Banking in the British commonwealth/ edited by R.S.Sayers

The countries whose banking systems are described in this book have two features in common. They are, or wealth, and their banking systems have, or have had in a formative stage, close links with London. These similarities, particularly the latter, have afforded some justification for the tendency to look upon their several banking institutions as but variations on a single pattern; and reform plans from time to time have borne the stamp of standardized products designed for standardized markets. Perhaps the inclusion of these countries here, between a single pair of covers, may be thought to lend support to this view; but this book will have fallen sadly short of its authors' intent if it does not impress upon the reader that, alongside the universality of some political and financial tie with London, there is extreme diversity of his torical background and even-in many respects of the course of development during and since the British ascendancy.

The banking link with London, though related here and there to the political link, was in the main the natural outcome of the needs of a trading world which was itself centred on London and the other great markets of England. Banking ser vices had to straddle the seas between England and its trading and political outposts: exchange and overseas remittance busi ness is the life-blood of the sterling area. As trade pushed in land from colonial ports, the bankers had the opportunity to go with it: so appears one of the main origins of banking in 'new' countries. But even where these 'exchange banks' found a void they could fill, local competitors quickly (sometimes too quickly) appeared, particularly in the shape of 'land banks' designed to exploit the security (land) that colonists can most readily offer. In the 'older Dominions' these original overseas and local elements have been largely absorbed in great local banks, spreading over huge areas and leaning little if at all on the traditional links with the London money market. In the development of these Dominion banks an influential part has been played by immigrant Scots who brought with them familiarity (often based on actual employment) with the well-established banking practices of their Mother Country.