On June 25, 2021
© By John Arkelian
“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone… a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire…”
What was true of Ebenezer Scrooge goes in spades for Canada’s under-regulated banks, with their insatiable propensity for assailing their hapless customers with grossly unreasonable ‘fees’ (which they are wont to characterize as ‘service’ charges). Canadian banks make billions in profits. (Yes, that’s billions.) Unlike so many of us, they don’t seem to have been bothered financially by the pandemic. But, they seem to figure that anytime is a good time to gouge their customers with unwarranted and/or predatory fees. Consider this recent egregious example: Scotiabank has just started charging its customers ($2.25 per month) for the ‘privilege’ of receiving paper statements. That charge is unjustified, and it shows utter contempt for their customers. Every account-holder has an absolute right to know what is going on in their account. And they have the right to be so informed without being charged for it. Doubtless, many of their customers are able and inclined to do their banking online and are therefore content to dispense with paper statements. But, it is wrong of Scotiabank to penalize those who cannot do their banking online or who simply do not feel comfortable doing so – and that often means seniors, which also makes their unwarranted new ‘service charge’ a case of age discrimination.
Scotiabank, like the rest of their shameless ilk among this country’s ‘take what you can, as often as you can’ would-be financial privateers, clearly needs stringent oversight and much stricter regulation by government to restrain them from putting their grasping hand into their customers’ pockets. How much profit is enough? Evidently, billions a year don’t suffice. When is enough, enough? Never, in the crass judgment of the big banks. Society needs to take such judgments into its own hands. Yet, our elected representatives do nothing to protect the public interest. For proposals on meaningful bank regulation, see “The Polity and Us” at https://artsforum.ca/ideas/regional-perspectives