Isle of Man bank, which has been absorbed by the Westminster.
The outstanding feature on the debtor side is the huge total of the deposit and current accounts, money placed with the bank by the public, which has the right to demand its repayment at once in the case of current accounts and practically at once in that of deposit accounts, since no bank could refuse a depositor who was in a hurry the power to waive the necessary notice in return for some sacrifice of interest. It is the ever-present possibility of a demand for cash by holders of current and deposit accounts that compels the banks to keep their assets so liquid and so well written down, that their shareholders can read the figures set against them with a different feeling from that with which they regard the values on the right side of the ordinary commercial balance-sheet.
Another item that is what advertisers call a "talking point" is the reserve fund standing at the same figure as the paid-up capital. Some banks have reserve funds which exceed this cent per cent. of capital—the Ulster Bank in which the Westminster holds a considerable share showed in its balance-sheet, dated November 29, 1924, capital paid up £500,000 and reserve fund £900,000. The latter has
