Placing The Men

An important thing is the placing of the men. The managers and other officers are to be put in the positions to which their respective capacities fit them, as far as possible. So the general must know his men.

Another thing to be remembered is that the bank is a great training school. Raw material is being taken in all the time and moulded into the desired shape, the refuse being thrown away. Then, as a means of guarding against internal fraud a constant shifting of men has to be arranged.

There will likely be a regular revision of the salaries once a year, in which the whole staff will be considered. Managers' reports and inspectors' reports are both taken as guides in this revision. Not unfrequently the general manager has an opinion of his own, entirely independent of what managers and inspectors say, as to the qualifications and merit of certain officers.

In addition to this general revision, there will be a number of special cases considered during the course of the year. Important posts fall vacant, necessitating a whole line of promotions; the salaries of the promoted men will probably be revised and increases given at once on their taking the higher places.

Opening New Branches

An interesting part of the general manager's work is that relating to the establishment of new branches. The initiative may come from inside the bank or from outside. The branch managers are on the watch for likely places, and whenever a manager thinks the bank's position would be bettered by opening in a new place in his district he proposes to the general manager that it be done, giving his reasons. These proposals receive careful consideration, as do also the requests or petitions which come from places without banking facilities asking for the establishment of a branch. It is always desired to obtain, if possible, assurance that the bank will be given a certain minimum of business upon opening. And often there is a written undertaking on the part of the principal business men to give the bank their accounts and aid it to the extent of their powers if the branch is opened.

On the other hand, many branches are opened without any guarantees or promises of this kind. A bank may decide that its interests require the development of its business in an entirely new territory, and its entry therein has something of the nature of an invasion. It is aimed to have the branches strategically placed. For each big district or territory there is a central or depot branch, with its group of tributaries. For example, if a bank started to instal offices in Manitoba, its natural course would be, first the establishment of the central office at Winnipeg, and from that centre the others would radiate.

Unprofitable Offices

Competition of the severest kind has been experienced of late years in the opening of branches. Every desirable place would be gone after by maybe one, two or three banks. There are signs now that this movement is being better regulated.

It is desired that the new branches opened shall be profitable, either at the start or prospectively. In default of that, it is enough sometimes if they minister to the profit or advantage of some other branch or branches. But it is to be feared that, even allowing for all this, many branches have been opened of late years that cannot but be sources of weakness to the banks owning them for some time to come.