Prime business rate (chartered banks)
The rate chartered banks use as a reference for variable-rate loans and lines of credit.
Weekly, delayed Observed 2026-10-28 · retrieved 2026-11-03 · Source: Bank of Canada · Not a live quote.
Prime business rate (chartered banks) over time
Weekly observations. Use the period buttons to change the range; the table beneath the chart lists the values.
Prime business rate (chartered banks)
%.
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Latest values: Prime business rate (chartered banks) 4.45 (2026-10-28).
Related relationships: Prime and posted mortgage rates · 1 relationship use this data as evidence
What this indicator is and why it is watched
What it measures
The rate chartered banks use as a reference for variable-rate loans and lines of credit.
Why it is watched
Many variable-rate consumer and business loans are quoted as prime plus or minus a margin.
How it connects to the wider economy
Context, not a claim of cause.
It has tracked the policy rate closely in the data held here; the margin each borrower pays varies.
Northline describes relationships as documented mechanisms, statistical associations or hypotheses. Nothing on this page states that a movement in this indicator caused a movement in another.
How the data are produced
- Publisher
- Bank of Canada
- Dataset
- V80691311
- Frequency
- Weekly
- Unit
- %
- Observations
- 1,400 (long history)
- Retrieved
- 2026-11-03
- Series id
ca24_prime
Weekly observations from the Bank of Canada. The prime rate is set by a central bank; it is a decision, not a market price, so it changes in steps on announced dates and is carried forward between them.
Source: Bank of Canada, Prime rate (V80691311). Content reused under the Bank of Canada terms (https://www.bankofcanada.ca/terms/); changes: values unchanged.
Licence conditions: see source terms: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/terms/; attribution required.
Missing observations are left missing and are never interpolated. Statistical agencies can revise published values; the observation date and retrieval date above identify the version shown. Methodology and sources.
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