DEPOSITORS' DEPARTMENT

The original Rules of the BMB, consequent upon the Bank being set up under the Birmingham Corporation Act of 1919, listed three objectives for the Bank: (a) To receive deposits and to guarantee the payment of interest on and the repayment of such deposits. (b) To advance money to any depositors desiring to purchase or acquire a dwelling house or dwelling houses in the City of Birmingham, or any interest therein. (c)To utilise and invest the funds of the Bank in accordance with the Act and the regulations made thereunder, or such other regulations as may be made as therein provided. These Rules, in relation to objectives (a) and (b), referred to the 'Savings Bank Department' and the 'Housing Department'. The 1919 Rules were subsequent to the Bank's 'Savings and Housing Bank Regulations' (approved by the Treasury: August 25th 1919). These regulations were subsequently supplanted by The Birmingham Municipal Bank Regulations of 1925 which formulated the rules regarding each of these two departments in two separate sections, now called: the Depositors' Department; and the House Purchase Department The Depositors' Department was created with a single product - a simple, passbook-based, savings account. This product was the only savings account provided by the Bank until 1957. Further products did not follow until the 1970s. Confusingly, each of the products is identified as being a Department; the original product eventually becomes known as the No 1 Department, the tax-concession product introduced in 1957 is known as No 2 Department, etc. The history relating to these accounts, and details of how they operated, is described in the following sections: Account Types Details of the various Savings and Investment products offered by the Bank Introduction of the No 2 Department How the tax-concession product came into being Account Conditions Details of the limits governing Deposits and Withdrawals etc Interest Rates Record of Interest Rates Paid and 'Bank Rate' Interest Calculations Description of method used prior to computerisation Branch Accounting and Procedures Description of Accounting Procedures at Branches Numbering of Accounts Details of the systems used for depositors' accounts; and for the identification of branches Passbooks (Depositors' Department) Inactive and Dormant Accounts [ARTICLE PENDING] Accounts of Deceased Depositors How the Bank dealt with the accounts of Deceased Customers Nominations The system that enabled Depositors to nominate a person to receive a sum on death Growth of Balances Statistics re Total Deposit Balances Department Balances: 1957 to 1979 Analysis of Balances subsequent to the opening of the No 2 Department in 1957