Bank of Canada 2024 Financial Statements

Summary#

The Bank of Canada published its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024. It reported a net loss of $3,079 million, an accumulated deficit of $9,817 million, and total assets of $277,243 million; the reports were audited with an unmodified opinion by Ernst & Young LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

What it does#

• Presents the Bank’s audited financial position and performance for the year ending December 31, 2024.
• Shows key headline numbers:
  • Net loss: $3,079 million.
  • Comprehensive loss: $2,866 million.
  • Accumulated deficit: $9,817 million.
  • Bank notes in circulation: $121,298 million.
  • Total deposits (2024): $164,359 million, including deposits by members of Payments Canada of $124,419 million and Government of Canada deposits of $28,551 million.
• Describes operational changes and program activity during 2024:
  • The Bank restarted its Securities Lending Program on October 2, 2024 and discontinued certain repo operations the same year.
  • The Bank began supervising payment service providers on November 1, 2024.
• Reports on employee benefit plans and pension funding details, including that employer contributions to the supplementary pension arrangement are expected to be $7 million in 2025.
• Explains how remittances to the federal treasury are being handled under the rules in the Bank of Canada Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1 (the statement says some surplus treatment is affected by those rules).

Who's affected#

• Government of Canada (the Minister of Finance is the Bank’s registered shareholder) — the statements inform how the Bank’s surpluses or deficits interact with federal accounts.
• Members of Payments Canada, other banks and payment service providers — large deposits and the Bank’s payments oversight role matter for their day-to-day liquidity and regulation.
• Users of Canada’s currency and the Canadian public — the Bank reports on bank-note issuance and the cash supply ($121,298 million in notes outstanding).
• Employees and retirees covered by the Bank of Canada Pension Plan and the supplementary arrangement — the report shows plan funding, asset mix and pension contribution rules.
• Financial markets — restarting the Securities Lending Program and changes to repo activity affect short-term liquidity and securities market functioning.

Why it matters#

• The Bank recorded a substantial loss and a growing accumulated deficit ($9,817 million). That affects whether and how much the Bank remits to the federal treasury and how it treats unrealized losses and reserves. The statements explain the legal and accounting rules that guide those remittances.
• Changes in the Bank’s market operations (restart of securities lending, changes to repo activity) matter to short-term borrowing costs and liquidity in Canada’s government-bond market.
• The start of supervision of payment service providers on November 1, 2024 may be relevant to companies that move money or provide payment apps and to their customers.
• Pension funding and contribution decisions (including the temporary restriction on some Pension Plan contributions noted in the report) affect Bank employees’ retirement arrangements and the Bank’s future cash flows.
• These are financial statements, not new laws or policy changes; they are a record of what the Bank did in 2024 and how it performed financially.