Canada’s big banks have a new enemy: retirees |
We must let banks get on with the business of banking, writes John Turley-Ewart.Chris Wattie/Reuters
John Turley-Ewart is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, a regulatory compliance consultant and a Canadian banking historian.
It’s a bad day for business when you spar with the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. The day grows worse when CARP mocks you as “feckless” and publishes correspondence suggesting you are downplaying damning regulatory reports. The final straw is having it all splashed across The Globe’s pages for interested parties to weigh CARP’s allegation that you are putting profits before seniors’ interests.
Canada’s big banks had just such a day last week. For bankers, what proved frustrating was how all this came to be. Ill-considered regulations from 2019 that securities supervisors are still trying to fix. Aggrieved third party, non-bank mutual fund companies, side swiped by the regulations, wild accusations from CARP that came out of the blue, and communication malpractice by the banks’ own advocacy organization, the Canadian Bankers Association.
These elements cast a bright light on a........