George GosbeeChris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
If George Gosbee, the Calgary investment banker who founded Tristone Capital and AltaCorp Capital Inc., had his way, Canada would have one more publicly traded bank.
Mr. Gosbee wants Alberta to privatize ATB Financial, the 170-branch bank he figures is worth about $4-billion. The institution, which holds a minority stake in AltaCorp, was founded in 1938 and became a provincial Crown corporation in 1997. The provincial government guarantees its deposits.
"That's a pretty big liability," he said in an interview on the sidelines of Alberta's weekend economic summit. "It would be great if it could stand up, diversify and really build a Canadian champion similar to other Alberta-based corporations have." (Encana Corp. and Telus Corp. are former Alberta Crown corporations.)
The government does not need to be in the banking business, says Mr. Gosbee, who is on Alberta's so-called challenge panel. The government has asked this group to explore its budgets and programs. Alberta put ATB on the list, meaning politicians may be ready for a change.
ATB's model, Mr. Gosbee says, may have been necessary in the Second World War and its aftermath, but now ATB is constrained by doing business in the solely province. It is overexposed to the oil and gas sector, as well as to retail banking customers, Mr. Gosbee said Monday.
And it is time to cash in on Canada's shiny banking reputation. Countries around the world admire Canadian banks – institutions that rode out the financial crisis relatively unscathed.
"It is a fantastic time given the strength of Canada's banking sector," he said. "What better time than now?"
Alberta's oil and gas royalties are expected to be $6-billion short of the government's previous projection, Alberta Premier Alison Redford said last month.
ATB could go public and still keep its Alberta roots. For example, Albertans could have access to a tranche of shares before anyone else, and then open the doors to others, Mr. Gosbee suggested.
He does not picture it as an outright sale with the shut-down of rural branches. Instead, the these branches could spread to other provinces.
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