TRADING BANKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23512, 24 November 1939, Page 9

TRADING BANKS

OCTOBER RETURNS HIGH DEPOSIT TOTAL' AGGREGATE OVER £68,700,000 [by telegraph—owx correspondent] WELLINGTON. Thursday The monthly statement of assets and liabilities of the six trading banks at the close of business on Monday, October .30, was gazetted to-night. A comparison of the principal items with the corresponding figures in the September return is as follows: — October September . . £ £ Circulation .. 13,028,368 33,420,555 Free deposits .. 38,150,747 37,412,533 Fixed deposits . 30,627,502 30,226,482 Advances .. 52,828,034 53,624,229 London assets . 4,714,458 4,577,000 Advances have fallen by £796,000 in the month since the last statement was published. The movement is in accordance with ordinary seasonal influences. There lias been an increase of an almost equal amount, £738,000, in free deposits, while fixed deposits have risen by approximately £400.000. A rise in London funds of £137,000 is in accordance with the small fluctuations the total has shown in recent months. Notes in Circulation Notes of the Reserve Bank held as till money on October 30 were valued at £4,343,452, compared with £3,227,140 the month before. The issue at the end of October was £17,371.820, making the active circulation £1.3,028,368. The issue and circulation at the end of October in the past four years have been: — Issue Circulation October £ £ 1036 .. 11.480,334 8.052,609 3037 .. 33,273,691 9,421,425 1938 .. 14,437,824 30,789,286 1939 .. 17,371,820 13,028,368 Free deposits, or current account balances, are some £5,258,000 higher than in the October return last year. The total is the highest, by a wide margin, returned at this period in any year since the present form of return was issued. Fixed deposits, though more than £8,300,000 lower in level than at the end of October, 1934, are £318,500 above the total at the end of the same month last year. This recovery, though moderate in size, reverses the falling tendency shown in the preceding four years. The levels of the two classes of deposits and their totals in the October returns from 1934: onward are as follows: Free Fixed Total October £ £ £ 1934 . . 24,025,030 39.015,737 63,070,767 1935 .. 24,922,428 36,192,335 61,114,763 1936 . . 25.588.667 34,018,443 62,937,110 1937 . . 33,311,659 32,311,856 65,623,515 1938 . . 32.892,933 30,308,998 63,201,931 1939 . . 38,150,747 30,627,502 68,778,249 Advances and Deposits Advances at the end of October were nearly £6.000.000 below the level of the corresponding month last year, .indicating a curbing of business activity, probably traceable to the import restrictions. The total, nevertheless, is slightly above that in October, 1937, and substantially higher than at the corresponding period in the three preceding years, the downward movement, combined with a considerable increase in aggregate deposits, makes their excess over advances more than equal to that in 1937 and comparable with the totals of other years. • The position at the end of October in the past six years is shown in the following table:— Excess of Deposits Advances Deposits October £' £ • £ 1931 .. 63,070.767 13.539.514 19.531,223 1935 .. 01.114,763 11>,577,257 34.237,476 1936 .. (£2,937,1.10 17.779,512 15,157,598 1937 .. 65,623.515 52.646.614 12,976,901 1938 . . 63,201,931 58,729,651 4,472,280 1030 .'. 68,778,249 52,828,034 15,950,215 Fluctuations in the value of assets held abroad, in London and elsewhere, on account of New Zealand business, as shown in the October returns since 1934, have been as follows: n London Elsewhere Total Octoher £ ■ £ £ 19.34 .. 10,491,570 8.0-18, SI 1 19.413.351 1035 .. 12.293.367 5,761,513 15,057,880 1036'.. 10,763,469 5.641,345 1 6,401,814 1937'.. 7,767,511 4,990,645 11,555,156 193S . . 4,115,05)5 2,520,451 6,635,546 1939 .. 4,71-1,458 1,666,764 6,381,222 Subsidiary coin in the hanks at October 30 was valued at £711,122, compared with £662,769 in the September return. The banks also held gold valued at £154 at the end of October.