The Americans are Coming...

Joanna Smith of the Toronto Star provided a summary today of the U.S. firms who are looking at Canada now that regulations are starting to be finalized: New Rules Attract U.S. Lenders. She quotes Uriah King of the Center for Responsible Lending as saying that we will see "explosive growth in the industry." It is more likely that we will see large American lenders taking out small to medium-sized Canadian operators and the net number of stores will not change dramatically. If anything, the number of stores will decrease because the large lenders won't be interested in the small, low volume stores that are only financially viable if they are owner operated.