Banking and Finance, 1910–33

Abstract

The principal changes in the financial structure during this period were the moves towards banking concentration that paralleled similar developments in Britain, the establishment of a central bank, and the steady growth of the non-banking financial intermediaries such as building societies and life insurance companies. The growth of these non-banking financial intermediaries is one of the outstanding features of twentieth-century economic development. However, in the years 1910–33 it was only just beginning to make itself noticeable, as the broadening of banking functions and the explosive growth of building societies and life insurance did not come until after 1933.