Evan Siddall Stepping Down as Head of Canada Housing Agency

(Bloomberg) -- Evan Siddall, a former Goldman Sachs banker who ran Canada’s main housing finance agency the past six years, has announced plans to step down.

Siddall, who has been chief executive of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. since 2014, won’t seek another term when his current mandate ends on Dec. 31, according to spokeswoman Audrey-Anne Coulombe.

“A selection process for a new President and CEO will start in the coming months,” Coulombe said in an emailed statement. “This will be an open and transparent process that will be managed by the Government of Canada.”

Siddall had been at the forefront of efforts by Canadian policy makers in recent years to cool the nation’s real estate markets, slow record high household debt levels and reduce the exposure of taxpayers to housing, at a time of historically cheap lending. Under his watch, for example, the government agency has reduced the value of mortgages it insures against default to C$433 billion ($331 billion) in the third quarter of last year, from about C$550 billion just before he took over.

The Financial Post first reported Siddall’s departure earlier Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Erik Hertzberg, Chris Fournier

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