In many respects banking compet.i.tion is quite as active in Canada as it is in the United States. Apparently there are only two things which the banks do not like to do in order to attract business--lower the discount rate, or advance the rate paid on depositors" balances. There is no express agreement among the bankers on these points, but every banker knows that he would become _persona non grata_ among his brethren if he should discount certain kinds of paper at less than 6 per cent., or pay his depositors on their monthly minimum balances more than 3 per cent.
per annum. In Montreal and Toronto large borrowers can get money at 5 per cent., but the average merchant and manufacturer must pay 6. In Winnipeg borrowers can do almost as well, but farther west the usual rate is 7 per cent., and in some of the remoter districts merchants and farmers alike pay 8 per cent. Bankers do not believe in lowering the discount or interest rate unless they are compelled to do so in order to find a market for their funds.
Some of the older inst.i.tutions would like to prevent compet.i.tion from absorbing the minor profits which come from collections and transactions in exchange, but they are not entirely successful. The nominal or schedule charges for collections and exchange are frequently cut for the benefit of business men whose favor it is desired to propitiate.
In their efforts to get new business, to be the first to open a branch in a promising new community, or to keep their regular customers from being dissatisfied, there seems to be the keenest kind of compet.i.tion.
Few villages of 500 people can complain that their banking facilities are less than they deserve, and many of them, with barely enough business to pay the expenses of one branch, are supplied with two. The recent rapid increase in the number of branches has been caused by the great expansion of the West and by the compet.i.tion among the more progressive and energetic general managers, each desiring that his bank shall be the first in a promising field, even though his enterprise lead him to establish branches which at first do not pay expenses. In a new mining camp the first bank, like the first saloon or the first boarding house, usually begins business in a tent. Some of the more conservative bank managers in Canada think that new branches are being started in excess of the country"s needs, but others are willing to take chances on the country"s future and to charge considerable sums to the debit side of the profit and loss account in order to keep their inst.i.tutions at the front in the great and developing West.
BANKING IN DIFFERENT PROVINCES
It is generally known that the Eastern branches get heavy deposits and are creditors of the head office, and that the funds they collect are forwarded to the Western branches, whose loans greatly exceed deposits.
Bankers will admit that this transference of funds takes place, but there is considerable grumbling about it in the old communities of the East, and the bankers fear that a monthly or even annual publication of the facts would keep them perpetually in hot water. A glance at clearing-house statistics leaves no doubt as to the banking importance of the Western Provinces or as to the relative financial quietude of the East. Between 1900 and 1909 the total of Canada"s bank clearings increased 227 per cent., but Halifax gained only 23 per cent., St. John only 90 per cent., and Quebec only 68 per cent. On the other hand, Toronto"s clearings increased 179 per cent., Winnipeg"s 600 per cent., and Vancouver"s 524 per cent.
EASTERN PROVINCES HAVE SUFFERED
This transference of funds from sluggish to active communities is the inevitable result of a system of branch banking and is the cause of the tendency of the rate of interest toward uniformity in all parts of Canada. Whatever may be said against a system of branch banks, there can be no question that it does bring about a more even distribution of capital in a country than is possible under a system of independent local banks. Canadian bank managers are anxious to put out their money where it is most wanted, for there they get the best possible rate of interest and obtain paper of the best quality. No matter where a manager"s headquarters may be, he is most deeply concerned in three questions: (1) Where is idle money acc.u.mulating? (2) How can he best draw it into his bank? (3) In what parts of the Dominion is money most needed? In localities of both kinds he establishes branches; in the one the branches acc.u.mulate deposits often much in excess of their loans, in the others the loans exceed the deposits. Thus it happens that the savings of the Eastern Provinces, where the growth of industry and trade is slow and the demand for new capital is not increasing, are sent westward and loaned out to merchants and manufacturers and farmers of the new territories. The people of the East supply the capital for the development of the West, though many of them perhaps are entirely ignorant of the useful purpose their savings are made to perform. In the western cities of Canada one hears no talk among business men about the scarcity of capital. A merchant or manufacturer in Manitoba gets the money he needs as easily as does the merchant or manufacturer in Toronto or Montreal.
Justifiable as the bank"s policy is from a national point of view, one can not help believing that the branch banking system has really checked the development of business and industry in the maritime Provinces. If Canada during the last thirty years had depended, like the United States, upon independent local banks, there would have been a plethora of capital in the East, and Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax, like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, would years ago have had 4 and 5 per cent.
money, while Winnipeg and other Western cities, less populous than now, would still be paying 1 per cent. a month. The relative cheapness of capital undoubtedly helped build up the prosperous industries of Ma.s.sachusetts. The same cause operating in the maritime Provinces of Canada would doubtless have led to the establishment there of industries of which the people under existing conditions have not ventured to dream.
LARGE USE OF DEPOSIT CURRENCY
It is sometimes a.s.sumed that a free and large use of bank notes tends to discourage the use of the check book and the growth of bank deposits. On the continent of Europe, for instance, where the notes of central banks supply all the currency the people need, the check book is comparatively little used. This fact is sometimes explained by the ease with which people can obtain bank notes for use in making all payments. Experience in Canada makes one doubt the validity of this explanation. The check book is almost as popular there as in the United States, and would probably be used still more than it is if the banks would adopt a policy as liberal as that in vogue in the United States. The Canadian banks not only charge exchange on checks and drafts payable in other localities, but even charge exchange on checks drawn on their own branches. The charge is a small one and probably has no great effect one way or the other, yet it certainly does not encourage the increase of deposits or the use of the check book. When a Canadian starts on a journey it is in a small way economical for him to fill his wallet with all the cash he expects to need. The notes of his bank will be taken at par everywhere throughout the country; his checks, even though he presents them at a branch of his bank, will be cashed only at a discount.
Notwithstanding this discrimination against the check, the deposits of Canadian banks have grown much more rapidly than the note circulation and the inference is that the volume of deposit currency has increased at the same rapid pace. Since 1900 the volume of notes has increased approximately 60 per cent., while the deposits by the public showed a gain of 155 per cent. These figures prove that business men in Canada appreciate the advantages of the check as a means of payment, and that the proportion of business transactions settled by it is steadily increasing.
BANKS SILENT PARTNERS IN INDUSTRY
A large part of the so-called commercial paper of Canadian banks is secured practically by t.i.tle to goods in warehouses, factories, and wholesale stores. Such security is more saleable than stocks and bonds, and paper having such security back of it is therefore better banking paper than notes secured by stock-market collateral. So far as would seem possible the Canadian Bank Act makes merchandise of all kinds a sort of collateral security for bank advances. It a.s.sumes that if a bank advances capital for the conduct of a business it should have a claim upon all the a.s.sets of the business and upon all goods as they come and go in the course of trade. No matter how a merchant"s stock may change in character, it all belongs to his bank in case he fails to take up his paper or meet his engagements. In the same way a manufacturer"s stock of goods, the raw material and the finished products, no matter how they change from day to day and month to month, will become the property of his bank if he fails to pay his note. The law practically makes every bank a silent partner in many wholesale and manufacturing businesses and gives it many rights which no ordinary silent partner can acquire. It has the effect naturally of making bankers keep a close eye upon business conditions as well as upon the affairs of their individual borrowers. Canadian bankers are interested in the lumber market, in the prices of metals, in changes in the tariff, and in the acquisition of foreign markets for Canadian manufactures and products, even as the Wall Street banker is interested in the prices of stocks and bonds. He is in a sense the owner of merchandise of all kinds, and both trade and financial news has equal significance to him.
A CUSTOMER"S LINE OF CREDIT
In Canada the banks are managed by men whose long experience in the business has taught them to avoid certain banking practices that are in vogue in other countries. Realizing how important is the relation between a bank and its customer, they believe that this relation should be made as intimate and helpful as possible. Among Canadian bankers, therefore, it is part of the law and gospel of banking that a bank is ent.i.tled to full knowledge of the financial condition and business operations and prospects of its customers. Hence a bank insists that its customers shall rely _entirely upon itself_, that they shall make a full statement of their affairs at least once a year, and that they shall begin each year with a clean slate.
As a result of this policy a business man in Canada deals exclusively with one bank. Once a year he arranges with his bank for a line of credit and learns exactly the amount of paper he will be able to discount. If he happens to need less than he antic.i.p.ated, he will not exhaust the credit allowed by the bank and will pay interest, of course, only upon such portion of the bank"s funds as he actually utilizes. If, on the other hand, his business is unexpectedly large, giving opportunity to make bigger profits and creating the need for more capital, he will find the bank ready to increase his line of credit, provided the manager is satisfied that business conditions and prospects warrant expansion. Under no circ.u.mstances, however, must the customer of a bank seek to raise funds elsewhere unless he first gets the consent of his bank. If he sells his notes in the open market, he must do it with the full knowledge of his bank or run the risk of being placed upon the "black list."
As one would naturally expect, there is very little commercial paper floating about in the Canadian money market. The bill broker is unknown.
Wholesalers and manufacturers, unless shipping to foreign countries, do not draw upon their customers. If credit is granted, it takes the form of a book account or of a promissory note.
The promissory notes received by a manufacturer or wholesaler are deposited with his bank. The book accounts under ordinary conditions remain entirely at the disposal of the business, but in extraordinary cases, when the situation is not satisfactory, or if an additional credit at the bank is desired, an a.s.signment of the book accounts to the bank may be required.
During the harvest season heavy drafts are made upon the resources of the banks to provide for the movement of the grain crops of the West. In its advance of money for this purpose the law makes it possible for a bank always to have abundant security. Under section 88 of the Bank Act the buyer makes a.s.signment to his bank of the grain purchased. When the grain is delivered to a railroad, the bill of lading becomes the property of the bank. When it reaches Port Arthur, or some other distributing point, and is stored in an elevator, the bank receives a warehouse receipt in exchange for the bill of lading; and when shipment is made to New York, to Montreal, or to Europe, the bank receives on surrendering the warehouse receipt the shipper"s draft on the consignee, the bill of lading, and other doc.u.ments. Throughout the entire transaction, from the purchase from the farmer to the final sale to the Eastern consumer, the bank practically has t.i.tle to all agricultural products which are being moved by means of its funds.
LOANS TO FARMERS
The branches of Canadian banks in agricultural districts quite commonly lend a.s.sistance to farmers. They do not make a practice of taking mortgages on farm property, but lend outright on the farmer"s credit, depending for their security upon his character as a man and ability as a farmer, and often as well upon a neighbor"s indors.e.m.e.nt. Farmers"
paper ranks high among the Canadian bankers and const.i.tutes a considerable proportion of the a.s.sets of some of the banks. The banks, of course, do not undertake to supply the farmer with anything more than working capital. They do not help him pay for his land and buildings, but they do let him have at least part of the money he needs for tools, wages, seed, stock, etc. Despite the fact that these advances are unsecured by mortgage, the banks suffer very little loss on farm paper.
CALL LOANS IN CANADA AND ELSEWHERE
After "current loans in Canada" the next largest item among the a.s.sets is "call and short loans elsewhere than in Canada." The call loans outside of Canada consist mainly of loans in the New York market and are as a rule secured by collateral easily convertible into cash. These loans are regarded by Canadian bankers as equivalent to cash and are figured by them as part of their reserve. Only the larger banks make a practice of loaning on call in New York.
THE BANKS AS FINANCIAL INSt.i.tUTIONS
That the chartered banks of Canada are financial as well as commercial inst.i.tutions is evidenced by their holdings of stocks and bonds. These securities represent partly an investment carried as a secondary reserve and partly a business carried on for the benefit of their customers. In Canada the demand for long-time investments is not large, but whatever market there is for securities is mainly in the hands of the chartered banks. An investor seeks the advice of a bank manager and often is able to obtain from him securities which satisfy his needs. The banks do not publish a list of their holdings, but it is generally taken for granted that they carry only gilt-edge securities. If a customer desires to obtain second or third rate securities, being eager for a high rate of return, a bank can accommodate him, not by selling him out of its own stock, but by negotiating the purchase of the desired securities in New York or London.
As the wealth in Canada increases and idle capital acc.u.mulates in excess of its immediate needs, this financial side of the business of Canadian banks will doubtless expand. It may, indeed, during the next generation or two greatly expand and become an important feature of the chartered banks. They are in a position to take care of the business as it develops and will doubtless be able to prevent the establishment of any purely financial banking houses in Canada.
THE REVISION OF THE BANK ACT, 1913[148]
The Canadian Bank Act, as is well known, is subject to decennial revision. The last revision was due to take place in 1910; but owing to circ.u.mstances which it is not necessary here to describe, it was not until the present year that the work was finally undertaken. The leading features of the Canadian banking system are so well known that they may be pa.s.sed over, and the nature and causes of the recent changes in the act alone described. There were many minor modifications, but the essential changes effected were: (1) provision for a shareholders"
audit, (2) the creation of central gold reserves, and (3) the providing of additional facilities for making loans to farmers.
In the recent revision of the act the public was most deeply concerned with the problem of securing an adequate system of bank inspection. The immediate reason for this was the disastrous failure of the Farmers"
Bank. This inst.i.tution had gambled away its resources on the Keeley mine; and had, in its failure, brought many farmers as well as others to the verge of ruin. For several years previous, however, there had been an insistent demand for some sort of external bank inspection....
The banks as a whole have been opposed to any change in the method of inspection. The reason they advance is that the keynote of the organization of Canadian banks has always been the centralization of responsibility; and they do not think it wise to divide that responsibility with any outside authority....
As far as the public is concerned it has no means of judging of the soundness of a bank except by examining the monthly returns which are required by law from each bank. These returns are fairly comprehensive, and have been made more so by the revision of the act this year. The Minister of Finance may call for supplementary information from any bank, whenever, in his judgment, such data are required to afford a fuller knowledge of a bank"s affairs. Of course, these returns can be taken only for what they are worth. In the case of several failed banks the returns were made with every degree of falsification, because no independent checking of the figures was possible.
Nevertheless, in obedience to the strong demand for some sort of independent bank examination, provision was made in the recent revision of the act for a shareholders" audit of each bank"s affairs. The auditors are to be chosen by the shareholders from a list of forty names selected by the whole body of the general managers of the banks. The list must be submitted to the Minister of Finance for his approval. If one-third of the shareholders of a bank are dissatisfied with the auditor appointed by the majority, they may appeal to the Minister for the appointment of another auditor.
The auditors must submit a statement of their findings to the shareholders at the annual meeting, or on any other occasion the necessity may require. In addition the Minister of Finance may require a special return to be made to him, the cost of the service rendered being paid for by the Government.
Canadians would be wise not to expect too much from this system of external examination. After all, it can do no more than verify a bank"s statements and books.... In every large undertaking, the soundness of the transaction must depend, as before, upon the judgment of the general manager and the board of directors.
The establishment of central gold reserves is the most important feature added to Canada"s banking system by the legislation of 1913.... Under the new act each bank may issue any amount of notes that it may desire, provided that it deposits with a board of trustees, at Montreal, gold or Dominion notes to the full amount of the notes issued. These notes are to be identical in form with the ordinary notes of the bank. The gold or Dominion notes deposited with the trustees shall be returned to the bank whenever the notes which the bank has outstanding do not amount to the paid-up capital of the bank together with the amount of legal-tender money deposited with the trustees. In other words, the banks can still issue their notes up to the full amount of their paid-up capital, and an additional amount from September 1 to the end of the following February, which may equal 15 per cent. of a bank"s combined capital and surplus.
It is only for notes issued in excess of these amounts that legal-tender money must be deposited with the trustees at Montreal. It should be observed, however, that the banks pay a tax of 4 per cent. on the extra issue during the crop-moving period, whereas there is no tax upon gold-reserve notes. And as Canadian banks are not required to keep a legal reserve against their demand liabilities, there is no reason why the idle gold in their reserves should not be sent to Montreal to form the basis of new note issues, especially when it is considered that the gold may be recalled at once when no longer needed to cover notes.
The ability to issue notes to any amount required, on a gold basis, will greatly strengthen the position of the banks.
The third important new feature in the revision of the act is the power given to the banks to make loans to farmers on grain which is stored on the farm and still in the farmer"s possession.... The permission granted them to loan money to farmers on stored grain in the latter"s possession is an attempt to extend to the farmers aid similar to that hitherto granted to manufacturers and wholesalers alone. It should not be thought, however, that the banks have not always granted loans liberally to farmers....
The possibility of making advances to the farmers on their grain is expected to be of especial benefit to the West.... It is hoped that, under the new legislation, the farmer will be able to hold his grain for higher prices; and in the meantime secure accommodation from the banks to meet his obligations. Many bankers, however, refuse to see any remedy for the situation in the new legislation. They maintain that it will involve too much risk to extend loans on grain over which the farmer continues to a.s.sert control. Only the operation of time will enable us to estimate the value of this feature of the act.
COMPARATIVE FIGURES OF CONDITION OF CANADIAN BANKS[149]
a.s.sETS