A pedestrian walks in front of The Royal Bank Plaza Tower on Front St., Toronto.Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Toronto's central core could be denuded of bankers in the days leading up to the G20 summit late in June, as financial institutions send their workers to other locations or let them work from home.
While the big banks are loath to disclose details of their plans for dealing with possible disruptions caused by tight downtown security or demonstrations that block the streets, some say the best bet will be to just keep their workers away.
"One of our main strategies is to reduce our employee presence in the downtown core," said Don Blair, manager of corporate communications at Royal Bank of Canada. "Our goal is to have as many as possible working from alternative work sites … and at home." That move will be made on Thursday June 24 - two days before the summit officially starts - and "a majority" of head-office workers could be affected, he said.
Summit participants are expected to start arriving on the evening of Friday June 25, and the meetings will run through the weekend. At least one of the big banks' main offices - Royal's - will likely be inside the fenced-off core security zone, but even those outside it will be close to the action and possible targets for protesters.
Bank of Montreal is dusting off its "business continuity" strategies, the permanent contingency plans developed to handle all manner of disruptions, from small problems to major crises, such as the SARS outbreak in early 2003 or the electrical power blackout that occurred later that year.
A key part of those plans is to have employees work off-site - at home or elsewhere - if there are disruptions that make it difficult for them to get to the office, said BMO spokesman Ralph Marranca. Meetings that would have been held in downtown Toronto in the days before the summit may be rescheduled or moved elsewhere, he said.
Ann DeRabbie, spokeswoman for Bank of Nova Scotia, said her bank too, will consider having workers in the bank's downtown tower work elsewhere, but only if it is clearly necessary.
Toronto-Dominion Bank spokesman Stephen Hewitt would say only that his bank has a plan, and that it will "focus on the personal safety of employees and keeping the business running."
Most of the bank buildings are not actually owned by the banks, but by real estate companies or property managers that are responsible for physical security at the locations. Those managers are as coy as the banks themselves about increased security during the summit.
"I think you will see an increased police presence in the buildings," is all that Brookfield Properties Corp. spokeswoman Melissa Coley would say. Brookfield owns First Canadian Place, where BMO's main office is located, along with several other buildings in the downtown core.