|
Bank battle far from over On Monday, Finance Minister Paul Martin deep-sixed the banking mega-mergers, putting a premature end to the proposed Royal Bank/Bank of Montreal and CIBC/TD marriages--and he did so to rousing applause from the public and the media. But citizens' advocacy groups are already warning that the applause may be premature. "Martin has only prevented things from getting any worse," says Duff Conacher of the Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition (CCRC), which spearheaded community groups' opposition to the mergers. "The question is: will he make things any better? Canadians are already very poorly served by their banks." When the debate began last February, the CCRC teamed up with Scotiabank and a number of large insurance companies to oppose the mergers. Now that the mergers have been called off, that uneasy alliance has been dissolved. The CCRC is fighting for greater banking access for low-income people, more community investment, and greater disclosure and accountability from all of Canada's banks. "Most of the recommendations we've made were accepted by the Senate banking committee and the Liberal caucus banking committee," Conacher told the Mirror. "The problem is, we face a unified banking lobby now. Scotiabank was an ally, but now they're against us. The next fight will really be citizens versus corporate interests." --Philip Preville
|