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3. Mortgage insurer braces for defaults in Alberta

Mortgage insurer Genworth said yesterday that it is bracing for defaults in Alberta as layoffs mount on the oil patch. Any of the following will now be enough to warrant increased scrutiny from the underwriter:

High debt load

Job in oil and gas

Single-income family

Small down payment

Genworth estimates that about 10 percent of its customers fit two or more of these descriptors.

Mortgage defaults in Canada are currently at historic lows, but a spike in Alberta could spell trouble if it sours sentiment in the broader Canadian housing market, which the Bank of Canada estimates to be overvalued by as much as 30 percent.

4. Google names Wall Street veteran as new CFO

Google said yesterday that Morgan Stanley’s Ruth Porat will succeed Montreal-born Patrick Pichette as its chief financial officer. Ms. Porat, 57, has spent nearly three decades at the bank, the past five of which as its CFO. She is regarded as one of Wall Street’s most powerful women and is credited with helping to stabilize Morgan Stanley after it nearly self-destructed from reckless subprime lending in 2008.

This will not be the first time that Silicon Valley has pulled from the ranks of Wall Street in a bid to secure sound financial governance. Last year, Twitter lured away Anthony Noto, then the co-head of technology at Goldman Sachs, to fill the role of CFO.

5. Legitimacy looms as bitcoin exchange buys Nasdaq software