The Washington times., 1928-12-13
ADOP |
F|DUC|ARY
SERVICE
BY HARRY GUSACK
Financial Editor

BY HARRY GUSACK
Financial Editor
"A continuation Of progress in tht
developnnent of trust departments o.
national banks during 1923, showing
THAT 81 per cent of the nationa
banks. or 2,37S. had been authorized
ITO exercise trust powers, is shown in
1.-THE annual report of the Comptroller
of the Currency, submitted to Con
gress yesterday.
The report points out that there Is
d need for Intelligent fiduciary serV-
Ices, in every community, and that
the public has recognized the al
vantage of national banking system
standardized practices and super
vision. The report, in part, says;
The assets of the individual trusts
being administered have SHOWN re-
nlarkable growth In 1921 indlVluual
trust assets aggregated only $Szo,-
.sfCO 600. This amount had increased
Ia S2 0gO 900 900 in 1927, and on
october 8, 1928, the total aggregated
$3,297, ,310119.
Al consolidated balance sheet oL
1Sthe individual trust assets OF ali
the national bank trust departments
as OF october 8, 1929 is given below:
Assets:
Investments ..s....,. Sz,2fI,I 90 20
Deposits in saving banks. S,s90.eee
Deposits in, other banks. 6.456.19t
Deposits in own banks Isl 500. eas
Other assets ....z...s.... eet'eoo'Vss
Total ................. ss,2sIs1o,11s
Liabilities:
Private trust accounts. S1,5O6.335,S01
Private trust accounts. In
come =. - Sz,Ss6,oSs
Court trusts iexecutor,
Court trusts lexecutor,
etc.), income ....... 15,735,7OS
Other liabilities ........+- 97.92S, S9I
Total ....s..... ..-...... ss,2s7. 7.sIo.11S
n The volume OF bond and note
ISSUES for which national banks
have been named to act as trustees
has likewise shown growth in
recent years. IN 1921 national
banks were acting as trustees for
collateral trust and other note and
bond issues aggregating 1860, 900, 600;
this total had reached So, ,463 900 900
in 1926, and 1927 showed an aggre-
gate of 6,355, 100000, while on
October 8 1928. the volume of this
activity was shown to be $T.97S,--
1856
Increased Earnings
As the operations OF trust de-
partments have grown. so have the
earnings that national banks have
reported from this source. Not
only has the establishment of trust
departments furnished service to
their communities highly desirable,
but many national banks have
I found that their trust departments
have been the means of bringing
new business to other departments
of the bank and enabled the bank
to retain balances upon the death
of their customers which would
otherwise be diverted to a COM
peting fiduciary institution. For
the fiscal year ended June 80, 1928.
the earnings OF national bank trust
departments aggregated Sic, 16o, ,OeO,
az compared with S10.Sl1,OOO in
1927, 1926 900 in 1926. s5,S5l 900
s in 1925, and $5.059 900 in 1924.
with one of the largest attend
ances in the record of its early sea-
son meetings. the first Forum din
ner of Washington Chapter. Aneri-
can Institute of Banking, was held
last night at the Raleigh Hotel.
Stephan !. Miller, manager of the
National Association of Credit Men.
was the guest speaker and discussed
in detail Credit" a subject which
is Of especial interest.
Discussing the present credit In
fIation. which. he said, resulted in
large measure from Federal Re-
serve Board background, DR.. Miller
cautioned that expanded credit is
approaching the ''thin ice" stage.
Business men. he said. should stay
well within the zone of reasonable
credit responsibility. A general
disregard of it's limits. he said,
might result In overdistribution.
over-production and lower price
level. He declared there was such
a thing as "overelasticity" of credit.
Unabated prosperity in 1925, with
an awakened interest in the value
OF credit responsibility by merchant,
manufacturer and banker, was fore
cast last night by DIR. Miller.
The speaker was introduced by
/ ,. Roberts, of Riggs National
Bank, chairman of the forum com
Tnittee of the chapter, who also
presented James A. Sopcr, Of the
Lincoln National Bank president
of the chapter, and II. II. Mckee,
sof the National Capital Bank,
tpresident of the Washington Gear
ling House Association. The latter
congratulated the chapter or its
educational endeavors, and urged
fthe establishment of postgraduate
course in the philosophy OF bank.
ing" in the institutes curriculum.