ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OF ALL BANKS

Assets of all banks increased 6 percent during 1951 to a record total of $204 billion. Table 18 shows assets of all banks at the end of each year from 1945 to 1951. The major changes in bank assets since 1945 are a large increase in loans and a decline in holdings of United States Government obligations. These components of bank assets are now nearly equal in amount, each comprising about a third of total assets. Chart E shows the difference between 1945 and 1951 in the types of assets held by the banks.

Loans. Growth in loans amounting to $7 billion accounted for almost two-thirds of the increase in bank assets during 1951. Over half of the advance in loans was in commercial and industrial loans, which increased 18 percent, a rate somewhat less than in 1950. The next greatest advance was in agricultural loans, which increased 17 percent in 1951 in contrast with a 5 percent decline in the preceding year. The high rate of growth since 1945 in real estate loans by banks tapered off somewhat in 1951 as they increased only 12 percent. Consumer instalment and single payment loans to individuals advanced less than 4 percent in 1951, compared with 26 percent during 1950. The only type of loan actually to decline in volume between the 1950 and 1951 year ends was loans for carrying securities, which were 10 percent lower. Amounts of the different kinds of loans held by all banks at the end of each year since 1945 are presented in Table 19.

Table 18. ASSETS AND LIABILITIES, ALL BANKS, UNITED STATES AND

Total assets..

$203,863 $192,241 $180,043 $176,075 $176,024 $169,256 $178,203

Total liabilities and capital

accounts.

$203,863 $192,241 $180,043 $176,075 $176,024 $169,256 | $178,203

1 Includes banks for which asset and liability data were not available, as follows: 25 in 1951, 27 in 1950, 31 in 1949, 18 in 1948, 12 in 1947, 104 in 1946, and 104 in 1945. Detailed data for 1951: See Table 105, pp. 144-45.

Chart E. DISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS OF ALL BANKS, DECEMBER 31, 1945 AND 1951

1 Includes valuation reserves, which are excluded from net loans in Table 18. Detailed data for 1951: See Table 105, p. 144.

Securities. The amount of bank investment in securities was little changed in 1951, decreasing less than 1 percent. Holdings of United States Government obligations declined moderately, but the decrease was partly offset by an increase in holdings of obligations of States and their political subdivisions. Since 1945 issues of the latter have increased markedly and banks, attracted in part by their tax-free status, have

more than doubled their holdings of them. Other securities held by banks, mostly those of business enterprises, were practically unchanged in 1951.

Deposits. Deposits of all banks registered a 6 percent advance for the year. Two-thirds of the $187 billion total at the year end was in demand accounts and one-third in time and savings accounts. Annual figures of deposits of all banks from 1945 to 1951 are given in Table 20.

Table 20. TYPES OF DEPOSITS, ALL BANKS, UNITED STATES AND

1 Includes postal savings deposits; prior to Dec. 31, 1947, also includes a small amount of unclassified deposits.

Chart F. PERCENTAGE INCREASE DURING 1951 IN BUSINESS AND PERSONAL DEPOSITS, ALL BANKS

A substantial proportion of total deposits continued to be held within a few States. At the end of 1951 banks in New York State alone held a fourth of total deposits. Almost another fourth was held by banks in the next three largest banking States California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Of these four States, only California experienced a rate of increase in deposits during 1951 which was greater than the national average. As indicated in Chart F, every State showed growth in business and personal deposits in 1951. The largest increases were in the South and West, and the smallest were scattered among northern States from Massachusetts to Washington.

Capital accounts. By the end of 1951 total capital accounts of all banks approached the $15 billion mark. Since 1945 total capital accounts have increased 40 percent which is almost three times as rapidly as assets, which increased 14 percent. However, in 1951 the rate of increase in capital accounts was about the same as that in assets.

ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OF INSURED COMMERCIAL BANKS

Assets and liabilities of insured commercial banks from 1945 to 1951 are presented in Table 21. These banks include over nine-tenths of all banks in the United States and possessions, and at the end of 1951 held 87 percent of the assets of all the banks. Since these banks substantially determine the dimensions of the assets and liabilities of all banks, attention is focused in this section on banking developments concerning which data are available only for the insured commercial banks.

Table 21. ASSETS AND LIABILITIES, INSURED COMMERCIAL BANKS,
UNITED STATES AND POSSESSIONS, 1945-1951

Total assets.

$177,449 $166,792 $155,319 $152,163 $152,773 $147,365 | $157,582

Total liabilities and capital

accounts.....

Total deposits.

$177,449 $166,792 $155,319 $152,163 $152,773 | $147,365 $157,582

163,172 153,498 143,194 140,683

Miscellaneous liabilities.

Total capital accounts.

Number of banks..

141,889 137,029 147,811

2,354

11,923

2,013 1,476 1,320 11,281 10,649 10,160

1,148

1,048

1,099

Detailed data for 1950 and 1951: See Table 107, pp. 148-51.