The commencement of the Bank's fifth decade of existence brought an amendment to its Regulations, which came into force on June 14th 1960. This amendment suspended the £500 annual limit on deposits into the No 1 Department, and increased the aggregate limits to £5,000 (previously £3,000) and £2,000 (previously £1,000) for the No 1 and No 2 Departments, respectively. In addition, the amount that could be withdrawn on demand was increased from £30 to £50

 

After a decade of stagnation, the first signs of the economic changes that were to affect the country began to emerge. After a decline in the previous ten-year period, the Bank's deposit base began to grow again, increasing from £81,929,350 at March 31st 1959, to reach £95,949,496 at March 31st 1969. Advances on Mortgage only grew marginally: from £5,431,639 to £6,209,640 - reflecting the Bank's continuing prudent lending policy as described in The House Purchase Department in 1969.

 

The increase in Deposits towards the £100 million mark was assisted by the introduction of an Investment Department on January 1st 1967. The Annual Report for 1967 commented: During the Bank Year under review the necessity to offset the adverse balance of trade and to strengthen sterling resulted in the introduction of measures to control prices and wages. At the same time a high Bank rate has resulted in extremely competitive conditions in the field of savings. It was, therefore, opportune that after prolonged negotiations with HM Treasury the No 3 Investment Department was opened as at 1st January 1967 and thereby another milestone passed in the history of the Bank. As will be observed from the figures published in this report, the new Department has been most successful although only in operation for three months.
Regulations have been approved by the City Council for the provision of current accounts and it is hoped that these facilities will be available to depositors at an early date.

 

Current Accounts were introduced in July 1967.

At March 31st 1969, the total Deposit Balances were split:

 

 - No 1 Department:…….………. £58,458,613 (60.9%)
 - No 2 Department:……….……... 19,871,235 (20.7%)
 - Investment Department:…..….. £17,336,980 (18.1%)
 - Current Accounts:……………....... £282,668    (0.3%)

 

The level of Profits in this period improved significantly. The higher level of interest rates that prevailed, produced better yields on investments, but the largest proportion of deposits was in the No 1 Department, which was only paying 2¾% (3% from 1965), and Investment depositors were required to keep a minimum of £100 in a No 1 Department account.

 

The 1966 Accounts showed an Exceptional Item (Amount Written off on Sale of Investments) amounting to £136,644 charged directly to the Income and Expenditure Account. Otherwise, the annually reported Profits showed a rising trend. The same year (1966) showed the last charge for Income Tax, the Bank having becoming exempt - £604,186 was paid in Income Tax in the years 1960 to 1966 alone.

 

This period also saw a number of Development Schemes being commenced in the city as inner city slums were cleared and new housing and road systems built. This led to the closure or relocation of Sherlock Street, Duddeston, Hockley, Ladywood, Wheeler Street, Spring Hill, and Nechells branches. These moves in the inner city were matched by new developments on the edges of Birmingham at Tower Hill, Kitts Green, Shard End, Maypole, West Heath, Bartley Green, Castle Vale, Chelmsley Wood, and Rubery. In addition, an entirely new city centre office was opened in Martineau Square that commenced business each weekday at 8:30am. Surplus accumulated funds of £150,000 held in a Reserve for the Repair and Rebuilding of Branches was subsequently transferred to General Reserve.

 

The annually reported Excess of Income over Expenditure ('Profit') in the 1960s was as follows:

Year-Ended March 31st	Profit £	Cumulative £
1959		999,457
1960	54,836	1,054,293
1961	47,101	1,101,394
1962	61,550	1,162,944
1963	145,889	1,308,833
1964	130,740	1,439,573
1965	124,565	1,564,138
1966	80,347	1,644,485
1967	436,452	2,080,937
1968	254,900	2,335,837
1969	255,485	2,591,322

The figures in the 'Cumulative' column shown above represent the accumulated totals of the Excess of Income over Expenditure for the period. In addition, there were transactions on the Reserve Funds as follows (£):

 

 1960 - Addition to Reserve for Repair and Rebuilding of Branches ………………...…….. 40,000
 1961 - Addition to Reserve for Repair and Rebuilding of Branches ………..…..……...….. 60,000
 1961 - Profit on Sale of Investments …………………………………...…………….....……… 6,261
 1962 - Addition to Reserve for Repair and Rebuilding of Branches ……………..…..…….. 70,000
 1964 - Profit on Sale of Investments ……………………………………………..…………… 12,290
 1965 - Sale of Land ………………………………………………..…………………...……… 16,000
 1967 - Profit on Sale of Investments ……………………………………...………….………… 2,463
 1968 - Profit on Sale of Investments ……………..……………………………….……………… 805

 

The amount of these transactions - £207,819 - when added to the £2,591,322 accumulated profits, produced a total amount of Reserves of £2,799,141, as shown in the 1969 published accounts as follows:

 

 - Reserve for Repair and Rebuilding of Branches ……......…….. 100,000
 - General Reserve Fund …………………………………..…..…2,500,000
 - Income and Expenditure Account ……………………...….….… 199,141

 

 

The position at March 31st 1969, therefore, was as follows:

 Amount standing to the credit of Depositors:    £95,949,496
 Advances outstanding, secured by Mortgage of Freehold and Leasehold Estate:    £6,209,640
 Reserve Funds (Balance of Income over Expenditure):    £2,799,141
 Ratio of Reserves to the Liability to Depositors (£95,949,496) was 2.92%.
 Number of Open Accounts:    757,176 (approximately 53% of the population in Birmingham and adjoining areas)