New-York tribune., 1910-11-26
FEW INTEREST RATE
CHANGES EXPECTED
Savings Banks Trustees Getting
Ready to Settle Upon SEMI
Annual Disbursements.
BOND PRICES DEPRESSED
Keen Competition for Deposits,
However, Impels 1nstltu-
tions to Maintain
Old Rates.

pacs,r,nr early IN The coming month, the
.-,,s.aes Of the various savings banks OF
4,7fs city will hold their meetings for fxlng
.b. January ! semi-annual interest rate
Although in advance OF the meetings II
cannot be said absolutely what action any
~ +he boards viii take. Il is the opinion or
individual trustees OF many OF the profni-
rent institutions and Of other bankers VINO
have been Informing themselves on the Sit
uation that there Will be virtually no
changes from the rates fixed by the Vari-
Gus banks six months ago.
Certainly, It IS declared. the institutions
which for the last one or two interest
periods have been paying 3ia per cent VIII
make 10 alteration IN that rate 1t is not
impossible. however, that in few IN
stances banks which paid q serni-annual
interest Of . Ter cent last July may pay III
January only i. per cent 10 depositors as
the semi-annual disbursement Of the profits
Of the last half-year.
In January, 1909, all the savings banks OF
Manhattan and The Bronx paid seIlli-an-
rl1al interest ar the rate Of per cent
wear as tho institutions OF Brooklyn
Queens and Richmond counties did and still
90 year later, however, some OF the
largest Of the banks in Manhattan, among
them the Bowery Savings Bank, the Dry
Dock SAVINGS institution, the Union Square
Savings Bank and the North River savings
Bank. reduced their rate to S12 Per cent
At the July period of this year the Union
Dime Savings Bank, the Bank for Savings
the Franklin Savings Bank and a lew
other institutions followed suit, while t"o
the Greenwich Savings Bank and the Man
haitian Savings Institution, declared interest
at the rate Of ! per cent on deposits up 10
g aoa and 81. per cent on deposits in excess
Of that amount The Seamen's Bank Tor
Savings. .hs German Savings Bank, the
E1nigrant Industrial Savings Bank and the
Broadway Savings Institution were among
those continuing to pay per cent. ana IL
IS probable that they T-ill adhere 10 that
figure as the rate for January
4 general reduction 10 312 per cent was
urged by speakers at the annual meeting
Of the State Savings Bank Association last
MAY. among them O II. Cheney, the State
Superintendent of Banks, just as Clark
Williams. his predecessor in that office, had
urged it at the meeting Of the association
in 1893 II was argued that the smaller
banks should declare the reduced rate and
add the difference 10 their surplus ac-
counts but competition for deposits IS ac-
live among the savings banks, and the sug-
gestion failed of general acceptance largely
because Of the fear Of losing accounts.
Bond prices have been depressed for a
good while. and this fact has figured III the
decision Of some of the savings banks 10
decrease their disbursements 10 their de-
positors. Others, which hold investments
enabling them TO pay the higher rate and
have a margin over have taken the po-
sition that they owe it 10 their despositors
TO make the I per cent distribution.
While the 3Ia per cent rate established
by various institutions a year or half
wear ago will be adhered to in January, II
does not follow that the rate is perma-
rently fixed al that level. As far back as
1860 prominent bankers predicted that with
IN five years the majority Of the savings
banks would be paying only 3 per cent a
year. but that prediction has not yet been
realized and S1z per cent is now regarded
a low rate.
The interest record, TOO, OF some OF the
largest banks shows the pursuance OF a
policy OF variation of rates 10 conform 10
changing conditions The Bowery Savings
Bank for example, the deposits Of which
are larger than those Of any other savings
bank IN the state reduced its rate from 1
10 - per cent in the first part OF 1899,
raised It 10 I per cent in January, 1900,
lowered it 10 81 per cent in July, 1902,
Increased it to I rer cent again about three
yes-s later and lowered il last January to
the present figure OF 3-5 per cent
The Bank for Savings, which had for
three years previously paid 312 per cent,
raised its rate in ISS5 TO per cent, which
II maintained until July, 1902 Then 3lz
per cent was declared, and three or four
years afterward the old rate Of 1 per
cent was re-established. to be continued
until last July, when 81 per cent was
once more made the rate.
Tht Ihirry-three savings banks of Man
haitian or July /, 1910. had deposits aggre-
eating Ssl5,43S.63e, representing 1,S75, 13S open
accounts. The total deposits Of the saw
fngs institutions Of ali Of the boroughs
composing the city OF New York were on
the same date Sl,oe05sf6lI. representing
15572l5 accounts.