Here's a clue on Cdn banks..
When I left Canada in 1995, all 5 banks were having a party b/c they all had made $1B that year... Ok, one made~$950M.
Not many years later, they were all making that $1B / Quarter...
They bought the equivalent of the S&L's, real estate sales companies, wealth management companies.
Noforeign competition allowed, heavily regulated... a benevolent oligopoly.
Not one dime lost in the US mortgage meltdown..... safe as a church.
That's my view....
Some are jumping in to the USA these days.... not Scotia , to my knowledge