NIGHT BANKING

Hokitika Guardian, 11 July 1929, Page 8

NIGHT BANKING

AUSTR ALIAN SCHEME. DEPAR.'I’MKNT FOR. WOMEN. SYDNEY, June 20. Two banking innovations in Australia will be of interest to New Zealanders who like to be up-to-date. By means of the first of these it is now possible to bank at night, when the .bank itself is in darkness, and the manager and all the tellers have gone home. For this conveninecc the Commonwealth Bank in Sydney and Melbourne is responsible.

The system is not nearly so complicated as it might seem. The bank issues to the depositor a strong loathwallet and key, into which too depositor may place his money after banking hours. The wallets may he deposited at the bank at any hour uiicii the bank is ordinarily closed for business. A slot is provided in the main walls of the banks in Melbourne and Sydney, and holders of the key can open the little steel door and drop in their wallet. The wallet travels down a specially protected chute which leads down into the vaults of me bank. There it remains as sale as if it wore placed in any one of the strong rooms by the tellers in the ordinary course of their duties. A little red light, worked automatically, informs the depositor that his wallet has reached its destination.

The depositor attends the hank .the next morning, and the wallet, still securely locked, is produced for him, and the contents are then deposited in the ordinary way. In Sydney many business people including theatre proprietors have found this night banking a great convenience, and what is more it has relieved them of a great ’ deal of anxiety, for instead .of leaving their takings in their office safe they are able to place them, v* itli a sense of great security, in the vaults of a bank, which is practically burglar proof. It is small wonder, therefore, that the number of customers of the Commonwealth 1 ank in both cities has increased, and that other hanks should be discussing the advisability of providing their clients with similar, facilities.

The other innovation must be credited to the National Bank of . Melbourne. That ,bank lias created an exclusive “women’s department/’ The tellers and the clerks are women, and all the clients of this particular branch are women. It is the duty ol the specially trained women in the bank’s services to assist the bank’s lady clients in every way. It lias been found that most women have but a limited knowledge of banking methods, and that for the most part they are rather, shy at approaching the sterner sex,, and, perhaps, displaying their ignorance. For that reason they have been specially catered for by. this., bank, and other banks are expected to follow. There was a time when it was beneath the dignity of a bank to engage in anything like open competition for business; but that time is rapidly passing in Australia. Especially do the State and other savings banks compete! against the Savings Department of the Commonwealth Bank, which has the advantage of a branch at every Past Office throughout the Commonwealth.