Bank of Canada

The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank, established by the Bank of Canada Act of July 3, 1934, and beginning operations on March 11, 1935. The Act charges it to regulate credit and currency in the best interests of the nation's economic life and to promote Canada's economic and financial welfare; in practice it sets Canadian monetary policy, is the sole issuing authority for Canadian banknotes, and provides banking services and money management for the federal government. Originally structured as a privately owned institution, it was fully nationalized in 1938, four years after its founding, and has operated as a Crown corporation wholly owned by the federal government ever since.