Reserve Bank of Australia Annual Report – 1960 Reserve Bank Act

This is the first Report of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia under the Reserve Bank Act 1959.

The Commonwealth Government's 1959 banking legislation, of which a brief account was given in the Report of the Commonwealth Bank Board for the year ended 30th June, 1959, came into operation on 14th January, 1960.

The Reserve Bank Board, the successor of the Commonwealth Bank Board, believes that the transitional problems involved in giving effect to the legislation were overcome successfully and that the Mortgage Bank and Industrial Finance Departments of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Trading Bank of Australia were each handed over to the newly-created Commonwealth Banking Corporation in a strong and efficient condition. Their activities over the financial year are not dealt with here.

The Reserve Bank Act repealed the Commonwealth Bank Acts, but it preserved and continued in existence the original corporate body known as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia under the new name, Reserve Bank of Australia, and also preserved within it the special departments of Note Issue and Rural Credits. This Report embraces the activities of Central Banking, Note Issue and Rural Credits over the full financial year as uninterrupted and continuing operations within the Bank's general field of responsibility.