The Canadian government should tighten lending rules further to discourage consumers from taking on too much debt in an environment of low interest rates, the outgoing chief executive of Toronto-Dominion Bank said on Tuesday. Ed Clark, who will step down as CEO of Canada's No. 2 lender in November, said the central bank's low interest rates were appropriate given the economic outlook, but this meant the federal government should use administrative measures to check a jump in household debt that has followed a housing boom. "It's just not realistic in a competitive marketplace to say, 'Why doesn't one bank lead the way and change the rules?' It won't happen. This is a responsibility of the government," he told Reuters. "I get why they keep worrying about doing it. But I think you have to just keep touching this brake. As long as you run low interest rates, you then should be continuously leaning against asset bubbles." Canada's Conservative government has stepped in four times
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