BANK BUYBACKS IN CANADA ON HOLD AS PANDEMIC DRAGS ON

Canada’s top banking regulator dashed hopes that the country's lenders will be able to follow U.S. peers in resuming share buybacks soon, saying it won't reverse its safeguards on the financial system as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions implemented measures in March to shore up the financial system, including asking banks not to increase dividends, total executive compensation, or to repurchase shares. On Monday, Jeremy Rudin, the regulator's head, said those measures will remain in place for the time being. “We will review those expectations when we have more clarity on the path out of the economic uncertainty created by the pandemic, and then we'll communicate those decisions transparently,” Rudin said in prepared remarks.