It’s all part of the job description

The attitude should come as little surprise. After all, the business case of a bank is to accrue assets and applying pressure to do just that would seem to be one of the primary duties of management.

“Every bank wants to grow,” says a Laurentian Bank of Canada employee in British Columbia. “It’s a focus, not a pressure.”

In fact, this particular banker thought the question could have been better worded. “I find the word ‘pressure’ negative. I think something like ‘encouragement,’ or ‘emphasis on growing the book’ would be better.”

In fact, few of the bankers surveyed expressed any outright dissatisfaction with management over pressure to add to the bottom line.

“If you like what you do, it’s not pressure. Pressure is a misused word,” says the Laurentian banker. “The person at the next desk will define it as pressure if they are in the wrong position or not happy with their job, but if you like what you do, it’s not pressure.”

“It’s all I ever think about, it’s part of our jobs,” says an Ontario-based Bank of Nova Scotia employee. A Royal Bank of Canada banker from Alberta echoes the sentiment: “You should have pressure. That’s a biased question.”

It’s no surprise then that the banks ranked No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the pressure categories were also the two highest marks when it came to the actual total score.

TD Bank Financial Group, the star of this year’s Report Card, rated a 5.8 when it came to employees’ perception of the pressure to accumulate assets. Bank of Montreal, the second-place finisher overall, posted a score of 6.7. They received the two highest scores in the pressure category.

The response about pressure to build assets was fairly uniform, but there was some variation. Especially interesting were responses from TD Canada Trust staff.

Despite the bank’s top ranking, there was a slight disparity in responses. On one hand, there was a perception of intense competition, reflected in comments from a TD banker from southern Ontario, who says pressure to accumulate assets is “the main focus of the job.”

Contrast that with statements from several employees from the trust side of the new TD equation. One banker in Ontario says: “There has not been any pressure in the past with Canada Trust, but in the future with TD, I don’t know.”

Another TD banker from Ontario says: “A lot of it is two cultures. At the trust company it’s smaller, more personal and attention is paid to the person, whereas at a corporation that’s so big, that may not be the case.”

What culture will reign when the merger is complete and the two corporations have had time to intermingle?

None of the bankers surveyed would presume to make an answer, but one Ontario banker, who was with Canada Permanent Trust when it was acquired by Canada Trust two decades ago, suggests the answer could be a surprise. In that merger, Canada Trust was the aggressor. “When it was first out there, Canada Trust wanted to be a big bank,” the banker says.

It took about five years, but the Canada Permanent culture — the “kinder and gentler” culture today associated with Canada Trust — eventually took over as the default corporate culture.

But as one TD banker from New Brunswick said about the outcome of the most recent merger: “We’ll see.”

As for the other kind of pressure — referring clients — the survey produced a wide range of comments. While there was an initial resistance to referring clients in-house in the wake of the big banks’ acquisitions of brokerages, many of the employees reluctant to play along have moved on. Those still there seem to have little hesitation about referring in-house. “It’s just part of what you do, it’s part of the culture,” says a TD banker from Alberta. “Pressure is not a good word, it’s expected,” says a National Bank of Canada banker in Ontario.

But a certain independence lives on, especially among employees at some smaller banks who seem to feel the heat less intensely than they might at larger banks.

“At this point we cannot offer the discount brokerage to all our customers,” says a Laurentian banker, referring to the bank’s small size in the West, which makes it cost-prohibitive to register with every provincial regulator.

Laurentian has an alliance with Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. to offer banking services to that brokerage’s preferred customers, while Merrill provides brokerage services for Laurentian clients.

“We look after their preferred banking clients, while we send some of our clients there. But it’s still up to the account manager,” says the banker. “It’s not carved in stone.”

Some bankers still champion the individual approach to referrals. “I will always do what is right for the customer,” says a TD banker in Ontario. “After 24 years, I’m not going to change what I’ve been doing. I’m a consumer as well, so I’d never bend to pressure if it’s not in my client’s interest.

“At a corporation there’s always pressure but I don’t feel it because I’ve built a huge portfolio with tonnes of repeat business by doing what’s right for the client,” he adds.

“There’s no pressure,” says a Royal banker in Ontario. “I do what’s best for the client.” IE