Character Analysis
It's all about the Benjamins for these two—or maybe we should say they're all about the Austens. (Fun Econ/Lit fact: Jane Austen appears on the ten pound note).
Our point is, they like money.
Dawes Sr. runs the bank where Mr. Banks works, and Dawes Jr. is his second-in-command. This father and son duo is the closet thing the movie has to villains.
After George takes Jane and Michael to the bank for an education visit, trying to teach them about discipline and thrift, Dawes Sr. preaches his philosophy of avarice and conquest to Michael and Jane:
DAWES SR.: If you invest your tuppence wisely in the bank, safe and sound, soon that tuppence, safely invested in the bank, will compound! And you'll achieve that sense of conquest, as your affluence expands! In the hands of the directors, who invest as propriety demands!
That's putting a lot of importance on tuppence.
Michael, quite reasonably, wants to use his tuppence to buy seeds to feed the birds, and puts up a fight when Dawes tries to seize his tuppence and forcibly put it in a savings account. This confuses the bank customers, who think something's wrong, and try to withdraw all the money from their accounts. Even though Dawes Sr. is equally to blame, he fires George from the bank because of what Michael did.
But this is actually a blessing in disguise. Getting fired is the best thing that can happen to George, since it makes him pay attention to what's really important—loving his family.
In the end, Dawes Sr. dies from laughing at a joke George told him. But, before he croaks, he tells Dawes Jr. to re-hire George as a partner in the bank, as his last wish. So, everything worked out anyway, thanks to the Daweses—they fired George, which turned out to be good for him, and then re-hired him after he'd learned his valuable lesson. George should probably send Dawes an Edible Arrangement as thanks.