CIBC’s decision to jettison and shuffle senior executives in its retail bank division elicits this response: What took you so long? Every other big bank — and in Alberta let’s not forget ATB Financial and CWB — has spent the last several years overhauling their retail bank operations to become more customer centric and more user-friendly and have enacted policies and campaigns to differentiate themselves from the competition. CIBC has, in my estimation, stood timidly on the sideline. I know CIBC would insist otherwise, but that’s my perception as a consumer.
At one time or another, I have taken my business to just about all of the major financial institutions. It’s been the usual consumer, retail stuff. Accounts, mortgages, car loans, lines of credit. I usually ended up leaving 
one institution for another due to inflexibility of policies and in many cases bank managers. But something else also changed along the way. The major financial institutions started catering towards my needs. Their onetime rigidity of open hours — sorry, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday is not customer friendly — gave way to extended hours, weekend hours, telephone banking with knowledgeable staff, Internet banking and a lot of features of a true retail business that we now taken for granted.
My take is that if banks truly want my retail business, they will offer the same level of service as the grocery stores and pharmacies and be there when I need them. Which takes me back to CIBC. Yes, we used to bank with CIBC as well. I just didn’t consider them to be all that customer savvy. I called my local branch once looking for a specific mortgage product, because CIBC had offered something I liked to a relative. Nobody knew what I was talking about. Then somebody from Toronto phoned at 6:30 a.m. next morning, wondering if I was pleased with the level of service I had received over my query. I asked the voice at the other end of the line whether she had any clue there are time zones across the country beyond the GTA.
So, sour grapes aside, my comment is this: Welcome to the dance, CIBC. Get on board with some real knockout retail promotions and overhaul your operations if you want business from the hoi polloi. After all, it’ s only money.
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