Canadian Banker articles from March 1998

Canadian Banker archives from March 1998

All eyes turn to the task force. (Canada)(Editorial)
March 1, 1998... Any doubts there might have been about the relevance of the federal government's Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector have been dispelled by recent events. Created just over a year ago, the task force was assigned...

At his discretion: maintaining the privacy and confidence of employees is crucial to the work of the bank's internal ombudsman. (National Bank of Canada's Michel Le Brun)
March 1, 1998... Inconspicuously tucked away on the second floor of National Bank of Canada's headquarters in downtown Montreal is a suite of offices identified only with a yellow plastic sign that says, "Parlons-nous," meaning "Let's Talk." The door to the...

Frozen assets. (bankers help provide emergency financial services to victims of ice storm in Canada)
March 1, 1998... When the Great Ice Storm of January 1998 swept through large areas of eastern Canada, normal life stopped cold. So did the ABMs. Banks and bankers moved fast to get essential services and supplies to storm victims while the emergency lasted, and...

Shall big buy big? (proposed merger of Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal)
March 1, 1998... Suddenly the question is no longer hypothetical. The proposed merger of Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal has intensified debate on the ownership issue - and thrust the MacKay task force into the national spotlight. In its 72-page discussion...

Ready or not.... (competition in the Canadian banking industry)
March 1, 1998... Here they come. Bold new competitors are moving into key banking markets, unhampered by regulations that govern Canadian banks. One thing bankers agree on is the need for a more flexible regulatory structure to enable everybody to do business by...

Capital gains: a banker's guide to Ottawa. (interview with Canadian finance official Jim Peterson)(includes related articles)(Interview)
March 1, 1998... Federal politicians explain how the government's decision-making process works and how bankers at the local level can have influence on financial services policy. Recent events and an increasingly public debate about the financial-services...

Learning the high-tech way. (computer-based bank training)
March 1, 1998... Who needs a classroom? For many kinds of employee training, the banks find technology-based teaching tools are far more cost-effective. Over the past five years, Canada's banks have transferred much of the staff training that used to be done...

The name is the game. (marketing banks on the Internet)
March 1, 1998... How the big banks build on their brand names to establish a business presence on the Internet. The soaring steeples of Gothic cathedrals were intended to inspire awe, faith and trust. The same can be said of the glass skyscrapers of modern...

Urban outlooks. (economic performance of Canada's cities)
March 1, 1998... Ottawa-Hull is expected to be one of Canada's economically strongest cities in the next five years as a buoyant high-tech sector will more than offset modest growth in the federal government. According to the economic consulting firm DRI Canada,...

Who owns the banks?
March 1, 1998... THE MYTH Underlying some of the more negative comments that Canadians voice about banks - especially criticism of bank profits - is a tacit assumption that the banks are controlled by, and act in the interests of, a limited number of owners -...