Earth Day: Farewell RBC

A large part of this blog is to hold ourselves accountable.  In that vein, I'm writing to give an update on the bank switch.  Earlier this year I committed to switching away from RBC. I was dismayed to find that my bank, RBC, is Canada's largest financier of oil and gas projects. They have shown a wanton disregard for both the climate and aboriginal rights by continuing to fund pipelines. Since I initially wrote about this bank switch back in February RBC has released a laughable set of climate action items, that I've already noted, deal more with how RBC plans to profit from the climate crisis rather than fight it.  

So how did I do?  Tomorrow is Earth Day, did I make it in time?  The short answer is no.  Regrettably, I am still an RBC customer.  However, I have opened checking and savings accounts at a tiny credit union called Kindred that prides themselves on ethical lending. I have applied to have my daughter's RESP transferred from RBC to Kindred.  I've switched our family credit cards over to accounts with Kindred and have drained the bulk of our funds at RBC.  

The big holdouts at this point are the RESP, and my payment situation (my employer is a small US company that transfers money into a US RBC account which I then bring up to Canada via RBC). I expect the RESP to be resolved any day now, the payment situation may still take a month or two but I am actively looking for a solution.

Switching banks is a massive hassle, but unlike the other hassles I deal with (being April, taxes come to mind) I felt something pushing me forward as I called multiple credit unions sent letters to RBC and filled out applications. My impact leaving RBC is a small one, but every day more and more people are making the switch, every day there is more and more pressure for RBC to reconsider and it won't stop tomorrow. The 2021 Bank Switch was a goal to move away from large oil and gas funders by Earth Day but this is really just the beginning, like almost every other industry there is going to be a reckoning in banking and this is just the beginning.  I would strongly encourage you to look into the projects your bank is willing to fund and consider switching to a green bank.

Lead image is from a protest I attended back in July of 2019 petitioning banks to defund oil and gas projects. They don't really listen to customers unless they leave.