Commonwealth of Massachusetts. OFFICE OF THE BANK COMMISSIONER, To the General Court of Massachusetts. STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, February 11, 1908. In accordance with the requirements of the Revised Laws, the portion of the annual report of the Bank Commissioner relating to savings banks, trust companies and foreign banking corporations is herewith submitted. SAVINGS BANKS. Number of Savings Banks. The total number of savings banks in operation on October 31, 1907, remains at 189. The charter of the People's Savings Bank of Attleborough, issued in 1905, has expired by limitation; and the Hibernia Savings Bank of Boston, chartered in 1907, has not yet been organized. The Marblehead Savings Bank, which was placed by the Supreme Judicial Court under temporary injunction on June 22, 1904, opened its doors on August 15, 1907, having by direction of the court neither received nor paid any deposits during this period of over three years. The desirability of this method of treating a savings bank, the assets of which have depreciated to such an extent that its solvency has become impaired, is well demonstrated by the Marblehead case. The alternative would have been to place the bank in the hands of receivers for final liquidation. This would have deprived Marblehead of its savings bank, and the depositors would have been paid considerably less than one hundred cents on the dollar, owing to the depreciation of assets and the expenses of the receivership. While it was closed, the actual expenses of management, which correspond to the expenses of the receivership had there been one, were only $3,480.15, or .69 of 1 per cent. of the assets. The net result to the depositors was a loss of 10% per cent. in interest, but the return of their principal in full. The deposits of the bank in the period during which it was under injunction were $506,124.71. During the two months and a half following its opening $127,202.48 were withdrawn, leaving the bank with deposits of $378,922.23 on October 31, 1907. A dividend of 2 per cent. was declared in November, after which further withdrawals took place, leaving the bank on January 1, 1908, with deposits of $327,566.88, which may now be presumed to be normal. Its guaranty fund and surplus on the latter date amounted to 5.12 per cent. of its deposits, which is well up to the average. Condition of All Savings Banks. The following statement shows the various assets and liabilities of the 189 savings banks on October 31, 1907, as well as on the corresponding date of 1906, together with a table comparing by percentages the distribution of the investments for the last five years and for 1902, 1897 and 1892. * In 1907, the item due on mortgage loans has been deducted from loans on real estate, the gross amount of which, for purposes of comparison, was $310,527,983.56. * In 1907, the item due on mortgage loans has been deducted from loans on real estate, the gross amount of which, for purposes of comparison, was $310,527,983.56. An analysis of the condition of the savings banks will be of especial interest this year. In the first place, it will be seen that the net increase in deposits was but $12,859,000, compared with a net increase of $31,272,000 during the previous year. The increase for 1907 is smaller than that of any year since 1893. The second item of interest is the increase of $13,158,000 in the amount loaned on real estate, the largest increase for any one year since 1872, and this in the face of the unusually small increase in loanable funds. The other notable changes in the distribution of investments are : — The loaning of $8,916,000 to the Boston & Maine Railroad Company and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company for terms of from one to five years; The decrease of $3,481,000 in loans to counties, cities and towns, $1,115,000 in loans on railroad and municipal bonds and $5,998,000 in loans on personal security; The increase of $3,969,000 in railroad bonds and the decrease of $807,000 in bank stocks, these last two following closely the tendencies of other years. It will be noted that, in both the aggregate and individual statements of savings banks and trust companies, expenses, taxes and interest have been eliminated from the assets, and amounts due on mortgage loans from the liabilities. |