Distributing ration books at Montreal Main branch, 1944
The war years brought an unprecedented volume of transactions to the retail branches: victory loans, war savings stamps, ration coupons and the burgeoning national savings of a country suddenly fully employed. During the war, Royal Bank handled four hundred million ration coupons annually, and between 1940 and 1945, participated in the sale of over $12 billion worth of Canadian Government War Loans and Victory Loan Bonds. When the men enlisted at the outbreak of the Second World War, women took their place in the teller's cage and at the ledger table, as they had during the previous World War. This time, however, the women remained with the bank after the end of the war.
