CIBC’s Deputy Chair, Roman Dubczak, and Priya Radha, Managing Director and Head of the Government Solutions Group, discuss current trends in government finance, including the impact of technology, market uncertainty, and investor diversification.
CIBC PERSPECTIVES
Government Finance Update
Roman Dubczak
Deputy Chair, CIBC
Hello, everyone. I'm Roman Dubczak, Deputy Chair of CIBC. On today's webcast, we'll discuss key developments in government finance and preview CIBC's annual Government Finance Conference here in Toronto. Next month, our team will host over 100 government issuers and investors from across Canada and the world to talk about the macroeconomic environment, including the growth outlook for 2026. The political and trade implications of U.S. tariffs on the international economy, and advancing indigenous economic reconciliation. The conference cannot come at a better time, given the many economic and geopolitical issues currently playing out in the world. To provide us with insights on these issues, I have with me today, Priya Radha, Managing Director and Head of the Government Solutions Group at CIBC. Welcome, Priya. So, you've been traveling extensively across Europe, North America. You attended the IMF meetings in Washington recently, met a bunch of clients, met a bunch of issuers. Top line, you know, what are some of the issues you may be able to share with us?
Priya Radha
Managing Director & Head, Government Solutions Group, CIBC Capital Markets
Certainly. Thanks, Roman. It's great to be here. As you know, there's a lot of uncertainty. This is what we've been talking about. The geopolitical uncertainty. And the one thing that we can agree on is that the volatility isn't going away. It's here to stay. So, with that in mind, the multilateral development banks, the supranationals, are really thinking about innovative and creative solutions to help them with their mandates. So, the three that really stick out to me, that we were talked about a lot was actually leveraging technology and specifically AI in order to streamline efficiencies. A lot of questions around blockchain, around different types of systems to make the back end more seamless as a measure. Then, of course, a focus on innovative structures, including diversifying your funding sources, because that is going to be critical in this market. And the third thing is actually, to uncover new investors. Now, they already have a great number of investors, but in the current climate that we are in, we certainly need to get that incremental buyer base to diversify the client base. So, really drives home the fact that CIBC has to continue to engage deeply with our existing investor and issuer base and to provide insights and recommendations which allow both sides to achieve their goals.
Roman Dubczak:
Yeah, I know, look, the conference is going to be excellent from that perspective because just so much is changing. You're going to, I think going back however many years we've been doing it, which has been a long, long time. We just have more engagement all the time, so it should be terrific. Then turning to Canada, you know, more domestically, how are the various levels, you know, the provinces, the munis, obviously, the federal government adopting their strategies to tapping the markets and adapting to, you know, longer term trends.
Priya Radha:
So, a lot of the same overlap as the MDBs or the SSAs, as you can imagine, but Canada being uniquely positioned the way we are. I like to think about it two ways. So, one is horizontal. So, interprovincial trade that has become a huge topic of discussion. And it's a very positive topic because it's really is a release valve to the trade tensions that we talk about. And the second is vertical. And what I mean by that is I mean coordination and collaboration between the federal government, the provincial and municipal government, because we really need to attract investors. We need to foster innovation, and we need to be aligned in our messaging as we go out into the world and broadcast and, you know, Brand Canada, if you will.
Roman Dubczak:
Yeah, certainly, certainly a very, very topical point right now in terms of branding Canada. So, you've been in the space for your relative newbie compared to me. But 20 plus years, I guess, how would you reflect on how financing the public sector has evolved over, you know, over time, your time, but time in general?
Priya Radha:
There's been a confluence of factors. I would say there's a lot of information coming at us and at speeds that we had never seen before. And technology and AI, certainly enabling that because we have to deal with swaths of data, we have to digest it, filter it, take the thing that salient and then make a decision based on it. And so, being agile is really key. And being able to respond is really key. You add to that the fact that funding programs are elevated at all time highs and not really showing signs of shrinking, for obvious reasons. And there's still 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year... So, it just gives you that less time to respond to things. So, you have to be creative. So, you have to be creative in your structures. You have be creative in currencies and tenors and the types of instruments and also which direction to strategically go in, because every time you say ‘yes’ to a strategy, you're saying ‘no’ to a lot of other strategies. And in the public sector specifically, new initiatives need approvals or changes and policies sometimes even have to get something legislated. So, you have to have a lot of conviction in your view, because you know, it has to stay the course over time. So, in the midst of this, what I'd like to call ‘organized chaos’, it really means that you need a trusted advisor. It really means that you need somebody who you can sit down with the way we are, lob ideas back and forth, do scenario analysis and think about what is the right thing to do for me at this time. And that's not lost on CIBC. So, as you know, we are so committed to following a client’s, client centered bank. We want to earn our way to trusted advisor. And we understand that now is a really pivotal time where we can make that difference.
Roman Dubczak:
Yeah. Look and credit to you and your team. Our reputation is quite high, right? And that's something that we guard, very, very jealously in terms of being able to deliver for our clients. As I mentioned the opening, we've got a Government Finance Conference coming up in a couple of weeks in December. You want to just briefly walk us through the agenda and what to expect?
Priya Radha:
Yeah, absolutely. It's a day and a half to really demonstrate to our clients that this is really centered around them. So, as you mentioned, over 100 issuers and investors will be there. Market participants will be there. There will be panel discussions. There will be fireside chats with a lot of diverse yet topical things to talk about. I encourage everyone, if you are interested, to please reach out to your relationship manager and we would be happy to host you.
Roman Dubczak:
Great! Thanks, Priya and we just want to thank everyone for joining us here today. Our team of experts is obviously ready at any time, as I mentioned, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to be able to help solve any of your issues. And we really do hope you are able to participate in our upcoming conference. Thanks for joining us today.