Canada Prime Rate: Each Bank's Prime, How It Moves and Its History

The prime rate the Bank of Canada publishes for the major chartered banks is 4.45% for the week of October 14, 2026. Each bank sets and posts its own prime, and the bank table below gives each one and, where the bank states it, the date it took effect. On the borrowing side, FCAC says a variable mortgage is often priced at prime plus a percentage, a variable-rate home equity line of credit is typically based on the lender’s prime, and lines of credit usually carry a variable rate. This page covers what it is, how it follows the Bank of Canada policy rate, its history and what it changes. For the other rate guides, see Canadian mortgage rates.

Sources: Bank of Canada, chartered-bank prime rate (series V80691311) and target for the overnight rate (V39079).

What does each bank post as its prime rate?

The table gives each bank’s posted prime and, where the bank’s page states them, its own name for the rate and the date it took effect, with a link to the bank’s page where the table has one.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that institution.

Checked against each institution's page between October 19, 2026 and October 29, 2026.

The prime rate in the table at the top of this page is a single published figure, but each bank has its own. The Bank of Canada explains how it picks the one it publishes: “All rates presented in this table are the most typical of those offered by the six major chartered banks.” and “The methodology for calculating the typical rate is based on the statistical mode of the rates posted by the six largest banks”. A HELOC’s variable rate is typically based on the lender’s own prime, FCAC says: TD’s FlexLine uses “a variable interest rate based on TD Prime Rate”, and Tangerine’s home equity line is priced at “the Tangerine Prime Rate plus or minus an adjustment factor” (as of October 1, 2026). TD says its variable-rate mortgages are based on the TD Mortgage Prime Rate, a rate it posts separately from TD Prime.

What is the prime rate?

The Bank of Canada’s definition: “Each financial institution sets its own prime rate, as a function of its cost of funding, which, in turn, is influenced by the target for the overnight rate set by the Bank of Canada.” It also describes prime, or the prime lending rate, as the rate a lender starts from when it sets the interest on its loan products. One lender’s home equity line terms, for example, set out the rate in the agreement as a variable rate equal to that lender’s own prime plus or minus an adjustment factor. How prime reaches variable mortgages and lines of credit follows below.

How does prime follow the Bank of Canada?

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada puts it this way: “Your lender’s prime rate may change when the Bank of Canada changes its policy interest rate.” The policy rate itself, and how the Bank sets it, is covered in the Bank of Canada policy rate guide. The Bank’s announcement dates and decisions are listed on Bank of Canada rate decisions.

The gap between the two is a market practice, not a rule, and it has changed:

• April 2009: with the policy rate at 0.25%, the published prime rate was 2.25%, a gap of 2.00 points.
• 2015: the Bank of Canada cut its rate twice by 0.25 points, in January and July. The published prime rate fell by only 0.15 points each time: from 3.00% to 2.85% (week of January 28, 2015) and then to 2.70% (week of July 22, 2015). The gap widened to 2.20 points.
• In the latest figures: the published prime is 2.20 points above the 2.25% policy rate it was set against, from the October 2025 decision.

After the July 2015 change, every change in the Bank of Canada’s weekly prime series through November 2025 matched a policy-rate change of the same size. The published prime rate has been 4.45% since the week of November 5, 2025, after the Bank of Canada’s policy-rate decision of October 2025. The Bank of Canada’s latest decision, announced October 28, 2026, set the policy rate at 2.50%; the table above shows the published prime for its latest week. Published forecasts of the next decisions are collected on the interest rate forecast page.

Prime rate history in Canada

Year-end values of the Bank of Canada’s published prime rate (the last weekly value of each year; the latest year shows the value for the week of October 14, 2026):

Source: Bank of Canada Valet API, series V80691311.

Within the weekly data:

• Highest: 22.75%, from August 1981 to September 1981.
• Lowest: 2.25%, from April 2009 to May 2010.
• Pandemic low: 2.45%, from April 2020 to March 2022.
• Most recent peak: 7.20%, from July 2023 to June 2024.

For posted fixed mortgage rates and the average rates on mortgages chartered banks funded over the same years, see mortgage rate history. The policy-rate changes since 2009 are listed in the Bank of Canada rate history.

How does prime reach a variable mortgage?

A variable mortgage rate is often set as prime plus a percentage, FCAC says, so a change in prime moves the rate by the same amount, as its example shows. How lenders quote that gap and how to compare offers is covered in the guide to variable mortgage rates. The Bank of Canada’s data on the mortgages chartered banks funded, which include renewals and refinancing as well as new loans, shows where variable rates sit against prime: in July 2026, uninsured variable-rate mortgages averaged 3.86% and insured ones 3.75%, while the published prime rate was 4.45%.

FCAC describes a trigger rate for a variable rate with fixed payments: the interest rate at which the mortgage payment only covers interest costs.

How does prime set HELOC and line of credit rates?

As FCAC explains, a line of credit usually carries a variable rate. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: “If your HELOC has a variable rate, it’s typically based on your lender’s prime rate.” How a home equity line of credit works is covered separately. One bank’s page, for example, says the rate on its personal line of credit is variable and moves up and down with that bank’s prime rate. The margin above prime varies: FCAC gives prime plus 1% as an example and notes that a stronger credit score usually brings a lower rate on a line of credit, and line of credit rates compares lenders.

The HELOC calculator and line of credit calculator show the cost at a rate you enter, and HELOC rates compares home equity lines from different lenders.

Does prime change what savings and GICs earn?

The Bank of Canada describes prime as a base for loan rates (above), and in its list of rates its policy rate affects, the prime rate of commercial banks and the interest paid on deposits, GICs and other savings appear as separate items. Its weekly series of the banks’ posted rates also carries their savings and GIC rates beside prime, each as a posted rate of its own. How a Bank of Canada decision reaches savings rates is on Bank of Canada rate decisions; each bank’s savings rates are on high-interest savings account rates, and GIC rates on GIC rates.

Related pages

• Bank of Canada policy rate explained
• Bank of Canada rate decisions and announcement dates
• How mortgage rates are determined
• Mortgage rate history
• Interest rate forecast for Canada
• Fixed vs. variable mortgage
• High-interest savings account rates
• Line of credit rates
• Mortgage Lenders and Brokers in Canada