Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 7, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba October b4 Steve email Winnipeg tree press business Royal Bank picks Call Centre site by Martin Cash business reporter the Royal Bank will build its new million Western Canada Call Centre at a suburban Loca Tion on Taylor South of the Grant Park shopping the Banks senior Vic president for Dennice said she expects ground to be broken in the few weeks and to be Able to move into the building by next the Bank received 12 development one of which was reportedly a downtown it announced that the Taylor Avenue site submitted by Winnipeg developers and property managers Shin Dico was the one that will be were pretty said hindi co president Sandy this is the first Call Centre project weve done and we Hope to develop some expertise and perhaps replicate this elsewhere in to is a line of business that the province is encouraging and As Manitoba developers wed like to be in the the Call Centre is expected to employ about 300 people in its first couple of but could employ upwards of people before it is not unreasonable to expect the Large increase in Lea hey our annual Calls Are up to 30 million today from five million Only two years the Bank is expecting a dramatic increase Over the coming years in Calls to its action direct discount broker age and from its increasing numbers of Telephone banking and personal computer banking Leahey said when the Bank built its first Call Centre in five years it was planning to build a second but she said the volume of Calls increased so rapidly that the Bank expanded but could no longer wait to do another we didst want to let one Centre get too big and hard to manage and this gives us an Opportunity to do some thing in the she the Royal Sank currently employs Between and people in Man depending on the volumes of the new Call Centre could chartered Banks establish new fronts in abm wars battlefields of convenience food bars fuel exclusive deals to Cash in on love of easy Money Access by Murray Mcneil business reporter convenience stores have become one of the hottest new battlegrounds in the War among Canadas Banks for the hearts and accounts of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is bumping the Royal Bank and other financial institutions out of 7eleven food stores in Manitoba and the rest of Canada after negotiating an exclusive partnership arrangement with the convenience store by Early next the Bank expects to have one of its automated banking machines Abms in every 7eleven store in the including so in Manitoba and five in Northwestern the Royal in is push ing the Bank of Montreal and the Toronto Dominion Bank out of Manitoba 16 Mohawk food bars after negotiating an exclusive partnership with exclusive the Royal also has landed an exclusive Deal to install its machines in All 14 Esso Tiger express stores in the while the Bank of Montreal has a similar Deal with Petro there Are several reasons Why the Banks Are targeting convenience stores for their one is the growing popularity of the there were More than billion abm transactions for the country chartered Banks in the year ending the Cana Dian Bankers association that compares with 700 million in and that trend is expected to continue As technological advances enable canadians to obtain More and More services through according to Kevin a local spokesman for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Lightfoot noted that Cibic is test ing a new generation of Abms this fall in the Toronto area that not Only enable customers to make Cash deposits and Transfer Money Between accounts and pay certain but also to buy foot Ballet and airline tickets and conduct currency some Abms already in use in the United states also dispense such no Finan Cial items As postage Tran sit passes and movie and a company has devel oped a new portable abm that can Jeff Debrow Winnipeg free press canadians embrace use of Bank machines Here Are some facts and figures about the growing use of automated banking machines and other forms of electronic banking in Canada there were More than billion abm transactions involving chartered Banks in Canada in the fiscal year ending that compares with billion in the previous year and 931 million in the year ending there were banking Abms in Canada As of the end of last Janu Ary compared with at the end of january the country seven chartered Banks had a total of 582 Abms in ser vice in Manitoba As of the end of last earlier and 3111n july Abms now account for 58 per cent of All routine Bank things like deposits and withdrawals in Canada each that compares with Only 28 per cent in the United canadians Complete an average of 41 abm and debit card transactions each per compared to 25 for 17 for germans and eight for source the Canadian Bankers association and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Kevin Lightfoot enjoys a big gulp next to a Cibic automated Bank machine in a 7eleven installing Abms in convenience stores is not a new concept in Cana the for has had them in macs milk stores in Ontario for at least five or six but what is new is How common place there and the fact Banks Are forming exclusive partnerships with convenience store said Canadian banking association spokeswoman Sharon Dale Market manager for 7eieven food described the exclusive Deal with Cibic As a win win Shaw said 7eleven benefits because it gets an abm in All 455 of its stores in including 253 outlets that never had the machines that should help attract More customers to the he eliminates confusion and having an exclusive arrange ment eliminates confusion among Consumers about what kind of Bank machine find when they walk into a said another said is that the two partners can launch joint Adver Tising and marketing the Banks and convenience stores Arent the Only ones who think exclusive partnerships Are a Good University of Manitoba Market ing professor Walter Good said yesterday that strategic alliances Are becoming increasingly import i think it makes a Good Deal of he its a Good be located at places like a riverboat a Remote wilderness Camp site or the Back of a truck in a so Banks can make Money while customers Are having the Bankers association statistics show that the number of Bank Abms in Canada has More than doubled in the last seven jumping from in january 1990 to in january of this electronic channels and More of those Abms Are being installed in no banking outlets such As convenience because fewer canadians Are doing their banking inside Banks these Lightfoot said More than 80 per cent of All banking transactions in Canada Are now done through elec tronic including debit Telephone banking and personal computer its become part of the Canadian Cul and the reason convenience stores Are considered prime locations for these offsite Abms is because there convenient and safer than Many other according to Lightfoot and Dave the Roan in charge of alter native delivery systems for the Royal Bank in Burke noted that most convenience stores Are open 24 hours a there Well theres at least one attendant on hand at All and there Are a lot of people coming and going at different banking officials agree that increase the Banks Manitoba staff by around 50 per Shin Dico has selected recon builders As the general the seven acre site will include Square feet of All of one and about 400 parking Shindleman were looking of additional users on the site but we Haven finalised anything there will be a few Hundred shoppers of the site and once we know Mote about who they Well try to figure out what would be suitable businesses to share the travel agents Battle airlines by Paul Mckee business reporter a recent move by North ican airlines to Cap commission fees to travel agents on International flights could Cost thousands of jobs and put travel agencies out of Busi a travel Industry official were talking thousands of jobs across the said Ron Prad owner of Winnipeg tit Renais Sance travel and National Vic president of the association of Canadian travel agents Prada nuke said one British Columbia Agency group has told him the recent changes will Cost them he also said if the changes go the mom and pop travel Agency will become a thing of the this would have a dra Matic he Tammy macintosh of eclipse travel and president of Acta said the Manitoba agents Are angry with the it will have a big Impact in Manito said the Little Guys Arent going to be there any in response to the Acta has formed a 10point Plant to fight the commission included in the plan Are meetings with the Federal Competition Bureau to Hammer out minimum commission terms for Prada nuke said what the airlines Are doing is squeezing the he said the Caps Force agencies to look at service fees to but Prada nuke said All airline ads say Contact the air line or an he said if customers know they will be charged a fee they will go to the airline Prada nuke said some Small service fee could be charged to corporate but it would be detrimental to business to charge it to personal the airlines announced the commis Sion change in the changes took effect for their the air lines have said the commission Caps will save them tens of millions of Dol Lars a year and Are necessary in the competitive International the Canadian Industry adopted com Mission Caps for Domestic flights last after first raising commissions three quarters of a percentage Prada nuke said the airlines Arent in a survival he said they Are the Healthiest they have been in Prada nuke said All agencies will be but hardest hit will be the Leisure travel Prada nuke said Acta would meet with the Competition Bureau within a macintosh said Acta Manitoba would be taking including an and Campaign aimed at educating Consumers in the safety screening test novel approach t t that the Best Way to pre vent accidents in the work f place a company believes the Best Way is to not hire the people who Are most Likely to have accidents in the first the Assumption is that proper safety procedures ire in place and employees irent following them so a company prevents a costly Accident by ensuring Only conscientious workers Are that theory behind Reid psychological systems new screening test called the Reid safety Gary the chicag based company marketing says the test will be on the Market and available to employers Early in the new Koeb says the impetus for the test came from the skyrocketing workers compensation claims in the United according to claims in the have risen 70 per cent w the last 20 Reid notes that not Only have claims increased but the falsification of injuries is on the around the workplace the according to a Reid press is employers must be More selective in hiring or face increases in insurance not to mention thousands of dollars in compensation Koeb says Reid has been doing employee screening for More than 40 the safety screening is just another he says some interesting predictive results came from the Early testing Koeb says soft employees from three different companies were asked a series of the answers were then cheesed against individuals1 safety records Reid claims that employees who were not recommended on the safety test had a 60 per cent greater rate of injuries or accidents than those employees who were poor performers on the test missed twice As Many work Days per year than those who were recommended by the even worse for those who scored poorly was the result they were four times As Likely to receive disciplinary warnings for violating company to rules than those who passed the Koeb says the results of this testing will be used to compose a question Naire of 100 to 150 he says the Reid test uses direct questions such How Many Days did you miss last year because of an Accident the strongest Validity comes from clearcut says but what if an employee feels pressured to skip safety precautions because of production concerns from superiors Koeb that Doest Matte the Bottom line is safety should always be observed and they want to determine which people Are More prone to ignore safety its a novel not Only is the employee blamed for the Accident but the employee is blamed for an Acci Dent he or she Hast committed the approach to accidents in Mani Toba is somewhat although predicting where an Accident might occur is part of the were very interested the predictive stuff we do is in workplaces rather than says Geof Frey executive director of the safety and health division of the department of Bawden says they look at workplaces and Accident Statis tics and try to prevent accidents with the people who already work rather than screening out people who Arent working in Large part the workplace division relies on Accident statistics from the workers compensation Board we focus in on High loss time Acci says so if Are suddenly falling off scaffolding in larger numbers the workplace division will examine the Issue and see if theres a Core reason underlying the Bawden also notes that most dents Are due to inexperienced and under trained some of the Saddest accidents weve seen Are with people who Haven been adequately trained on the says he says inexperienced peo ple Are overrepresented in the Acci Dent so perhaps instead of stopping people from getting there should be More emphasis on Job training so accidents dont Bawden also Points out that unlike the the number of accidents in Manitoba is he also says that employers with Good safety records generally have Good production 1 dont think theres a conflict Between safety and says if you have or Stop about workplace please fall Paul ;