Birmingham Municipal Bank

The Birmingham Municipal Bank was a savings bank in the city of Birmingham, England. It was created as the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank by a 1916 Act of Parliament, to raise money to aid World War I. It was the only municipal bank in the country. Suggested by local politician Neville Chamberlain in 1915, the bank was originally for savings from earnings, earning interest at 3.5%, with most of the income reserved for the government. It opened on 29 September 1916 after resistance from the banks and the Treasury. It had achieved 30,000 new investors by the end of 1917 and was made permanent in 1919. Its Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 1969 by a Birmingham postal slogan: "Municipal Bank Golden Jubilee 1919-1969". The name changed...