Prime Rate
The variable reference rate of interest as calculated by the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, based upon the variable reference rates of interest declared by the 5 largest Canadian financial institutions as their prime rate. (These institutions are the Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Royal Bank of Canada and the TD Canada Trust, formerly Toronto-Dominion Bank.) The prime rate will be calculated by ignoring both the highest and the lowest of those 5 rates and taking the average of the remaining 3 rates. Changes to the prime rate will take effect the following business day.
