1939 - 1960

Within days of war being declared in 1939, men enlisted in the armed services and, as they went overseas, women replaced them in the branches. Unprecedented levels of business in the branches also necessitated a 25 percent increase in the total staff during the war years, and again, most of these new staff members were young women right out of school. By 1945, 2,171 staff members from Canada and Newfoundland had enlisted reversing the bank's pre-war staff ratio of 79 percent men to 21 percent women to 70 percent women and 30 percent men. The staff of Sydney, Nova Scotia is seen in this photo taken in 1944.

This poster, produced in 1940, is one of the first Royal Bank branch posters to address the needs of industry. Before this, limited advertising for business or industrial products had appeared only in financial and trade journals. Beyond the straightforward message about Royal Bank payroll services, this poster speaks to the war effort by showing the role the older, experienced worker has to play in the war effort as well as promoting the importance of Canadian banks in financing the "nation's business", the war.

Payday in 1954, before direct deposit and automated banking machines, invariably meant a long line-up. Branches close to large factories did what they could to alleviate the crush by pre-packaging bills (shown in the rack to the left of the photo) and by using a "coinometer" which selected the correct coins with a few strokes on a typewriter-like keyboard.

This photo could have been taken in almost any community across Canada as the effects of sustained economic and population growth demanded more and larger branches. The number of branches in Royal Bank's Canadian network had remained fairly stable from 1934 through to 1950 at around 650 branches. Between 1950 and 1962, the total jumped to 1,001 branches in operation and many branches had been significantly enlarged.

Royal Bank followed the construction of American military bases in Newfoundland. During the early 1940s branches were opened in Goose Bay, Stephenville, Gander and Argentia to provide banking services to the troops. A branch was also established at Montreal's Dorval airport to service the crews ferrying newly made Canadian and American aircraft to the European theatre of war. On the home front, Royal Bank captured a large portion of the Canadian servicemen's accounts.