Canadian Banker

Excerpt from The History of Banking in Canada Efforts to introduce the practice of banking into the British North American provinces were put forth as early as 1792. The "Canada Banking Company," then organized by certain English firms and Montreal merchants, was not destined long to survive its origin, although one at least of its 5-shilling notes which has been preserved (No. 6803) is proof that it exercised the function of issue. It seems to have left little trace, either in men's memories or in the records of the time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Canada’s big six banks weathered the 2008 financial crisis very well. Their adherence to tried and tested twentieth-century products and services made them a safe harbour in the financial storm. However, as the modern global information economy continues to develop, the banks must confront their innovation crisis, or they will fail. In Stumbling Giants, Patricia Meredith and James L. Darroch embark on an audacious and startling examination of Canada’s big banks. With banks earning forty percent return on equity from traditional retail banking, pressure from investors with short term interests has discouraged technological innovation and adaptation. Meredith and Darroch reveal the socio-technological disruptors threatening the banks’ three primary product divisions – lending, wealth management, and payments – and offer innovative yet realistic recommendations for improvement. Meredith and Darroch’s new vision for the Canadian banking industry involves a broad cross-section of Canadians – policy makers, regulators, customers, suppliers, investors, and bankers – and is a call to action for all interested stakeholders to work together in creating a banking system for the twenty-first century.