The Cold Heart of America: Are American Banks Global? Iff They Convert Currency As A Service
Janet Tavakoli wants us to talk about how American banks could improve, when she says that "most of the media covers-up for the banks." I have great admiration for her vast accumulated knowledge of investment banking. Coming from the same cohort as Michael Lewis at Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc., she has written fantastic articles and videos to watch on C-Span.
I do have one teensy suggestion that could help win the hearts of minds of visitors and travelers of all nationalities. That is, local American bank branches should be global money-converters.
Most American banks will not change small amounts of money (U.S.D. $200, say) if you walk in and request it. You must have an account at that bank, and then deposit it into your account. There may be a few that do, but in general American banks won't. They are not "of service" in that way.
Last week when I drove through the Canadian border crossing at Ivy Lea, the foreign exchange building at the border where I have changed my dollars in the past was seasonally closed. When I stopped to change currency of my few dollars at an HSBC branch in the next large town, Watertown, New York, I was haughtily, imperiously told by a branch supervisor that HSBC is a "Global Bank" and that this is why they don't change currency.
I retorted that this is exactly what global banks do: they change money, otherwise they are not "global" ipso facto. They were definitely not being of service to me. It appears arrogant and narrow not to change small amounts, at least of popular foreign currencies. As my teenager says, "it's not good." American banks could do a lot better.
This is not some service that changed after 9/11. It has ever been thus in America, at least for the last thirty years. I am only referring to currency exchange that is a routine service at airports that good travelers need, not the money-laundering that is legendary to the mafia and terrorists. Sure it's probably an intractably hard legal issue and most Americans will think I'm just spinning my wheels (like I did last week!) and dismiss it. It's just one easy example of what outsiders of every country consider American arrogance. It makes others angry at America; it doesn't endear America. No country is perfect, but at least this is changeable.
Since my last post, I have been thrown off course by the double whammy of a death in the family - my mother was in her 93rd year - and an almost fatal car crash on the day-long drive home from the funeral. We thought it would be a clear day to drive home, with a little drizzle in spots, but ran into wind and saw a few snowflakes.
Most unexpectedly somewhere between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on my way to the Princeton area of New Jersey, my car spun in more than a complete 360 degree circle and then stalled to a complete stop in the middle lane of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a wintry mix just over a week ago, on Tuesday, March 30, 2010.
Alone with my sixteen-year-old, we were extremely lucky traffic was light. I got out and stopped all traffic, just by waving my arms myself on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and told her to stand beside the road. It was in elevated mountain terrain, and the highway itself was elevated fifty feet. There was nowhere to go, no houses, police or plows to help us out. I would love to be able to thank the Good Samaritan who drove my SUV to the side of the road while I slowly stopped Turnpike traffic all by myself. It all took fewer than ten minutes and then we were off again. My recently-tuned Lexus RX350 SUV had only 17,000 miles on it. I guess I shouldn't have pumped those brakes when we slid.
Alone with my sixteen-year-old, we were extremely lucky traffic was light. I got out and stopped all traffic, just by waving my arms myself on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and told her to stand beside the road. It was in elevated mountain terrain, and the highway itself was elevated fifty feet. There was nowhere to go, no houses, police or plows to help us out. I would love to be able to thank the Good Samaritan who drove my SUV to the side of the road while I slowly stopped Turnpike traffic all by myself. It all took fewer than ten minutes and then we were off again. My recently-tuned Lexus RX350 SUV had only 17,000 miles on it. I guess I shouldn't have pumped those brakes when we slid.
White-out conditions then began, traffic slowed to 30 mph. and prevailed until I could reach the next (rare) exit over an hour later where we stopped unexpectedly for the night at a new Best Western three miles down the mountain in six heavy inches of snow. Another daughter had just told me the weather radar for the area was clear! That area of Pennsylvania doesn't get the weather attention Philadelphia gets, where reporters stand outside six hours before a flake drops.
If only I could thank this thirty-five-ish man and his girlfriend in their black SUV for saving my life, I would love to. He really risked his life to drive my car to the side of the Turnpike. I admired him so much. He was extremely brave, but I have no idea who he is. Hope he emails me.
The good news is, at least not all Americans are as cold-hearted as they appear to be in the banks when you just want to change a few dollars.
The good news is, at least not all Americans are as cold-hearted as they appear to be in the banks when you just want to change a few dollars.