Everybody knows what Wall Street is, but a lot of non-native English speaking students have never heard of “Bay Street”.

A Finance Business English student was confused by the following headline while studying the global energy market:

“BAY STREET: Weak Commodities Set to Punish Company Profits”

In this lesson we’ll take a closer look at Bay Street – The Wall Street of Canada.

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Wall Street is located in downtown New York, the financial capital of the world.

Bay Street is located in downtown Toronto, the financial capital of Canada.

Wall Street is synonymous with banking and equities.

Bay Street is synonymous with metals and mining

WHAT HAPPENS ON BAY STREET?

As of 2014, energy and materials sharesmake up about half of the value of the Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark S&P/TSX composite index.

Toronto hosts the biggest gold and silver miner’s conference in the world, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

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BANKS ON BAY STREET: THE “BIG 5″

Bank of Montreal

Bank of Nova Scotia

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Royal Bank of Canada

Toronto-Dominion Bank

Royal Bank of Canada is the biggest and most prestigious. The exterior of the banks headquarters is coated in millions of dollars worth of gold!

Bay Street is the lifeblood of Canada’s finance industry.

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Bay Street’s Growing Relationship with China

On top of the thriving banking, metals, and mining industries, talks are in place to set up Bay Street as a currency trading hub for the Chinese Yuan

Trade is surging between China and Canada, and Toronto is a key partner in the liberalization of China’s capital markets.

Canada has a massive Chinese population. There were 1.5 million people of Chinese ancestry in Canada as of 2011, or 4 percent of the population. Toronto is home to 40 percent of the country’s Chinese population.

By 2031 there will be 2.7 million individuals of Chinese origin in Canada, or 6.4 percent of the population, according to Statistics Canada projections.

Finance Business English believes that students, particularly from China, should learn more about Bay Street, as Canada’s economy is likely be the strongest in North America and one of the best in the world for many years to come.

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Lee Banfield is the founder of Finance Business English. If you’re interested in learning more or studying Business English with Lee please add him on

Skype: Skype ID = financebusinessenglish

For more tips and advice, I recommend checking out my website where I write a couple of times a week and answer questions from students.

www.financebusinessenglish.com