Lombard Street: A Description of the Money MarketBagehot, Walter
History
Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market
Bagehot, Walter
Banks and banking -- England -- London; Banks and banking -- Great Britain; Finance -- England -- London; Finance -- Great Britain
(4) NATIONAL BANKS OF UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 3, 1872).
Liabilities
Circulation L 67,000,000
Deposits L 145,000,000
-------------
Total liabilities L 212,000,000
=============
Reserve of Cash
Coin and legal tenders in hand L 26,000,000
============
Making proportion of cash reserve to liabilities to the public about
12.3 per cent.
SUMMARY
Liabilities Cash held Proportion of cash
to the public to liabilities per
cent
Bank of England and London
Joint Stock Banks 20,000,000 13,500,000 11.2
Bank of France 125,000,000 32,000,000 25.0
Banks of Germany 88,000,000 41,000,000 47.0
National Banks of
United States 212,000,000 26,000,000 12.3
Note B.
Extract from Evidence Given by Mr. Alderman Salomons before House of
Commons Select Committee in 1858.
1146. [Chairman.] The effect upon yourselves of the pressure in
November was, I presume, to induce you to increase your reserve in
your own hands, and also to increase your deposits with the Bank of
England?--Yes, that was so; but I wish to tell the Committee that that
was done almost entirely by allowing the bills of exchange which we
held to mature, and not by raising any money, or curtailing our
accommodation to our customers. Perhaps it may be interesting to the
Committee to know that on the 11th of November we held discounted
bills for brokers to the amount of 5,623,000 L. Out of those bills,
2,800,000 L. matured between the 11th of November and the 4th of
December, and 2,000,000 L. more between the 4th of December and the
31st. So that about 5,000,000 L. of bills matured between the 11th
of November and the 31st of December; consequently we were prepared,
merely by the maturing of our bills of exchange, for any demands
that might possibly come upon us.
1147. I understand you to say that you did not withdraw your usual
accommodation from your own customers, but that you ceased to have
in deposit with the bill-brokers so large a sum of money as you had
before?--Not exactly that; the bills which we had discounted were
allowed to mature, and we discounted less; we kept a large reserve
of cash.
1148. That is to say, you withdrew from the commercial world a part
of that accommodation which you had previously given, and at the
same time you increased your deposits with the Bank of England?--Yes,
our deposits with the Bank of England were increased. We did not
otherwise withdraw accommodation.
1149. [Mr. Weguelin.] Had you any money at call with the
bill-brokers?--A small amount; perhaps about 500,000 L. or less, which
we did not call in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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