"A Bank for the People presents the comprehensive history of the State Bank of Victoria, tracing its origins to the Savings Bank of Port Phillip, established in Melbourne in 1842 to encourage thrift among the colony's working population. Robert Murray and Kate White follow the institution's growth through the gold rushes, the land boom and financial crash of the 1890s, its consolidation as the State Savings Bank in 1912 and its emergence as one of Victoria's most familiar public institutions.
The authors place particular emphasis upon the Bank's influence on everyday Victorian life. Its school banking program introduced generations of children to saving, while its housing loans and standardised "Bank homes" helped many families purchase their first house. The account also examines the Bank's contribution to the Fishermans Bend Garden City development, its wartime experience, post-war expansion, technological modernisation and eventual transformation into a full-service trading bank.
The narrative concludes with banking deregulation, the rapid expansion of the 1980s and the disastrous losses associated with the merchant-banking subsidiary Tricontinental, which led to the Bank's sale to the Commonwealth Bank in 1990. Extensively researched and illustrated with historic photographs, documents and statistical appendices, this substantial 1992 first edition is an important reference on Victorian financial, business and social history, retaining its original dustjacket."
Light wear to dustjacket. Pages clean and bright. A nice copy in very good condition overall. Please study photos to further understand condition.
