Foreign Securities Purchases by Canadians

Foreign Securities Purchases by Canadians reflect the total value of shares, bonds and money market securities, issued outside of Canada and purchased by Canadian residents in the given month.

The statistics of international transactions covers operations between all participants of international security purchases. The transactors can be businesses, governments, non-profit organizations and individuals.

Data for statistics calculation are collected from questionnaires. Information is collected from intermediaries who act as brokers or agents for those trading securities. In some cases, transactors (for example, large institutional investors, such as pension funds) engage for their own account, without going through an intermediary. Such transactors are surveyed directly. At the moment, there are approximately 25 such large transactors, who are surveyed on a monthly basis. Also 15 transactors who trade for their own account, but on a smaller scale, are surveyed directly on a quarterly basis (the data are then extrapolated). Also, 55 investment intermediaries are surveyed.

On the one hand, foreign securities purchases by Canadians increase the participation of residents of Canada in the international investment exchange and indicate the development of international economic relations. On the other hand, this actually means capital outflows. Canadian residents need to purchase foreign currency in order to pay for foreign securities. Therefore, an increase in foreign securities purchases by Canadians may have a negative impact on the Canadian dollar quotes.