Scotia On Line Banking

TD Bank to Contain Expenses as Demand Slows, Finance Chief Johnston Says

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Colleen Johnston, chief financial officer of Toronto-Dominion Bank, talks with Bloomberg's Sean B. Pasternak about curbing expenses, growth strategy and market outlook. The Canadian lender that doubled its branches over the past six years through a U.S. expansion, plans to cut expense growth by as much as half to offset a slowdown in its home market. (Source: Bloomberg)

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) , the Canadian lender that doubled its branches over the past six years through a U.S. expansion, plans to cut expense growth by as much as half to offset a slowdown in its home market.

Canada’s second-biggest bank plans to increase core expenses, which excludes costs for acquisitions and foreign exchange, by about 3 percent next year, Chief Financial Officer Colleen Johnston said. That compares with gains of 5 percent to 6 percent over the past couple years, according to bank figures.

“The key is we’ve got to look at core expenses and rein them in,” Johnston said in a July 21 interview at the bank’s Toronto headquarters. “I think the challenge for us as an organization is where we’ve been investing and growing.”

Johnston foresees “a slowing environment,” in Canada , driven by less demand for housing and increased competition on products such as mortgages and credit cards. Existing home sales are forecast to decline 1.3 percent this year as mortgage rates rise, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association .

Toronto-Dominion has increased domestic consumer-banking profit by an average of 14 percent a year since 2003, a faster pace than any of its Canadian competitors. In addition, the bank has spent more than $25 billion on acquisitions south of the border, giving it more branches in the U.S. than at home.

Double-digit growth in Canadian banking is “not realistic over the long term,” said Johnston, 53, who joined the bank in 2004 from Bank of Nova Scotia. (BNS) “The reality is that at some point that’s going to slow down to a more normal level.”

The slowdown in Canadian consumer-bank profit could begin in the second half of 2011, following earnings of C$847 million ($893 million) from that unit in the fiscal second quarter, its second-highest result to date. Toronto-Dominion is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Sept. 1.

If business is slowing down, “it’s only natural to the CEO then to, in fact, cut back on the cost line,” said Gareth Watson, vice president of investment management at Richardson GMP Ltd. in Toronto, which oversees about C$16 billion. “It’s difficult to increase the revenue line in a difficult environment.

The Realm Of Online Banking in Jamaica – NCB and Scotiabank ...

Most of us should know the saying “time is money” and or “time wasted is never regained” (or something to that extent) so most of us should have experienced the pain and loss of precious time that often goes with standing in at times horrendously long lines waiting to pay bills, other expenses or other business/financial transactions.  Well with the advances in technology many things have gone online and our local banks are no exception.  All of the top banks locally does or should facilitate some sort of electronic banking, there are about 4 or so banks locally but the two which are most familiar (mainly due to the fact that they have been here for like forever) and that usually comes to our mind are National Commecial Bank (NCB) and Scotiabank and thus those are the two banks that will be the topic of discussion throughout this article.

Ease of Access

Lets start with ease of access, one can access NCB online banking from going to their website www.jncb.com and otherwise from a prompt or two about installing software (usually java) and that one has already called NCB, to configure and activated their online log in credentials then it is as easy as choosing their preferred online banking option from the online banking drop down menu located at the top of the site whether “personal” or “business” and its a simple matter of entering ones log in credentials.  While for Scotiabank it is not really quite that simple, first of all Scotia seems to have two or so different websites a “Scotia Online” www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com and a “Scotia Internet Banking” www.scotiabank.com why they have two sites I’m not sure it would seem one is for “Financial Services” and the other is for “Internet Banking” one would think that was also a “Financial Service” but I digress, so which ever the case what I can tell you is that for most people it may quite possibly cause some confusion and one may find themselves on the wrong site enter their correct credentials and yet getting no where fast.

Security

As for security NCB has the basic security infrastructure user name and password and if there is an incorrect entry of the password more than three times leads to a hold being placed on your account which you would then need to provide your debit card serial to and other credentials to reset your account but other wise from the credentials required to log in and then a confirmation/verification credentials (different from log on credentials this one is used when one successfully logs on) is required to complete any transaction, all altercations, additions and confirmations (e.g. yes subtract this said amount from my account) are governed and or protected by this password.

Plunkett's Banking, Mortgages and Credit Industry Almanac 2006 (E-Book), The Only Complete Guide to the Business of Banking, Lending, Mortgages and Credit Cards

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A2 Level ICT for AQA