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Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver launched a process Friday to create a long-awaited bail-in regime for Canadian banks that will keep taxpayers off the hook in the event any of the banks fail.

“In the highly unlikely event of a bank no longer being viable, the proposed Taxpayer Protection and Bank Recapitalization regime would help ensure bank shareholders and creditors bear losses, rather than taxpayers,” the Department of Finance said in a statement.

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It has been more than a year since Canada pledged to match other jurisdictions in the G20, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, in creating a structure to stabilize failing banks with new debt instruments rather than taxpayer bailouts.

Debt rating agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its outlook for Canadian banks to negative this summer based on an expectation that the Canadian government would follow through with specific rules governing the bail-ins.