HG liga TREASURY DEPARTMENT Document No. 3200 Comptroller of the Currency For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY, Washington, D. C., June 11, 1956. SIRS: In accordance with the provisions of section 333 of the United States Revised Statutes, I have the honor to submit the following report covering the activities of the Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency for the year 1955. Respectfully, THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. RAY M. GIDNEY, Comptroller of the Currency. THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. III ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY The year 1955 was a very active one for commercial banks which were supplying a major portion of the credit necessary to enable business production and expansion, and individual buying, to reach record levels in all sectors of the economy, with the exception of agriculture, and in providing banking services in the form of new branches or banks to areas favored by population shifts and growth. The most significant development in banking during 1955 was the sharp increase in loans amounting to $12 billion in the nation's commercial banks. While loans were increasing, investments were reduced by $7 billion so that the increase in loans and investments of all commercial banks during 1955 was $5 billion, a smaller expansion than in 1954 when the net increase in both types of assets aggregated $10.2 billion. Commercial bank holdings of United States obligations were reduced by $7.4 billion during 1955 to enable banks to meet loan demands, and the buyers, to an important extent, were business corporations which acquired the obligations for temporary investment. The $7.4 billion of liquidated United States obligations were largely short term issues. Loans and investments, other than United States obligations, increased $12.4 billion, the largest growth of any year since 1950. Status of Dual Banking System At the end of 1955, approximately 47 percent of the banking resources in the commercial and savings banks of the nation, and 54 percent of the commercial banking resources, were held by 4,700 national banks. State-chartered mutual savings banks numbering 528 had total resources of $31.3 billion. State-chartered commercial banks and trust companies, 9,037 in number, held total resources of $98.1 billion, or about 46 percent of all commercial bank assets. The dual banking system of the United States held total resources 1 |