The conditions under which each account is operated are kept on condition cards, arranged alphabetically according to city, and then by name. On these are entered all conditions coming to the department which govern the account, and also the open ing date, the closing date, and the debit and credit balance interest rates.
The account current men check off against the postings on the accounts the advices and credits which are sent to the corres pondents, as well as on incoming letters and cables requesting the bank to make payment or transfer funds from one account to another. After these incoming letters and cables are checked off, they are turned over to the file department.
At the end of each month the account current men rule off the statements of the accounts, check the balances with the ledger men, and send them out, keeping a copy of the same. Before the statements are sent, the balances are transferred to a new set of sheets.
The " Our " Accounts Books "Our " accounts are those maintained by the bank with banks and bankers abroad. These banks make their statements to the bank in terms of the currencies of their respective countries, but in the bank's own records the transactions are kept in terms of United States dollars.
The accounts are operated under widely varying conditions, which are entered on "our " account cards arranged alphabeti cally according to city and then according to name. It is the duty of these bookkeepers to see that the foreign bank complies with these conditions.
If the arrangement is to charge drafts only upon payment, these bookkeepers must see that they are not charged immedi ately on receipt of advice, for it is possible that only through the additional interest earned by not charging drafts to the account until paid will the account show a profit. Most payments made on behalf of the bank are charged on the date of payment.
Many banks charge a fee for payments made by them, either a rate ranging from one-half per mille to one-eighth per cent, or, in case of payment in the interior, rates according to a tariff filed with the bank; a minimum charge for small items is often in force. The tariff for letter of credit payments may differ for simple and confirmed credits and for the tenor of commercial credit drafts which they accept. Charges for crediting the bank's
account with the proceeds of remittances are less frequent. Bill stamp charges are paid in most countries and sometimes are charged twice on the same as when the first charge is de ducted by a bank in another city from the face of the bill sent to them for collection and remittance of proceeds to the New York bank's correspondent, which may again charge for the stamp without actually affixing one.
Bills remitted to a foreign correspondent are not always credited on the day of receipt, particularly if the bills cannot be collected that day; the arrangement is usually mutual, however, and if the New York bank credits bills sent to it on date of re ceipt, the bills it sends are credited on date of receipt by the correspondent. Some banks stipulate that the items must be received before noon to get credit on that date.
Credits for coupons collected are subject to the most widely varying restrictions. If they are payable at the bank to which they are sent, they are usually credited to the same day; other wise, interest on these amounts may be deferred from r to 6 days.
To recoup the expenses of administration, many foreign banks apply their charges at a certain percentage of the turn over or total of transactions; at the end of the month or semester they charge commission in account. It may be applied only to transactions of certain classes, or to the total debits or credits in the account, or both. The auditing department makes up these totals and applies the percentage and reconciles this result with the amount charged by the foreign banks. The auditor also keeps close watch on the interest debited or credited to the bank's foreign balances. The rate charged on debit balances is larger than that allowed on credit balances by margins varying from r to 4 per cent or more; in a few cases the rates are fixed at r per cent above or below the bank deposit rate, which rate depends upon the rate set by the central bank of the country.