Canadian governments and corporations borrowed a net $82 billion with debt securities in the third quarter, the highest level of activity since the same period in 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
Total Canadian debt securities reached $6.3 trillion at the end of the third quarter, up $127 billion from the previous quarter. The increase was primarily driven by net issuances. About one-fifth of the stock of Canadian debt securities is denominated in U.S. dollars; the depreciating Canadian dollar increased the value of instruments denominated in this currency when converted to Canadian currency.
Borrowing was led by the government sector ($2.8 trillion in total debt securities at the end of September), followed by financial corporations ($2.6 trillion) and non-financial corporations ($919 million).
The government sector became the main borrowing sector starting in the first quarter of 2021 with strong borrowing needs related to the Covid pandemic. Before 2021, financial corporations were the main debt securities borrowers.
In the third quarter, insurance corporations and pension funds issuances totalled $12.5 billion, the largest amount since the first quarter of 2024. Non-financial corporations issued $14 billion of debt securities in the third quarter of 2025, led by the utilities industry.
Over 40% of all debt securities net issuances by Canadian governments and corporations in the third quarter were placed on international markets. Canadian holdings of foreign securities reached $4.6 trillion at the end of the third quarter, up $391 billion from the previous quarter. The increase also came from strong growth in foreign equity prices and the upward revaluation from the Canadian dollar’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar.
At the end of the third quarter, 71.2% of all foreign securities held by Canadian investors were in U.S. instruments. U.S. shares were more than three-quarters of all U.S. securities held by Canadian investors. At the same time, 13.8% of all Canadian-held foreign securities were European, mostly from the U.K., Germany and France.