The mayor of Marathon, Ont., says he’s worried about the impact the pending closure of the town’s only-remaining brick-and-mortar bank branch will have on the community.
Scotiabank recently announced it would close its branches in Marathon and Red Lake next spring.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to relocate our services at our Red Lake branch to our branch at Kenora on May 5, 2026 and our Marathon Centre Mall branch to the Arthur and Parkdale branch [in Thunder Bay] on May 12, 2026.,” a Scotiabank spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News.
Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas said he was informed of the closure from one of the town’s councillors last week.
And while Dumas said Scotiabank representatives did reach out to him about helping residents transition from in-person to online banking, he’s still concerned about the impact the closure will have.
“We see these banks making these huge amounts of profits,” Dumas said. “Then I read the statement from the the president of Scotiabank saying clearly that … ‘our long term goals and priorities are to boost the long term profitability of Scotiabank for shareholders.'”
“More concerned about the shareholders of the bank than consumers that are bringing the billions of dollars into the bank through mortgages and business and current account holders and the service charge we all pay,” Dumas said. “It’s somewhat frustrating from a small community’s point of view, as a mayor, to lose your last financial institution, but yet we have no recourse whatsoever.”
Concern for seniors, businesses
Dumas said seniors in Marathon may struggle with a shift to exclusively-online banking, and the change will cause issues for businesses in the community, as well.
“How do they get their monies to make their transactions?” he said. ‘”They’re gonna have to pay a service from a transfer company, like a Garda World or Brinks, to come to the community. “
“The bigger … stores will do that, like the Canadian Tires of the world, the independent stores, grocery stores, they will pay that service,” Dumas said. “They have no choice. They need to get cash. And that’s happening right now in our communities. They’re getting cash dropped in once a week.”
In fact, Dumas said, those stores are becoming banks for smaller businesses, who will go to a larger store for change when the bank branch is closed, so they can continue to operate.
“Our bank has already been reduced over the last year or so with hours,” Dumas said, adding that a Scotiabank representative did say there may be an opportunity to offer a course in Marathon to help clients get more comfortable with online banking.
“I know it’s all about profitability, but when does it end?” Dumas said.
In the statement, Scotiabank said the decision comes due to changes in client preferences, with more day-to-day banking being done digitally.
“We are communicating this change to all affected clients and will be working with them to ensure a smooth transition”
The north shore community of Schreiber, 200 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, also lost access to in person banking earlier this year. Resident Alison McLaughlin said it has a direct impact on the community. `
“For small businesses getting change, you could get dollar bills out of the bank machine, but you can’t get quarters or loonies and things you need for change. So we’re losing cashflow,” McLaughtlin said. “It also impacts, say, church dues, bazaars, when they want to sell things at bazaars, you’ve got to have cash.”
Bank branches costly to run
Jerry Buckland, a professor of international development and economics at Canadian Mennonite University based in Winnipeg who’s studied access to finances and banking services, said physical branches are the most-expensive part of bank operations.
“They’re trying to encourage customers to go online, to do more of their banking online,” he said. “And so on the one hand, there’s the bank response to market conditions and technological change, but then we have the consequences for the consumers and the businesses and the communities.”
Buckland said branches in areas where residents are lower income and tend to use lower-end services that don’t generate as much profit for the bank, may be the ones most likely to get cut.
Meanwhile, Buckland said, some will have an easier time shifting to online banking than others.
“The least-vulnerable client, they’re the most likely to do that migration, because they have a computer, they have Internet, they have comfort with those information systems,” he said. “But for some people who, don’t have access to that kind of infrastructure, and maybe don’t have the comfort with that kind of infrastructure, it’s more of a barrier. “
There’s also the issue of online scams targeting more-vulnerable people, as well as the draw of external, third-party loan providers, Buckland said.
“Perhaps you don’t have access to a bank and you can’t get a credit card or line of credit or some kind of loan to help you through a difficult time,” he said. “And you see payday loans being marketed online, or installment loans.”
“That might lead you to go for one of those products,” Buckland said. “Even when they’re regulated, they’re fairly risky products, but if they’re being offered by a company outside of your jurisdiction or outside of your country, then the the risk is great.”
