If there s any merger that s truly going to affect competition in the financial industry, it s this one. Their discounted mortgage rates, special offers, and marketing strategies forced Canada s traditionally stuffy institutions to match the deals to keep their customers. Canada Trust s branches were always more relaxed and more in step with the times. Canadians didn t have to step into a mausoleum and ask someone who looked like Ebenezer Scrooge for a loan. In fact, unlike the traditional banks, Canada Trust understood that not everyone was independently wealthy or worked for the government.
Average people have incomes that fluctuate with the economy.
That s the way it works in the real world. The big banks were more than risk averse - they were real people averse. But it looks like Canada Trust will be no more. Ironically, Chretien s Liberals axed the big bank mergers that would have made little competitive difference to Canadians, while they appear to be allowing the real competition in Canada s financial industry to be swallowed up. No one should be surprised.