National Bank first among Canada's Big Six to stop offering new safety deposit boxes
MONTREAL — National Bank of Canada won’t offer any more new safety deposit boxes, which allow customers to keep valuable items or important documents at bank branches. It’s the first large Canadian bank to stop offering this service.
The bank stopped offering the service as of Nov. 1. The decision comes after the financial institution noted a decline in the popularity of safety deposit boxes, said spokeswoman Stephanie Rousseau in an interview conducted in French.
“That said, clients who already had boxes before that date will be able to keep them,” she said.
National Bank is the first large Canadian bank to stop offering safety deposit boxes. The five other largest Canadian banks, and Desjardins Group, confirmed that they still offer the service and don’t currently intend to follow suit, though some institutions noted that safety deposit boxes aren’t necessarily available at all of their branches.
The revenue generated by safety deposit boxes is “not large” for a bank, said Reena Atanasiadis, dean of the Williams School of Business at Bishop’s University, in an interview. “If you multiply by the number of boxes available at a branch, the annual revenues aren’t substantial.”
At National Bank, the annual fees for an existing safety box vary between $60 and $300, depending on size.
The bank also takes on risks. “They can be stolen, there could be damages linked to a flood, or something like that,” said Atanasiadis.
In 2012, media reported on a theft affecting 53 deposit boxes at a National Bank branch in Saint-Eustache, Que., outside Montreal.
In theory, it’s up to individuals to insure the contents of their boxes, but the bank is still exposed to a reputational risk. “If there are 1,000 clients who complain, there are
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