PROGRESS OF JOINT-STOCK BANKING.
A FEW numbers back we noticed recent events which were calcu- lated to cast some discredit on the system of private banking, as being peculiarly liable to concealment, and therefore to frauds, which are not practicable under the regulations of joint-stock bank- ing; and we then took occasion to remark the probable dying out of private banks, to be superseded by joint-stock banks. The pas- sing of the law of Limited Liability has also very evidently given a stimulus to joint-stock undertakings; and the whole tendency of the day is to multiply these combinations, which, while dividing the classes of the work to be executed, bring together numbers for the execution of the divided work-uniting classification with combination. The general reader, however, is not perhaps aware of the extent to which this process has already taken place in bank- ing ; and in London we are likely to be less keen-sighted, because the metropolis appears to be the last stronghold of private banking. If not the fatherland of joint-stock undertakings, Scotland cer- tainly has proved a soil in which they flourish : there are in that part of the island already, including the Bank of Scotland, seven- teen banks of 18611e, with four hundred and sixty-two branches, and a gross capital of 11,101,997/. paid up. The average dividend of all the banks is seven per cent ; individually, the rate varies from four to ten per cent. It must be remembered, however, in estimatine.b both the profits and the certainty of the field occupied by the Scotch banks, that their regulations and practice are ex- ceedingly convenient to customers of all classes, and shareholders cannot fail to appreciate the value of a liberality which has rooted the Scotch system into the very heart of the trading population. It is remarkable that in this favoured land of joint-stock banking there appears already to be no more than one private bank ; at least we do not observe traces of any other than that of Allan and Co., at Edinburgh.
In Ireland, the system has made very great progress : including the Bank of Ireland, we find nine joint-stock banks, with branches all over Ireland ; and we discover but three private banks, which are in Dublin. The National Bank of Ireland has forty-five branches, the Provincial Bank of Ireland thirty-seven.
Even in the English counties joint-stock banking has made a remarkable progress ; and we have already about one hundred joint-stock banks in the provinces' with several hundred branches. The Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company, for example, has fourteen branches; and it has several sub-branches open one day in the week. One of the provincial banks must be reckoned amongst the London banks-the London and County ; and this has about eighty branches.
In London, where private banks of old standing still keep their ground,-falling off occasionally through sheer old age, or through the criminality of partners,-the joint-stock has made great pro- gress, and is daily adding to its numbers. The following table will show the banks which already exist, besides the "old lady" in Threadneedle Street.
Capital. Paid-up. Establish- Dividend
a. E. ments. yearly.
London and Westminster 5,000,000 .. 1,000,000 .. 8 .. 15 percent. Union Bank of London 3,000,000 .. 600,000 .. 4 .. 20 London Joint-Stock Bank 3,000,000 .. 600,000 .. 2 .. 22 London and County Bank 1,000,000 .. 466,332 .. 3 .. 10 Commcroial Bank 1,500,000.. 300,000.. 2.. 10' Royal British Bank 300,000.. 100,000.. 6., 6 City Bank 300,000 .. 150,000 .. 1 Bank of London 600,000 .. 300,000 .. 2 - £14,700,000 £3,516,332 28
These are not all. The Bank of England opens a West-end. branch ; the London and County Bank is about to open two more branches in London ; and the Royal British Bank has another 50,000/. in the course of being paid. up. For completeness we ought to give also the Colonial Joint-stock Banks, which form a lengthened list by themselves.
COLONIAL JOINT-STOCK BANKS.
Capital. Paid-u Australasia £900,000 £900,0tb British North America 1,000,000 1,000,000 Chartered Bank of Asia 1,000,000 200,000 Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China • 644,000 128,800 Colonial 2,000,000 600,000 English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered. 500,000 .... 500,000 London Chartered Bank of Australia 700,000 550,000 New South Wales 400,000 400,000 Oriental Bank 846,825 846,825 Ionian Bank 300,000 300,000 . • . • Royal Australian Bank and Gold Importing Company. 250,000 250,000 South Australia. 300,000 300,000 .... 14 „ Union of Australia 820,000 .... 820,000 London and Eastern • Banking Corporation. 500,000 250,000 £10,160,825 £6,945,625
Independently of the regular banks, there are several new schemes in agitation, which part* more or less of the nature of banks. There are the Western Bank of London, the Metropolitan, and two other schemes, projected. There is the Guarantee and Solvency Association, to transact a great variety of business. The successful promoters of twin insurance associations for fire and life-" the Unity "-have also issued a scheme of a. bank with a variety of attractive "features"; amongst them, the proposal that the customers shall participate in the profits -a promise, however, which requires some ingenuity in the fulfilment to avoid constituting the customers partners. Bet the Bank is invented by an ingenious mind, which would probably be able to overcome every diffioulty. In banking, however, the public evidently desire something like practical simplicity. Bank- ing, as we have already shown, stands distinguished from other business by the necessity under which it lies of avoid- ing speculative profits. It takes a just reward for work done ; and where the business can be transacted upon a large scale, with great activity, the returns are considerable ; but per- haps a character for a new and complicated retail business is not that which will most create confidence in a bank. It is to be ob- served of one bank which was projected some years since, but has kept itself very obscurely in our memory, that its theoretical ex- istence at least, in the form of some posthumous liability, has recently been asserted in a call from the contributors of 21. 108. per share. The fact is mentioned in the Times of August 11th. Apart, however, from projects that do not belong to banks as ordinarily understood, it is evident that the joint-stock system has increased, is now increasing, and is likely to increase in an accelerated ratio. For even if the number do not receive a very great impetus, the amount of business transacted will certainly do so. The pro- spectus of the Unity will probably have no inconsiderable effect in increasing the number of instances in which the small traders use the securities and conveniences of banking; and should that be so, it is certain that a large amount of capital, which, taking each twenty-four hours, is practically abstracted from business, will be thrown into more active circulation, constituting pro tante an in- crease to the working capital of the country. Yearly Dividend. .... 20 per cent.- ' • • • • 6nd bonus. nus.
••••
5 per cent.
4 5 17 10 If 10 I 5 SI
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