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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 23, 2017 | 24 Big banks facing public relations fiasco on sales tactics C anada' s five largest banks are kneedeep in a public relations fiasco. The story is big and is likely to continue growing. It started on Thursday, March 9, with CBC Go Public breaking the news that three em ployees from a TD Bank in Vancouver had exposed the bank' s high-pressure sales tactics. The next day CBC saw a flood of additional reports from disgruntled current and past em ployees. One week later it was reported there had been nearly 1,000 emails from current and past employees from all of Canada' s top five banks saying they, too, had been subjected to the same kind of pressure. The alleged issue is that bank staff have aggressive sales quotas and feel pressure to apply unethical, high-pressure sales tactics, for fear of losing their jobs. There are alle gations of illegal practices to sell additional services to unsuspecting clients. The banks issued press releases reassuring the public that they are good corporate citi zens and have high client-oriented, ethical, standards. Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor P IC - A - D E L I ^ W e e k l y S p e cia ls: Thursday Nights: Domestic Pint & 1 lb of Wings $ 99 Daily special: Large 3 item Pizza- $ 99 Dine In & Pick up only Featuring Best Montreal Smoked Sandwiches All Day Breakfast. Hours: M onday - Saturday 7 am -1 am Closed Sundays. 670 Fourth Line (905) 339-1905 9 9 Sounds good in theory but that is inconsis tent with the huge deluge of feedback coming from bank employees. The story has many issues and downsides. Friday, after the second story broke, TD Bank stock decreased in value by more than five per cent, the largest single-day decline since 2009. There are other potential financial impli cations. Wells Fargo is a U.S. bank that was recently fined $185 million because of inap propriate sales misconduct. Will Canadian banks face fines? The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) announced it will start to investigate business practices among Canada' s major banks beginning next month. This alleged sales practice misconduct is an embarrassment for Canada' s large banks. It is also an embarrassment for regulators w ho are meant to police bank activity. How can a story that seems so significant be broken by the news media when it is the regulator' s responsibility to monitor activities within the banks? You can be sure that many difficult questions will be asked of all who were in a position to regulate the banks. Will Canadians use this news to jolt them to move som e of their banking services to other alternatives, including online providers? Will it encourage politicians to open up more com petition to the big five banks? In m y opinion, the largest issue is credibil ity Where there is smoke, there is often fire, and when hundreds of current or former staff members from the major banks across Canada say the same thing, it is safe to believe there are problems within our banking system. The initial public relations news releases from the banks in m y opinion were mistakes. Huge mistakes. W hy not be more forthright and acknowl edge there seems to be a problem and assume a leadership role to investigate, find and fix those problems. The banks' initial reaction sounded like a joint response from their lawyers and public relations teams. What Canadians wanted was leadership and that was sorely lacking. -- submitted by Peter Watson of Peter Watson Investments and Aligned Capital Partners Inc., MBA, CFP R.FP, CIM, FCSI, Certified Financial Planner K -C U PS IM COFFEE, HOT CHOCOLATE & TEA GUY FIERI, CAKE BOSS, HURRICANE, WOLFGANG PUCK, M IX & AUTHENTIC DONUT SHOP, BARNIE'S BLEND,BARRIE HOUSE MATCH MARTINSONS, VAN HOUTTE, OVER 500 TIMOTHY'S,...AND MORE! FLAVOURS KOFFEE KORNER OAKVILLE W W W . K O F F E E K O R N E R O A K V I L L E .C O M Voted Best Accountant by Oakville Beaver Readers for 10 Consecutive Years · Accounting · Auditing · Taxation Ricky Wong CPA, CA, MBA, B. Eng For more information please check our website www.rickywong.ca 1200 Speers Rd., U nit 32, Oakville, O nt. L6L 2X4 (905) 845 -1408 | Fax (905) 845 - 5 9 3 1 1ricky@rickywong.ca t w it e 240 NORTH SERVICE RD W OAKVILLE, ONT L6M2G2 DORVAL CROSSING E (WINNERS PLAZA) 6 4 W N *SAVE NOW 10% *Cut out this ad and save 10% on your food bill VALID AT 1011 Uppermiddle Rd East & 217 Cross Ave Oakville(DINE IN ONLY) This coupon is only valid at 1011 Uppermiddle Rd E & 217 Cross Ave in Oakville ON. This coupon entitles you to 10% off your food bill before tax. Only one coupon per table. Taxes extra. No cash value. Expires on March 31, 2017. DINE IO ONLY (430-1100 CALS) v /I2