by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Nov 21/97) - Wanted: a business partner for the Bank of Montreal.

"In reality, Inuvik has got to the point where it can't support two banks," said Gordon Oliver, community banking manager for northern Alberta and the NWT.

If the Bank of Montreal is to maintain a presence in Inuvik, it needs a local partner -- to share office space, employees and risk, said Oliver.

The Inuvik branch is profitable, said Oliver, but not profitable enough. A new corporate restructuring plan calls for all branches not meeting defined profit targets to be restructured, or closed.

"Every branch has to stand on its own two feet," said Oliver.

The multinational corporation -- with $200 billion in annual revenues -- only made $1.7 billion last year, said Oliver. That was the highest profit for a Canadian bank, said Oliver, "but when you consider the return on equity, we're not doing so great."

International competitors are doing much better, thanks to more efficient use of resources, and a move away from "brick and mortar" banking, he said.

To move the local branch into more profitable directions, the bank hopes to form a joint venture. This might mean that the local branch is closed and moved into the corner of a drug store, where employees of that company could offer banking services, along with an Instabank machine and other features, said Oliver.

The bank hopes to have the venture in place by early next year, to begin the training of employees. Banking is a challenging job, and Oliver said the new employees will need to rely heavily on phone-help from Yellowknife and other branches, until they learn the ropes.

The bank will also promote the use of other means of banking, such as mbanx, the company's virtual banking network that allows banking over the phone, fax or Internet 24 hours a day.

Oliver said he hopes the merger would help end the vicious training cycle which has plagued the branch. "We're training new people every six months, and that's ludicrous," he said. "Management is so busy training people that it doesn't have time to adequately serve customers."

The joint venture, he said, is "a way to maintain presence here, while getting the local community involved."