CONDITIONS OVERSEAS.
When we consider the position of the Overseas banks we find that although the reverses sustained have been severe in some instances, in others the results have been surprisingly good in relation to the exceptionally difficult conditions under which operations have been conducted. The measure of this is to be seen in the yields on the shares. It should be realised that these are based upon estimated rates of dividends and may require further adjustment in the light of future events.
Total Esti- capital mated Approx. Approx.
paid-up. Reserve. dividend. price. yield.
Bank of Australasia £ 000's. £ 000's. % (15 fully paid) .. 4,500 4,475 12* 81 7,1* Bank of Montreal ( $100) ..- .. $36,000 $38,000 14 55 5f Bank of N. S. Wales
(£20, fully paid) .. 7,500 6,150 - 9 26 5 At Bank of New Zealand (£1) .. .. 6,858 3,550 141 21 511 Barclays (D. C. & 0.)
"A" (£1) .. .. 4,975 1,650 41 1* 311 British Overseas "A"
(25 fully paid) . , 2,000 225 6 51.1 51 Chartered of India (£5 fully paid) .. 3,000 4,000 20f 141 611
Eastern (£10, £5 paid) 1,000 480 9 51 81 Hongkong & Shanghai $125) .. . ; $ $ £7 per sh. 106 61 Mercantile of India') - £121 paid) 1,050 1,500
A" & "B" (£25, L r 16 211 9*
Do. "C" (£5 fly.
paid) L 16 101 711 National of Austral- asia (£8, £5 paid).. 5,000 L 3,300 8 4f 7I i' National of India (£25,
£121 paid) - 2,000 3,000 20* 35 7-** Standard of South Africa (£20, £5 pd.) 2,500 - 3,164 15 131 511 * Tax free. t Allowing for -Australian exchange. $ Capital $20,000,000, silver reserve $10,000,000, sterling reserve $118,857,143 at December 31st, 1930.
The economic crisis through which Australia has passed has sadly affected banking operations in the Commonwealth and the reduced dividends received by shareholders in this country have become even smaller where they have been paid in Australian currency- owing to the depreciation in the exchange. Some banks with substantial London funds have, of course, been able to pay the full distribution in sterling. In India and.China political upheavals and the slump in the price of silver have had a calamitous effect upon trade in the East, but it is a tribute to the careful management of the Eastern institutions that profits have been so little changed and. that dividends have been maintained. The Canadian banks have so far been fortunate, and the prices at which the shares are quoted is due in some measure to their popularity with the Canadian investor. In other places in the Dominions operations have been affected by local conditions, but the principal difficulty with which overseas institutions have had to contend is the falling off in imports and export trade due to the slump in values of primary commodities, and until economic readjustment is attained any view of the immediate future for bank shares must be qualified by the uncertainty of the world situation. _ It may reasonably be expected, however, that when more normal conditions obtain' banking profits will recover, dividends increase, and share quotations regain higher levels once more. S. F. J. KRAEUSSLACII.
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