Re: questions (e.g. from US investor) about the KXL analyst bank, National Bank of Canada, and analyst Brian Christie:

There are actually over 80 chartered banks in Canada, but leaving aside the minor and micro-banks there are only 6 or 7 "majors". National Bank of Canada has a market cap of over $8 billion, making it the equivalent of a upper-mid-size US bank.

Canadian banks on average are larger (very much more consolidated) than typical US banks, leaving aside the top 5 US mega-banks. Canada basically has a few, very large, banks, whereas the US (due to arcane historical licensing laws) has tens of thousands of banks.

In terms of market cap, with National at $8 B, other Cdn banks are in the $25-50 B range. The top 10 US banks are in roughly the $25-200 B range (subject to change).

In terms of assets, National Bank ranks just higher than the 10th largest US bank.

Some references:

bank financials:

http://www.netvalley.com/banks/index...
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=...

corporate site

National was hit extremely hard by the ABCP paper crisis (from US subprime/housing crisis), lost billions and had to refinance. However, they have been a key player in mining for a long time, often partnering with another Cdn major.

KXL's analyst Brian Christie writes very regularly in the "Weekly Mining Exploration Roundup" for National (once every week or two), and this is a key mining analysis source in Canada. So KXL is in blue chip analyst territory with him.

It's usually $30 or $60 an issue, depending on where/how you get it.

Anyone have access to a copy?