The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Nov. 17, edition that in August and September Laurentian Bank of Canada's clients pulled money out of their chequing and savings accounts at a higher rate than customers of any of its rivals. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that National Bank Financial Markets' research showed Laurentian Bank's demand deposits dropped 3.3 per cent to $8.7-billion in the first two months of its fourth quarter. At Laurentian's closest competitor, Canadian Western Bank, the drop over the same period was 2.5 per cent to $13.2-billion. Deposits at most of the Big Six banks grew slightly, though Bank of Montreal's levels remained flat and National Bank of Canada's demand deposits fell 0.9 per cent. Customers pulled their deposits from Laurentian during a time of turmoil for the bank. Laurentian put itself on the auction block this past summer as part of a strategic review, but called off the sale process after it failed to draw a bid that met its board's expectations. A few weeks later, Laurentian's systems crashed during a scheduled technology upgrade on Sept. 24. Individual and corporate clients were unable to access their accounts or process transactions until Sept. 28.