coverage of diabetes medication and contraception.
For months there has been uncertainty about what a new public plan would mean for private coverage. Private insurers are, of course, not happy about a new government-backed competitor. But employers and employees will also have a lot of questions about what happens to their current coverage.
Over the next year:
- Ottawa will need to sign separate, bilateral deals with the provinces and territories to cover contraceptives and diabetes drugs, so rollout will vary across the country.
- A panel of experts will design the system and deliver a report with recommendations within a year.
So stay tuned.
Call out
On Oct. 16 at 1 p.m., Globe journalists will answer your questions on our first-ever Big Guide to Canadian Credit Cards. Globe and Mail subscribers can ask a question or leave a comment, but registered non-subscribers can still view the questions and responses. Submit a question here.
Charted
The inequality gap widens
Increase in incomes and living costs from 2019 to 2024 by income groupThe Globe and Mail
Remember the Occupy protests of more than a decade ago, when wealth inequality {briefly) took centre stage amid concerns that wealth and income were being concentrated in the hands of those best off?
Well, it has gotten even worse, according to a pair of reports this week. The studies, from Statistics Canada and the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, show disposable income has gone up for the top brackets and down for the lowest ones. Jason Kirby has more.
Morning markets
Global markets were little changed as investors held back from placing more bets ahead of a much-anticipated update on fiscal stimulus from Beijing this weekend. Wall Street futures were mixed and TSX futures pointed higher as markets awaited more economic data, including Canadian jobs numbers for September.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 were 0.08 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.14 per cent, Germany’s DAX climbed 0.22 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.12 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.57 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed for a holiday.
The Canadian dollar traded at 72.63 U.S. cents.