BANKING.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18626, 26 February 1926, Page 8

BANKING.

ANGLO-AMERICAN CO-OPERA-TION. (raon oub ows coeses'pojcdext.) SAN FRANCISCO, January 16. Mr Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, who has been making his animal visit to the United States in the interest of closer co-opera-tion between the Bank and Federal Reserve Banks of America, has concluded his mission and has sailed from New York for London. '

While Governor Norman had persistently declined to bo interviewed, somo of tho subjects which he discussed with Governor Benjamin Strong, of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, reached the ears of Wall streot, through authoritative sources. Foremost of these was the question of extending further the policy of co-operation between the central banks of the United States and European countries which was initiated by the Federal Reserve Banks and tho Bank of England. Their joint assistance in the financial and economic rehabilitation of Germany, Belgium, Poland, and other nations is bolieved to have encouraged plans for carrying forward this policy through the careful use of credits, or other means within their power. In connexion with the lifting of Great Britain's tacit and unofficial embargo on foreign loans several months ago, it is understood that consideration was given to the possibility that London might now be lending abroad more than it could afford. ''The insatiable demands of tho British Dominions," says a report from New York on the subject, "for new financing has placed a considerable b'irden on sterling exchange, although it is expect* d 'that this will bo outweighed by tho stimulation of England's foreign trade." Tho same New York statement adds: "Unofficially, Wall street ha 3 learned that Great Britain has never drawn upon tho 300,000,000 dollars in Federal Reserve and private bank credits which were established last spring to assist in the restoration of the gold standard. Although the British Treasury was prepared for a great drain of gold when a free market was restored and fully expected that an abnormally high bank rate would be necessary to protect itself, its fears were not realised.

"On the other hand, _bankera have been informed that Britain actually suffered from imports of gold f- the first few months after returning to the gold basis. Its markets, as a result, were dislocated for a time and it was anxious to got rid of some of its holdings. More recently, however, ?ome concern has been aroused by the heavy demands for gold from the Dutch East Indies, but this is considered a seasonal development which will soon correct itself."