There are two major savings banks, the National
Savings Bank which is operated by the Post Office on behalf of the Department
for National Sayings and the Trustee Savings Bank. Both banks provide deposit
facilities for small savers and these are collected at 21 000 post offices (in
the case of the NSB) and at 1 500 branches of the Trustees Saving Bank. The
Trustees Savings Bank now provides a current account service (i.e. payments may
be made by cheque ); the National Savings Bank does not provide such a service,
but the Nattional Giro provides money transmission services.
All of the assets of the National Saving Bank and greater part of the assets of
the Trustees Savings Bank consist of government securities (i.e. loans to the
government).
The National Giro is managed by the Post Office
and commenced operations in 1968. Its aim is to provide a cheap, simple and
quick money transmission service by making use of the existing network of post
offices. All the records are kept, and the processing is carried out, at the
computerised centre at Bootle. People holding giro accounts are provided with
three basic services:
1. Transfers to other account holders. These are
carried out by posting giro transfer forms to the computer centre. These
transfers are free although there is a small charge for stationery.
2. Deposits. Deposits can be made in cash at any
post office or by cheque. Deposits into one’s own account are free, but a
charge is made when people pay into some other person’s account.
3. Payments. An account holder can draw cash
through post offices or he can make payment to a non-account holder by means of
a postal cheque. In each case, as long as the account is in credit, no charge
is made for these services.
The giro system is not new, most western
European countries have been running such systems for many years. In the UK the
system started slowly and losses were made in the early years. It has since
broadened its services to include deposit accounts, personal loans and limited
overdraft facilities and cheque guarantee cards. It is now operating profitably
and is widely used for local authority rent payments and for the payments of
social security benefits.
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