Canadian Financials Missing from the Short-Selling Ban List

Investors looking to short financials on U.S. markets are largely out of luck Friday after the SEC action to call a 10-day "timeout" on short selling in financial stocks.

But for those investors who absolutely must, a trio of Canadian banks listed on the New York exchange who were left of the SEC's list "don't short" banks, insurance companies and securities firms, might be of interest.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) and Bank of Montreal (BMO) are are all absent from the list of 799 names identified by the SEC, while Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) were included among the names.

Lifeco giants Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC) and Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) were also on the list as were insurers Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH) and Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (KFS).

All of these companies are dual listed in New York and Toronto.  

In addition to CIBC, TD and Bank of Montreal, another large Canadian firm closely tied to the financials sectors that was left off the list is Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM) and its affiliate Brookfield Properties Inc. (BPO) which are also both dual-listed on New York and Toronto. 

Perhaps also of interest to short sellers, is that ETFs like the Financial Select Sector (XLF) are also not listed as part of the temporary ban. 

On the list or not, the market movement so far Friday for all the names mentioned here has been up, with increases ranging from 2% to as high as 7.56% in the case of Manulife. 

Comments

[jmkeynes:]

Naked short sellers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your tan lines.

It is doubtful that all the contradictions in the SEC's temporary ban on short sales will be worked out before the ban is lifted.

However, the existing rules against naked short selling will be enforced and they're not going away.

So, if you want to make money as a naked short seller, you may have to go elsewhere.

Speaking of which, I hear that Brazil is now promoting a few secluded beaches where naked short sellers will be allowed to congregate. However, I don't think they'll be allowed to buy or sell anything. :-)

2008 Sep 19 07:58 PM

[specks:]

Short selling is as necessary as the ability to speculate in any market. Just because the odds are stacked against them, does not mean the gamblers cannot be allowed to spend their hard-earned taxed-dollars on lottery tickets, even though it ismore tax.
And I'm sure you'll agree with me, that I cannot stop YOU from buying a lottery ticket if YOU want to, can I?

2008 Sep 20 12:57 PM

[neeb??:]

There may be surprises coming....

2008 Sep 21 06:36 PM