Banking In The North Just Got A Lot Easier

To the majority of Canadians, opening a bank account is fairly easy. If the bank they want to deal with is too far to walk to they either get in their car or make use of the local public transit system, go to the closest branch office, sit down with a representative from the bank, provide their ID, sign a few forms and the job is done.

Not so in the north.

There are 53 Inuit communities in Inuit Nunangnat, but only 6 of them have a bank.

Until last week this meant that to open a bank account it was often necessary for Inuit to purchase a round-trip plane ticket to one of the few communities that has a bank, arrange accomodations while there, and sometimes acquire the services of a translator. The cost of this is generally so prohibitive that those who are able to are forced to combine setting up a bank account with business or medical travel. Needless to say a great many Inuit do not have bank accounts.

Last week, the Royal Bank of Canada, working with the RCMP and local community officials, began offering a remote banking services, in which people can apply for a bank account without actually going to a bank to do so. For Inuit, this is a huge financial step forward.

Most Canadians take for granted common consumer experiences like paying for groceries with a debit card, using telephone or Internet banking to pay bills or even putting a few extra dollars into that special bank account for retirement or for their grandkids’ education. Yet these are things that have not been readily or even reasonably available to a great many Inuit.

At this time, it is only the Royal Bank of Canada that is providing this important and much-needed service, so many Inuit still do not have the choice of financial institutions that most other Canadians enjoy. But it is progress. I challenge other financial institutions to set up similar programs so that Inuit may also benefit from another common consumer experience — competition.

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