Mr. Richie Boucher:

We are trying to generate new business. My colleagues who are involved in this area break our SME teams into new business generation and more challenged loans. Each of my colleagues has targets for generating new business. Much of this work involves going to their local communities to meet with accountants, lawyers or directly with customers to generate business. That may result in an inquiry which we can follow up.

It was suggested at our last meeting with this committee that we might keep track of inquiries that do not follow through. We are pursuing that suggestion and my colleagues have targets to meet in respect of such inquiries. However, it is difficult to provide a level of statistical accuracy as to what is an informal inquiry. Based on my personal experience and observations, successful business people are relatively persistent because they believe in themselves and the future of their businesses.

We are not playing with numbers. Our strategy is to grow our business and our revenues. We want to generate as much business as we can. We recognise that in a significant number of the applications we handle every week we will be making decisions on the margins. I know that some of the customers to whom we decide to advance money will have subsequent difficulties repaying their debts. I also know that we will decline some of the customers who could have repaid us. This is not an exact science. We are trying to generate revenue on an ongoing basis. Where our colleagues in the business generation side see that an application they have recommended has been declined, they have a right of appeal through a separate appeals process. We do not make money by saying “No”.