Major banks like CIBC are ignoring the needs of customers to maximize profits and may face legal action, says Pat Martin, the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. Martin joined about 40 demonstrators yesterday to try to convince CIBC not to shut four Winnipeg branches in favour of a single "megabranch" at the intersection of Ellice Avenue and Empress Street. Martin hopes to get a court injunction to stop CIBC from closing the branches, and then to bring the issue before federal courts. He said he believes CIBC's closures may violate its charter under the federal Bank Act. "The charter banks are given an exclusive monopoly on certain, very lucrative transactions like credit cards in exchange for providing basic financial services to Canadians," said Martin. "And they're just reneging, shamelessly, on their part of the bargain. "People in my riding are really fed up. This is 14 closures in the last four years by the five (major) chartered banks." The protesters gathered with Martin at noon outside the branch at Logan Avenue and Keewatin Street. "If they're not losing money, and when we look at their profits for the last quarter, certainly they can afford to keep a small branch like this open," said Judy McKelvey, who organized the demonstration. CIBC reported net earnings of $788 million for the third quarter of 2003. But Rob McLeod, communications director for CIBC, believes that although the branches are profitable today, they are seeing fewer and fewer customers, and may lose money in the future. "We have made a decision that we are going to consolidate and invest our resources in the area where we think we will reap the biggest benefits," he said in a telephone interview from Toronto. "And that's at our new location at Empress and Ellice." The argument that this breaches the Bank Act is being put forward through the Public Interest Law Centre, a division of Legal Aid Manitoba that takes on rights-based cases. McKelvey hopes CIBC will change its mind without going to court, if there's enough public pressure. "They're not listening to the concerns of the community," she said. "So we're trying to bring a little more awareness to everybody else out there that CIBC, and all the banks, can't continue to do this to people." McLeod, however, believes the new megabranch will better meet the needs of most CIBC customers, because it is close to a retail hub. "We're really following our customers' traffic patterns," he said. "More and more Canadians are choosing to go to locations like this to do a lot of their shopping. "Overall, it will satisfy a large number of customers." But many of the customers of the Logan and Keewatin branch are not satisfied with the idea of travelling further to bank. "It's an older district," said Joan Frost, who lives in a seniors' residence one block away from the current branch. "Most of the people are walkers. They don't have cars." Frost and about 150 others voiced their concerns at a public meeting held by CIBC last week. In response, the bank is considering paying for a shuttle service to the new location. "We have identified a company that is willing to provide the (shuttle) service," said McLeod. "It would not pick (customers) up at their houses, but it would probably pick them up at a central location where the branch used to be, and run them to the new location." McLeod said CIBC has operated similar programs elsewhere in Canada, in which a shuttle was offered twice a month. The demonstrators said such a service would not come close to meeting their needs. Martin called the idea "insulting." In the meantime, McKelvey is circulating petitions in the neighbourhood around the Logan and Keewatin branch. She has already presented CIBC with 775 signatures, and expects to collect 1,000 more.
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