It looks like we have the start of a trend. Another Canadian banker has come out in support of OSW. Ed Clark (head of TD bank, which also has large operations in the US) said:http://www.thestar.com/...
"My main advice is stick to your guns. When people say, 'You don’t have a solution,' say, 'Of course we don't. If there was a solution, don't you think people would be doing it?' To ask the people who occupy Wall Street or Bay Street to have a full answer is absurd. They're doing their job which is to say, 'If you think this [system] is working for everyone, it's not.'"
Clarks' comments follow those of the Bank of Canada (The Canadian equivalent of the Fed) head, Mark Carney who noted: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...
In a television interview, Mr. Carney acknowledged that the movement is an understandable product of the ``increase in inequality’’ – particularly in the United States – that started with globalization and was thrust into sharp relief by the worst downturn since the Great Depression, which hit the less well-educated and blue-collar segments of the population hardest.
Demonstrations like the Occupy Wall Street protests, which will hit Canadian cities this weekend, are a “democratic expression of views’’ and “entirely constructive,’’ Mr. Carney said.
“It makes it more tangible, the challenges that that economy is facing, and it makes it more important to demonstrate success on issues such as financial reform,’’ he said.
For those that may not have been following closely, Mark Carney is the banker that took on Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan) over how much regulation banks should face. In response Carney later hgave a speech in which he said the following (a nice dig if ever there was one).http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...
“If some institutions feel pressure today, it is because they have done too little for too long, rather than because they are being asked to do too much, too soon," Mr. Carney said
Clark also has some interesting comments on the overall economic situation:http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/... (Though directed mostly at Canadians it is an interesting speech)
The United States lived a decade of folly where politicians believed they could fight wars, lower taxes, keep interest rates low and have the country consume more than it produced through leveraging its financial system, citizenship and country.
Globalization may make the world better off, and makes those in the western world with highly valued skills better off.
But others are falling behind.
This includes people with skills in less demand, or in direct competition with workers in lower wage countries. Income gaps have widened. The middle class has shrunk. And the working class struggles. While the highest income earners have become better off.
Without fully understanding all the forces at play -- people get it.
They recognize the prize has just got smaller -- and their instinct is to protect their share.
It should be noted that Canadian banks survived the financial crisis in much better shape than banks in most other countries and this is despite Canada having a small handful of large banks that control the vast majority of the market. How did they do it? Well it helps that they are heavily regulated and that the Canadian Finance Ministry is often at loggerheads with the banks (i.e it is not in their pocket).
Interestingly TD bank now has more branches in the US than it has in Canada.