Skidegate will be opening an agency bank for the Royal Bank at the beginning of April, said Gwaalagaa Naay Corp. general manager Paula Lawson
The bank will be run by the community but is associated with the Royal Bank, which will provide training and other assistance. It will be housed in the Raven Centre, the white building just north of the Gwaii Co-op. Hours will be flexible, and customers will be able to deposit money, withdraw funds, cash cheques, and do other regular bank business. The agency bank will also be able to help customers get connected with the Royal Bank for mortgages or business loans, Ms Lawson said, although it won't offer these services directly. The Skidegate band council has been working on the bank project for the past two years, she said, with everything coming together just in the past month or so. The Royal Bank was a natural choice for Skidegate because the bank council already does a lot of business with it, Ms Lawson said.