The bank customer's new BFF
Let's see if Douglas Melville will have more success with Royal Bank of Canada than his predecessor did. Canada's new banking ombudsman was appointed this week, and in his first days he's talking a tad tough. His job is to push changes on how complaints from customers of banks and investment firms are handled by institutions.
Earlier this year, David Agnew stepped down as head of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) to take another job. Mr. Agnew's resignation followed the withdrawal of RBC from the recently reformed dispute-resolution process.
"I think it's unfortunate that they're [RBC] not with us," Mr. Melville told The Globe and Mail this week. "It's unfortunate for the system as a whole, but also for their customers."
Mr. Melville joined OBSI, an independent organization, in 2006, as senior deputy ombudsman for banking services. Before that, he held senior posts in the financial industry and worked as a consultant. Clearly, OBSI plays with a weaker hand without the country's largest bank, although the federal Finance Minister is looking at the issue. "The call as to whether or not they come back is entirely between RBC and Ottawa," Mr. Melville said.
what page am i on?
It's always amusing to play "spot the real characters" in a roman à clef, and members of Toronto's business and social elite may spend their time in coming weeks doing just that with a new novel by gossip columnist Shinan Govani hitting stores next week.
Mr. Govani has been busy attending a series of launch parties for his Boldface Names, including a "surprise" dinner for 15 the other night at One in the Hazelton Hotel, attended by media types, spin doctors and socialites. Among them was Canadian establishment chronicler Peter C. Newman, there to figuratively pass the baton to Mr. Govani. The two "social archivists" share an interest in Barbara Amiel Black.
Mr. Newman, now 80 and author of more than two dozen books, has written about her and her now-imprisoned husband, Conrad Black; Mr. Govani's romp features a character named Lady Ivory, who is crucial to the plot. The book has plenty of other familiar figures, some going by their real names (Jim Balsillie, Peter and Melanie Munk, Edward Greenspan and Adrienne Clarkson) and others in disguise, such as "the Formidable Authoress" and the "Richest Man in the Room/Country."
