The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, Aug. 8, edition that the Bank of Canada is pushing the country's banks to launch a national fund that would invest in small-to-medium-sized businesses, modelled on a similar fund in Britain that has proven to be controversial. The Globe's Andrew Willis and Sean Silcoff write that the initiative is at an early stage but has been discussed in multiple meetings between civil servants and Bay Street executives in Ottawa and Toronto. The plan is to have banks put money into a $1-billion-plus private-sector fund that would make $2-million to $20-million debt and equity investments in domestic companies, and ensure they have the resources needed to expand globally while remaining based in Canada. An unnamed banker says: "We are good at starting companies in this country but not good at nurturing them. There is agreement that seeing our best small companies snapped up by foreign buyers is a problem, and this fund is one way to deal with that problem." Sources say the concept is getting a mixed reception, as some bankers question the need for the fund and the potential returns, while a handful of institutions, including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, are supportive.