LONDON FUNDS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20740, 25 February 1939, Page 13

LONDON FUNDS

INCREASE RECORDED TRADING BANK RETURNS (Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Friday. The monthly statement of assets and liabilities of the six trading banks at the close of business on Monday, January 30, were gazetted last night. A comparison of the principal items, with the figures in the re tuna of December 26, is as follows: — January December Circulation .. £lO/975,132 £13,0*69,F60 (Free deposits .. 36,175,876 34,171,7** Fixed deposits .. 29,934,326 29,798,007 Advance? . . 5*6,1-87.036 57.797,407 London assets .. 4,170,664 2,785,235 Advances, which showed a downward tendency in the December return. have fallen a further £1,610,371 in the month the present statement covers. The movement is normal for the period of the year. The trading banks have had more success in building up sterling resources than the Reserve Rank has. the London assets held in respect of New Zealand business having increased from £’2,785,235 at the end of December to £4,170,664 in the present return. Free deposits have risen by almost exactly £2.000,000 in the period of the statement, while fixed deposits, which have tended generally to fall in recent times, are now £136,319 higher. Note Circulation Notes of the Reserve Bank held as till money at January 30 were valued at £4,390,726, compared with £3,571,665 a month before. The issue at the end of January was £15,365,858, making the active circulation £10,975,132. Free deposits, or current account balances, show very little variation from the level recorded a year previously, being some £IO,OOO lower i The totals in both instances are substantially higher than in the January returns of the preceding three years. The most marked contrast is between the total of over £36.000.000 this year and last, and of £25,856,500 in January, 1935. In spite of occasional gains from month to month, fixed deposits maintain a downward course. In the year from January to January, there has been a decrease of £1,697,000, making the fall between 1935 and 1939 some £6,500,000. Bank Lending The manner in which bank lending •has increased in the past two years is illustrated by a comparison of advances in the various January returns. The present year shows an increase of £2,874,000* over the figure for the previous January, which is £5.896.000 greater than the corresponding total in 1937. these being a pari of the movements which have increased advances from £ j 4.799,000 in 1935 to £56,187.000 in the present year. Subsidiary coin in the banks at January 30 was valued at £819.469. compared with £644.87 1 in the December return. The banks also held gold valued at £337 at the end of January.