Larry Pollock

President and CEO, Canadian Western Bank

Even though Canadian Western Bank has posted 67 consecutive profitable quarters and 15 straight years of double-digit loan growth, CEO and president Larry Pollock does not rest on those laurels. The Edmonton-based bank, which operates 31 branches spread across Western Canada, expanded by purchasing Valiant Trust in April. The bank also snapped up Canadian Direct Insurance, which provides personal automobile and property insurance in Alberta and British Columbia, for $25.4 million from HSBC. The investment community has responded with plaudits - Sprott Securities analyst Jason Donville called Canadian Western the "best managed bank in Canada" - while investor demand boosted the bank's share prices by more than 30% in 2004. After posting record fourth-quarter earnings, Canadian Western - which became the seventh largest bank in the country by market capitalization last year - announced a two-for-one share split and hiked its quarterly dividend to 18 cents in December 2004. In addition to steering the bank, Pollock also serves on the board of Edmonton's city-owned power and water utility EPCOR.-WG

In what area do the major chartered banks envy Canadian Western Bank?
They would envy our expense ratios and our growth rate and our positioning in Western Canada.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
Dr. Charles Allard, who was a very modest man. He was a real visionary and developed a lot of businesses that prospered, both in communications and in banking. He was a very generous man, too.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
A single Google hit.