Canada’s top financial services firms are contributing a total of $1.725 million to support monetary policy research at the C.D. Howe Institute, the policy think tank announced Tuesday.

It’s the largest combined gift ever received by the institute.

The monetary policy initiative will be formally launched on May 17 at a fundraising dinner in Toronto featuring Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, as keynote speaker.

The expanded funding will allow the institute to:

• establish a research chair for an external scholar to generate a stream of research and events on the most critical issues facing policymakers in this area;

• create additional internal research capacity focused on monetary and macro-financial research;

• increase the number and frequency of publications, roundtables and conferences devoted to monetary policy, and;

• create Canada’s foremost independent working group on monetary policy, by enlisting additional policy experts from industry, universities and government to guide the Institute’s monetary policy research.

Five founding lead sponsors are each contributing $250,000 to the new program: BMO Financial Group; CIBC; RBC Financial Group; Bank of Nova Scotia; and TD Bank Financial Group.

Four founding supporting sponsors are contributing smaller amounts: Great-West Life, $100,000; Manulife Financial, $150,000, National Bank, $125,000; and Sun Life Financial, $100,000.

The institute expressed its gratitude to the CEOs of all nine sponsors for their support and participation in this effort.

“This combined gift from Canada’s financial sector will help establish the foremost centre of excellence in Canadian Monetary Policy beyond the Bank of Canada,” said Bill Robson, president and CEO of the institute.

“This is our largest charitable donation ever,” added Duncan Munn, the institute’s senior vice president and COO.

“We are deeply honoured that this distinguished group, arguably amongst the most respected and influential CEOs in the country, look to the C.D. Howe Institute as a source of policy inspiration for the country.”

IE