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#Written by David Tam, 1997. #
#davidkftam@netscape.net Copyright 1999#
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David Tam
Monday, February 24, 1997.
BUSINESS PRESS REVIEW
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Partridge, John. "New bank legislation to help consumers". The Globe and Mail.
Saturday, February 15, 1997. B1,B6. ------------------
The federal government has released its plan for a revised bank act. This
revision opens the door to foreign competition while, at the same time, giving
consumers more protection and giving easier access for low-income families.
It will reduce the amount of regulations imposed upon the current domestic
banks, and eliminate some of the anti-competitive practices currently exploited.
As an interesting point, the government is proposing to allow banks to
regulate themselves on certain issues. This idea of the government delegating
responsibilities has been discussed in class and it has been seen as a fairly
effective and economical way for the government to enforce certain legislation.
However, consumer groups and small businesses are fairly skeptical about this
idea.
Another change is that mutual insurance companies will now be able to raise
capital on the free market. This change will probably alter the scene for
investors because this will now be presented with another possible area of
investment.
This proposed legislation is designed to protect consumers by requiring the
banks to formalize their procedures of collecting and using customer
information, and also to the handling of complaints. Hopefully, this will ease
the fears of the lost of privacy in this day of information overload and
exploitation.
Small businesses will hopefully benefit from the proposed legislation
because of the increased competition among existing and new, foreign banks.
Hopefully, operating loans and sources of funding will become more available
and at lower rates.
(
geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/9640/2ndYear) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/9640) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley)