Scotabank Bonavista

The Scotiabank has announced that it will close the Bonavista branch in September 2024. By my count this will be the tenth business closure in the five years that I have lived in Bonavista; a rate of two businesses per year closing.

A bank branch closure is different from any other business closure. A bank branch closure is a signal that the parent bank has decided that the branch is not generating enough revenue.

How does a bank branch generate revenue? Simply by lending money; lending money to individuals (I need a loan to install new windows) and to businesses (I need a loan to expand my business)

A business that has closed does not ask for a loan, and the people who were employed by that business do not ask for a loan. They draw unemployment benefits for a while, then move out of town.

We can depend on a bank's decision because banks are very good at collecting data and crunching numbers.

My figures can be questioned, as can my formulas. But each branch has a target revenue (interest earned) and Scotiabank Bonavista is not meeting its target, possibly has not met its target for five years running, so it has to go.

Will another major bank fill the void (Royal, TD, BMO) or will we get a credit union? Possibly. But the closure of the sole bank branch in a town is a signal that things are NOT booming.

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