For about two years I ran CIBC's retail network across Canada when they were in the midst of the TD-CIBC merger, which didn't happen. If I had 10 priorities for the year, they were all about money. It was all about growth, it was about income, and it was about profit. That's the nature of the beast. That's why they're so strong.
I went to the credit union and it was all I could do to get profit even on the agenda. I think that's one of those examples where neither extreme, in my view, is the right place to be.
I think what you see is that the profit preoccupation of the banks causes them to abandon things or to not pursue things that they probably could afford to pursue but which don't represent the next incremental best investment for them.
I think credit unions play to a different agenda. I think we have to be a lot more focused on profit because the reality is that we need capital to support our business. It's true at Alterna and it was true at FirstOntario that profit isn't the first, last, and most important ingredient in my day. That's why we can do micro-lending. There is no way we could get micro-lending done at the bank because you don't make any money at it on your income statement. People would laugh at me. If they did do it, they would do it in the charitable division, and it's not about charity; this is business. This is helping people create viable businesses and create viable lives.
I think credit unions and cooperatives, because they don't have the drop-dead profit motive, are much better positioned to support social innovation and community economic development.