Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

528 HISTORY OF THE BANKconfirmed by the shareholders.The late Mr. Lash outlined tothe meeting the steps which had been taken to carry out theauthorization of the shareholders as given the previous yearfor the establishment of pensions for the widows and orphansof deceased officers, and the shareholders adopted a resolutionauthorizing the directors to contribute up to $100 per annumfor each member of the fund out of the bank's surplus profits.This generous action has thus rendered possible the establishmentof the Pension Fund of The Canadian Bank of Commerceon a most excellent basis, as regards both the comprehensivenessof the benefits which it provides and its soundness froman actuarial point of view. The new pension plan came intoforce on November 25, 1910, on which date the Board ofDirectors adopted a revised Constitution and Rules. Thiswas the result of a careful revision of the old rules to give effectto the changes outlined above, but otherwise did not embodyany new features. The revised rules have remained in forcedown to the time at which this history closes. 1Up till1913 the assessments to the Pension Fund weresimply collected and credited by the branches. The greatgrowth of recent years in the business of the bank, and conse-finally made this methodquently in the number of the staff,very unsatisfactory, and in April, 1913, it was decided to issueadvice from the head office of the amount to be paid by eachofficer. It is now the practice to have the amounts of the1The fund was again actuarially examined as at the end of November, 1919. and itwas found that the changed conditions brought about largely by the war had causedit to go behind. Of these the most important was undoubtedly the abnormal increasein salaries connected with the rise in the cost of living during the war. The bankcontributed generously to make up the deficiency, which was in large measure due tothe fact that its contributions had been based upon the salary scale in force during thefive years preceding 1910.For the future the contributions of the staff were increasedfrom four per cent, to five per cent, of annual salary, and the bank undertook tocontribute an equal amount in place of the fixed sum for each member it had contributedin the past. Arrangements were made to increase the maximum pensionfrom $3,500 to $5,000, and the limit of salary on which contributions are made waatherefore raised from $5,000 to $8,000. As the contributions of the bank and thestaff both now bear a definite relation to the pensions to be provided, it would seemthat the fund should be in a position to meet all eventualities.