######################################## #Written by David Tam, 1997. # #davidkftam@netscape.net Copyright 1999# ######################################## David Tam Monday, February 24, 1997. BUSINESS PRESS REVIEW ===================== 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.