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Saturday, August 08, 1998 Hysteria starts in bank merger debate By Terence Corcoran

The bank merger debate has been pretty tame to date, with Royal Bank chairman John Cleghorn winning most of the public relations points by doing everything from lunch with Jan Wong to charming his way through speeches and interviews with anyone who'll listen. But this easy state of affairs can be expected to deteriorate over the remainder of the summer leading up to what promises to become one of the largest blowout ideological slug fests since free trade.

The issue of the proposed bank mergers is always a controversial subject. Simply put, the Bank of Montreal doesn't have the funds to "grow" the Harris Bank. The issue is not the ability to compete world-wide, the issue is to compete in the U.S.

One guest suggested that if Bombardier/Canadair had not been allowed to merge, Canada would not be a world player in the aerospace industry. This was not considered to be a relevant example.

At a local level, the real estate outlook is better and better.

Bruce Burnett stated that his company is involved in two large deals to be announced within days.

• Monday, September 07, 1998 Competition Bureau at odds with banks Subpoenas Royal, B of M for more merger data By Susanne Craig

  The federal Competition Bureau and two of Canada's largest banks are banging heads as speculation mounts that the banks' merger plan may be in trouble. After months of toing and froing with the country's four merging banks, the bureau fired off subpoenas recently in its quest.
  
  

• Wednesday, August 19, 1998 Ottawa may force bank branch sale, report says Sees proposed mergers exceeding concentration rules, forecasts up to 11% cut in outlets By Susanne Craig

  The federal Competition Bureau may force the sale of as many as 11 per cent of bank branches if a pair of merger proposals proceed, suggests a new report commissioned by an independent brokerage house. The report, sold recently to 10 institutional investors for $10,000 apiece and obtained by The Globe and Mail, was commissioned by Toronto-based securities trading and independent research provider Commission Direct Inc. and written by York University professor Fred Lazar.
  
  

• Friday, September 04, 1998 CIBC announces buyback to bolster sagging stock By Susanne Craig Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce -- fighting to preserve its share value as it prepares to merge with Toronto-Dominion Bank -- has initiated a stock buyback in a bid to bolster its sagging stock. The bank said yesterday as it released disappointing third-quarter results that it wants to buy back up to 20 million shares, or just under 5 per cent -- a move that should help its stock price.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tuesday, August 04, 1998 Banks - Kevin Choquette
  Weakness in the Canadian Banking sector stems from concerns over the potential for interest rate hikes in defense of the Canadian dollar, economic growth and Asia. CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia have been the hardest hit. Canadian Banks are now trading at a 18% discount to the US Money Centre Banks, which is at the high end of their trading range. Canadian Banks should trade at closer to a 10% discount. It is possible that the weakness may persist so he is not inclined to upgrade the banking sector at this time -currently recommended as a market -weight. Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal are recommended for those interested in buying bank stocks at these levels. Both are rated 2-Buy.
  
  
• Monday 13 July 1998 Banks profit from machines Customers of Canada's banks upset over disappearing tellers and take-a-number lineups will have their darkest suspicions confirmed by a recently published Statistics
  
  
• #843 the Euro in Europe
  
  
• Monday, June 15, 1998 Peter Godsoe seeks foreign allies Scotiabank boss is odd man out with stand against domestic mergers By Susanne Craig ...With four out of five of the country's biggest banks already merger-bound, the chairman of Bank of Nova Scotia is the odd man out. But he bristles at that unflattering description, saying he will find open doors in other countries through alliances, mergers or acquisitions [n/a]
  
  
• Wednesday 27 May 1998 Big banks, big profits Royal, B of M, Scotiabank report 2nd-quarter earnings jumped by 15% to 20% [n/a]
  
  
• Saturday 16 May 1998 Rich vs. poor The income gap isn't much more disproportionate than it was in the '80s - it only feels that way. Why? The stark disparities of jobless youth and hefty executive salaries have registered in the public's mind. They're seen as un-Canadian. TERRANCE WILLS

  ... Cleghorn made $2.5 million in 1997 - not up to the $4.2 million reaped by Matthew Barrett of the Bank of Montreal, or the $19 million taken home by Gerald Schwartz, who runs Toronto-based Onex Corp. - but still a bundle, especially as viewed from the lowest quintile.

  In this group, the maximum annual income was $25,820. At that level, a family would have to work 100 years to make the salary Cleghorn collected in one year.[n/a]
  
  

• Monday, July 13, 1998 The lost lustre of Matthew Barrett Once a darling of the media, he's giving up the limelight. Banking on Cleghorn. By Susanne Craig

  Toronto -- On the day the first big bank merger was announced, Matthew Barrett was at the top of his game. Seeming more like a movie star than a Bay Street banker, he looked straight into the cameras and assured Canadians that uniting two of their great financial institutions was a radical move but also a necessary one.
  
  

• The Globe and Mail, Tuesday May 5th< [Finance Minister says foreign banks, technology won't fill competition void left by bank mega-mergers] ...Martin rejected the arguments put forward by four of Canada's biggest banks that the growing influence of foreign institutions and electronic banking would offset any competition problems caused by increasing concentration in the domestic industry.

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