The Report includes a table analysing total deposits and number of accounts by type of employment etc.; this classification is at November 20th 1841, and was required by an order of Parliament. The Auditors' final paragraph refers to the blessing of peace (possibly the ending of the First Opium War) and the wish for prudent and enlightened legislation.

 

Reference is made to the low rate of interest being paid by other banks and by Government securities ("the funds") compared with that paid by Savings Banks. This situation has resulted in the more wealthy citizens of Birmingham attempting to open accounts for their children as a method of circumventing the Bank's rule that deposits over a certain sum (not specified) will earn no interest. The Savings Banks Act of 1844, however, resulted in a reduction in the rate of interest paid by the Government, whose attitude towards the savings banks was to change - it was no longer to be a question of encouraging thrift at a high cost to the Exchequer. Yet, the Audit Report testifies to the value of encouraging thrift rather than spending on the purchase of "ardent spirits" and the resulting filling of "workhouses and gaols" and the colonisation of penal settlements.

With reference to the previous year's decision to refer the matter of "Unclaimed Property" to the Committee of Management, the minutes of the AGM included the following:

 

The Auditors refer to the reduction of interest resultant from the passing of the Savings Banks Act of 1844, but point out that the depositors in the Birmingham Savings Bank will benefit from its greater efficiency of management (compared with other savings banks) by their rate of interest being only reduced by 6s. 8d. percent - a comparison that is to be repeated by the Birmingham Municipal Bank in the 1920s. The Act also requires that all depositors' passbooks be compared with the Bank's ledger at least once a year, but does not point out that this measure was incorporated into the Act as an anti-fraud precaution. It is also noted that the Bank is now open on Saturday evenings, in addition to Mondays and Thursdays.

 

A short report that reveals that the Saturday evening opening hours are from 6pm to 7pm.

 

Another short report that gives precise details of the Bank's extended opening hours:

 - Mondays and Thursdays from 12pm to 2pm;

 - Mondays and Saturdays from 6:30pm to 8pm

 

During this financial year, the total deposits only grew from £322,700 to £332,637 and the Auditors comment that there have been heavy withdrawals from many savings banks. They state that "extraordinary pecuniary difficulties .... have been so afflicting and ruinous in some parts of the empire" which may be a reference to the free-trade policy that the country had recently adopted, plus the repealing of the Corn Laws in 1846. The free-trade policy may have been beneficial to the exports of the Birmingham manufacturers.

 

A Trade Directory for Birmingham included the following in 1847:

The Saving's Bank, 9, Temple Row, is a provident institution, which affords a safe and beneficial investment of the savings of the humbler classes; it was established in 1827. A handsome building has been erected out of the surplus-fund, with a residence for the secretary. It is open from 12 till 2 every Monday and Thursday. The balance due to depositors, 20th November, 1847, was £337,216. 2s. 9d., in 18,634 accounts, of which there were 12,882 whose respective balances did not exceed £20; 3,161 were above £20 and not exceeding £50; 1,304 were above £50, and not exceeding £100, but not exceeding £200; 48 were charitable societies, and 71 friendly societies; and of the above sum, £3,300 belonged to the separate surplus-fund. President: Right Hon. Lord Calthorpe. Vice-Presidents: Sir Fras. Lawley, Bart., and William Stratford Dugdale, Esq. Secretary: Mr William Bolton.