Just about any time these days that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty or Prime Minister Stephen Harper talk about the global fiscal and economic crisis, you will almost certainly hear them assert that Canada's banks are "the soundest in the world." Indeed, that was the first thing Flaherty said Wednesday morning just as he was announcing a suite of measures to help the banks do their job better.

It's a claim Canada's politicians have been making ever since the Geneva-based World Economic Forum published a report Oct. 8 that ranked Canada's banking system the "soundest" among 134 countries surveyed.

But is Canada's banking system really that sound? Should Canadians and politicians be putting much stock in the World Economic Forum's report?

"If you look at . . . all these rankings, they're meaningless," said Reuven Brenner, a professor in the Desautels faculty of management at McGill University.

Banking policy experts worry such a ranking may lull Canadians and politicians into a false sense of security or reduce the impetus to make changes and regulatory reforms they say are needed to make our financial services sector stronger. [Read on ...]

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