Evening star., 1939-12-08
BanksNowCompeting
Keen|y for New Loans,
Conference Is Told
Personal Services Are
Stressed by Speakers
At Richmond Meeting
By EDWARD C. STONE.


Banks are strongly competing with
each other for new opportunities to
make loans, P. H. Sitges, president
of the Louisiana Savings Bank &
Trust Co., New Orleans, told the
Southern Regional Banking Con-
ference at Richmond today, ac-
cording to special dispatch to The
Star. President Robert M. Hanes Of
the American Bankers Association
was again in the chair and more
than 600 bankers were present.
Banks generally are faced with
the problem of utilizing large sur
pluses of cash in safe and profit
able manner and this condition has
produced keen competition for de-
sirable loans" Mr.. Sitges declared.
'Under existing conditions, there is
perhaps more competition for loans
than for any other class of business.
I'm our own bank, the percentage
of loans to deposits for some time
has run substantially over go per
cent. Approximately % per cent
of our total loans are handled in our
personal loan department and are
of the type payable in monthly or
weekly installments. This type of
business has contributed very ma
terially to our ability to lend our
available funds Mr.. Sitges as
serted.
More Personal Loans Urged.
Banks throughout the country
were urged to continue expanding
their personal loan services to aid
individuals in meeting their heavier
financial obligations by Philip Wooll-
colt, president and chairman of the
board of the Bank of Asheville, N. C.
Pointing to the rapid expansion
of this type of bank lending to meet
personal and family credit needs,
Mr.. Woollcott cited four essential
principles for banks to observe in de-
veloping this type OF public service.
First, he said, banks should keep
In mind the fact that individual
credit requirements usually arise
from the same causes as commercial
credit needs. BY far the most uni
versal cause for the individuals
need for a loan is the simple fact
that he gets fixed amount of in
come each week, or each month,
whereas some of his major expenses
occur in large annual Jumps. or at
unexpected emergency moments.
Second, he said, the name under
which bank operates its personal
loan service, if it is not preferably
conducted as regular department
of the bank, is to be chosen with the
individuals Importance as bank
customer in view.
Third, the type of personnel
chosen to meet the public should be
governed with this attitude toward
the business In the small bank the
problem is simple, because the one
officer who meets the commercial
borrowers also meets the individual
borrowers.
Fourth, it is preferable that the
quarters housing the personal loan
department of a bank should be
WILL UllOSC Vi JllC lCs uldl
banking premises. he added.
Broader Service Needed.
Increased efforts by banks to
broaden the scope of their public
services and to intensity good GUS
toner relations was urged by S. H.
Fifield, assistant vice president of
the Barnett National Bank. Jack
sonville, Fla, and president of the
Financial Advertisers Association.
Mr.. Fifleld declared that every
bank should analyze the particular
banking needs of its own territory
use the analysis of local economic
and business factors as a basis upon
which to build a two-fold program
of public, service and customer re-
lations. The program should be
placed in effect within the bank IN
in its transactions with customers
and outside the bank by making
known the services which it per-
forms, he added.
Officers of country banks were
advised further to broaden the serv-
ices offered by their banks, to di-
versify their lending activities by
making types of loans previously not
engaged in and to study every op-
portunity for expanding the volume
of business transacted by their in
stitutions, in an address by T. Allen
Glenn, jr., president of the Peoples
National Bank, Norristown, Pa.
Ranking Held "On Trial"
Robert M. Hanes, president of the
A. B. A., told the conference yester-
day that chartered banking is on
trial today and that increasing
efforts are being made to substitute
for it Government credit institu-
tions."
I'VE must preserve independent
chartered banking and the dual
system of Federal and State char
tered banks. And we must see that
the public understands the neces-
sity for their preservation"
William S. Elliott, president of the
State Bank Division of the A. B. A.,
asserted that the "easy money"
policies of the Federal Government
dllO ONCl dGlOll VI UQollACoo WC1C
responsible for the low interest rates
paid on savings accounts and invest
ments and the inability of business
to attain lasting revival. Money
that cannot be used profitably is
high at any price," he declared.
Heard in Financial District.
The safe deposit section of the
District Bankers Association and
the auditors section will hold joint
dinner meeting at the Lee House
next Thursday evening at 6 o'clock
A fine program is being arranged.
The United States Trust Co., New
York, has declared an extra divi-
dend of $40 a share and regular
quarterly dividend of SIS. The
stock is now quoted at $3.50 bid
and $1,660 asked.
OF interest to Washington stock
holders is the regular ollarterlV dis.