Following the commencement of the Bank's Home Safe service in November 1922, monthly progressive reports were submitted to the Bank
Committee. The following report was considered at the Bank Committee held on November 16th 1925:
|
Home Safe Statement for the
month of October 1925. | |||
|
Branch |
Safes Issued |
Safes Surrendered |
Total Safes held by depositors |
|
Head Office |
35 |
31 |
1902 |
|
Acocks Green |
12 |
1 |
80 |
|
Aston |
13 |
15 |
848 |
|
Aston
Cross |
18 |
11 |
545 |
|
Balsall Heath |
26 |
7 |
664 |
|
Bearwood |
7 |
2 |
475 |
|
Bournville |
- |
- |
10 |
|
Duddeston |
30 |
11 |
602 |
|
Erdington |
28 |
9 |
539 |
|
Handsworth |
22 |
8 |
673 |
|
Harborne |
3 |
3 |
336 |
|
Hay Mills |
13 |
1 |
82 |
|
Hockley |
18 |
8 |
375 |
|
Kings
Heath |
23 |
8 |
594 |
|
Ladywood |
40 |
22 |
579 |
|
Lozells |
12 |
6 |
453 |
|
Rotton Park |
37 |
13 |
685 |
|
Saltley |
40 |
9 |
662 |
|
Selly Oak |
17 |
5 |
421 |
|
Small Heath |
14 |
13 |
1053 |
|
Sparkbrook |
40 |
10 |
762 |
|
Sparkhill |
20 |
9 |
459 |
|
Spring
Hill |
23 |
1 |
89 |
|
Stirchley |
16 |
5 |
316 |
|
|
507 |
208 |
13,204 |
|
| |||
|
No. of Deposits ... ... ... 2,192 | |||
|
Amount of Deposits ... ... ... £4,006. 15. 4. | |||
|
No of
New Accounts opened ... 149 | |||
[NOTE: Sparkhill branch later renamed "Springfield"]
The Committee members noted that recent
monthly reports had shown an increased percentage of surrenders and asked the General Manager to report.
Subsequently, at a meeting
of the Finance and House Purchase Sub-Committee held on December 14th 1925, the General Manager submitted a summary of replies he
had received from Branch Managers as to the causes leading to the surrender of Home Safes. The General Manager stated that is was
not the custom to ask the reason why a safe was surrendered but from the replies he had received to a circular sent to Branch Managers,
he was able to provide a summary of reasons:
|
|
Branches |
|
Closing of the account |
8 |
|
Transferring the account to another Branch |
12 |
|
Novelty having gone, no further use for them |
7 |
|
Find themselves able to save without a Home Safe, and prefer to |
5 |
|
Used only for holiday purposes and given up |
2 |
|
Retention of 6/-d. required owing to straightened circumstances |
10 |
|
Want money taken out and given back without going through the books |
3 |
|
Afraid of being
stolen (lodger cases) |
1 |
The General Manager added that no complaint had been received as to the method of dealing with the Safes,
but at 9 branches complaints had been made because the Safes are not dealt with during evening hours. He was then asked to present
a report as to the results achieved by the Home Safe method of saving, and submit recommendations he may desire to make with regard
to the days and times during which the safes should be dealt with.
At the meeting of the Finance and House Purchase Sub-Committee
held on January 11th 1926, the General Manager reported:
At the last meeting of the Finance and House Purchase Sub-Committee
I was requested to prepare a report on the results of the Home Safe method of saving and submit recommendations as to days and times
when these Safes should be dealt with.
1. Up to the 31st March 1925 the Home Safe method had been responsible for the opening
of 3,344 new accounts. Safes were brought in to be opened on 30,417 occasions. The amount taken from the Safes on these occasions
totalled £51,910/-/10d. It is impossible to say how much money has been withdrawn from the amount actually deposited by the Home Safe
method, as the money is amalgamated and becomes part of the account of the depositor, but it may reasonably be assumed that many of
the withdrawals which take place within a day or two of the deposits by the Home Safe method are in respect of such deposits. There
can be no doubt that at present Home Safes are popular with certain depositors, as the monthly returns indicate, but the continuance
of such popularity is likely to be affected by the opening of additional Branches. As a means of inculcating thrift amongst young
children the Safe is an excellent institution, but the School Savings Banks Committee object to the Municipal Bank being urged amongst
school children as it may act detrimentally to such School Banks. It is conceivable that if this system was developed amongst school
children more Safes would be called for and used than is the case at the present time.
2. Home Safes are issued and deposits
accepted through that method at any Daily Branches. The reasons why Evening Branches do not deal with Home Safes are:
(a) Because
of lack of accommodation for keeping stocks.
(b) Because of the limited space available for dealing with them.
(c) Because
the same officers cannot be relied upon to attend the same evening Branches.
It cannot be recommended to grant facilities for
issuing and dealing with Home Safes at Evening Branches.
3. It is the present practice to deal with Home Safes at Daily Branches
during the day hours on any day in the week. Evening hours were excluded because the ordinary transactions were so numerous on Monday
and Saturday nights that Home Safes could not be dealt with by the ordinary staff. To engage extra staff would be expensive, and any
gain from such method of saving would not compensate such expense. The pressure of ordinary business at Daily Branches during the
last three years has materially changed, and from recent statistics it is proved that 75% of the total transactions in a week are
dealt with during Saturdays and Mondays, while 50% of such 75% take place during the day hours of Saturdays and Mondays. This causes
the ordinary work of the Bank to be dislocated during day hours on Saturdays and Mondays as a result of dealing with Home Safes, such
dislocation being at the expense of the depositor who wishes to deposit or withdraw in the ordinary way, and no little dissatisfaction
owing to ordinary depositors having to wait to be dealt with because members of the staff are busy with Home Safes. The Home Safe
depositor, under present conditions, has the right to be dealt with as much as the ordinary depositor, but complaints are frequently
heard that arrangements ought to be made for Home Safe depositors to give way to ordinary depositors or be dealt with on other days.
The very fact that it is not known how much is in a Home Safe necessitates a careful count and recount of the contents, and an examination
of the coins as it is not uncommon for foreign coins and other small things to be found inside a Home Safe. It is computed that while
an average Home Safe is being dealt with ten ordinary deposits could be attended to or three ordinary withdrawals. It will be realised
that the system causes delay.
4. Having regard to the foregoing I am of opinion that the time has arrived when in the best interests
of the Bank it is desirable to confine Home Safe transactions to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I do not think any real
hardship would result from such an arrangement, as it is not absolutely necessary for a depositor to personally bring the Home Safe
to the Bank, and a deputy could surely be found to pay the visit on one of the four days suggested.
December 23rd 1925.
At a meeting of the Finance and House Purchase Sub-Committee meeting held on January 11th 1926 it was agreed that Home Safe transactions be dealt with at Daily Branches during the ordinary hours of business on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays only, thus excluding completely the two days of the week (Mondays and Saturdays) that included evening hours of business.