The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that executives from Canada's biggest banks were in New York this week for a Royal Bank of Canada conference where they addressed issues ranging from the financial health of consumers to interest rates and credit quality. The Post's Denise Paglinawan writes that RBC chief executive officer Dave McKay has noted previously that mortgage payment shock was the main culprit for Canada's economic underperformance when compared with its neighbour to the south, but this week he noted that other developed economies are in a similar boat. The British and Australian economies are also slowing from softer consumer demand caused by higher interest rates, in large part because mortgage debt is being repriced there while in the United States, where 30-year fixed mortgage terms are the norm, debt is not rolling over. Mr. McKay said that Canadian banks are repricing roughly 15 per cent of their "back book" of existing mortgage clients, a fairly significant shock that is pulling disposable income back from the consumer. TD chief financial officer Kelvin Tran said he is also seeing a change in consumer behaviour in which they adjust their spending based on their debt-to-service ratio.