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be withdrawn on demand was increased from £30 to £50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:
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)