The Canadian financial industry is growing and changing rapidly. In this report you will learn about some of the major developments impacting this industry including:

• The imminent retirement of the Baby Boomer generation that will require cash management services and products as opposed to cash acquisition services and products from financial institutions.
• Evolving Canadian financial services consumers that over the last several years have migrated from fiercely loyal to their "main" financial institution to "cherry-picking" products and services for each of their financial needs, and from different sources.
• Fierce competition within the sector: driven by consumers showing less loyalty; more financial services providers setting up shop in Canada; and the sub-prime mortgage and CDO fallout from the U.S. leaving many to ask, "Can it happen in Canada?"

In addition, this report investigates potential drivers for growth:

• Market players and experts exclusively interviewed for this report believe that growth for most Canadian banks must come from expansion into foreign markets-as there are barely enough consumers in the population of Canada to justify the existence of five big banks.
• Growth for credit unions may come in the form of targeting small business loans.