Plus ca change.... (Citizens Bank of Canada operates through telephones and computers)

In which our intrepid columnist searches for the cutting edge of virtual image-building.

The banks are made of marble and their vaults are stuffed with silver. Or at least that's how they're described in the old protest song, sung, if memory serves, by Lee Hayes and the Weavers.

Even those who dislike banks (and Hayes was no fan, as the rest of the song makes abundantly clear) have to admit there's something about an imposing marble edifice and a few silver-stuffed vaults that says "bank" in a way that, for instance, neon lights and a carny barker wouldn't. A respectable way. A responsible way. A way that encourages confidence and trust.

Of course, things have changed. These days, silver is the stuff I leave in the margarine tub on my dresser. And marble has given way to glass-clad office towers - as a cursory glance at any downtown city will prove. But even if silver has gone the way of the buggy whip, the towers still say "bank" - big, powerful, trustworthy. …