4 - Friday, September 27, 1985 - North Shore News No loss of confidence in poor banking system THE COLLAPSE of the Canadian Commercial Bank, the first bank failure in Canada in 62 years, may have shaken somebody’s confidence in our financial system, but not mine. 1 am absolutely confident that the system will continue to provide lousy service and that the small depositor will continue to be treated like a bum. I am confident that the outfits with the big portfolios will continue to be shielded by the government, i.e. the taxpayer, while small businesses continue to die the death of a thousand knives. 1 am confident most loans officers will continue to manifest the Little Caesar complex for which they are famous. The experience that sym- bolized the reality of banking in Canada for me came a year ago. I] had arrived in Toronto from Cuba; where I had pick- ed up the curious snippet of information that interest rates at the banks in the Caribbean's first communist state were only one per cent: Hn, thought I, old socialist instincts stirring, only one per cent, eh? Then someone pointed out that this was the interest on SAVINGS. There was simply no such thing as an individual bank loan. Ah. Score one for’ capitalism again! But then, as I say, I got to Toronto. My Visa card was smoking (from overuse so I headed over from my hotel one morning to the Royal Bank to use another plastic card to draw some money from my account back home. This being the computer age and the satellite age to boot, I anticipated no pro- blems whatsoever. Thus, as I approached the scintilating gold-dusted glass tower which is the Royal’s main branch, I allowed a dew of awe to form on my heart. As an architectural master- piece, even in this age of ar- chitectural masterpieces, the edifice with the 27,000 win- dows powdered with’ $1 million worth of gold cannot Reservations 988-6101 3381 Capilano Rd. North Van help but take your breath away. The main floor chamber was vaguely like Superman's ice palace. A kind of Carlsbad Cavern of credit. If you shouted, you just knew the echo would take roughly as long to come back as it would take for security guards to hustle you out the door. There was only one snag. | had 10 stand in an ironically named ‘‘Fast-teller” line for about 20 minutes, in the midst of all that technological glitter, to get a few lousy bucks out. I swear there were only three tellers on duty for two dozen customers. So what the hell was the test of that titanic building for? It was, I realized, like an strictly personal by Bob Hunter iceberg in reverse. The visible part — that is, the holding pen where you and 1] shuffle along, clutching our che- quebooks like catechisms, waiting for our turn at the fiscal confessional booth — is the least part. The rest of it, hidden from view, is where the sovereign loans to Third World coun- tries are worked out, bond ratings are fretted about, the profits are counted from mortgages, prime rates are calculated, assets are fingered lovingly, foreclosures and bankruptcies anticipated, deposits drained from the NEW CAR SHOW | Sept. 23-29 See what’s new from: ¢ North Shore Nissan e Dick Irwin Chev-Olds ‘e Jubilee Plymouth Chrysler @ Mountview AMC-JEEP &° Tatlow Motors - Hyundai back door of failing financial institutions while tax money is poured in through the front, and where, basically, the gods take my nickles and dimes and yours and make fortunes in the world’s money markets. Have [ got this right? of course | have. I've said it before. I'm say- ing it again. Why is the ser- vice at our banks so crummy? Why should a person have to stand in line at all to get their own money out? If pizza can be delivered, why not cash? When are the banks going to stop treating us peasants like peasants? When are bank clerks going to stop behaving like civil servants? There was one. striking similarity between Cuban communism and_ so-called free enterprise in a Canadian bank, by the way. Line-ups! Line-ups! Line-ups! Come on, bankers, don’t pee on my back and tell me its raining. Um not THAT dumb! ‘