The check and receipts remain together and are handled in one of four ways: I. In case the payment is to a responsible party nearby, the check is delivered by messenger and the receipt, signed by the payee, is returned to the department.
2. If the payment is to a responsible party at a distance, the check and receipts are sent direct to the payee.
3. If the payment is to someone at a distance who is not known to the bank, the check and receipts are sent to a neighbor bank, which makes the payment to the payee and returns the signed receipts to the department.
4. If the payment is to some individual nearby who is not known to the bank, he is advised that the bank is instructed to pay him a sum of money and will do so upon proper identification; the check is held in a folder until delivered to the payee.
A careful follow-up is kept on all check payments.
Window Payments Window payments indude the delivery of the cashier's checks to payees who call at the window (as stated in the fourth method described above), and also the cashing of checks drawn on the bank. by foreign depositors. In making such payments identification is very important as most of the payees are foreigners. Identification is made through third parties or by means of passports, specimen signatures, etc. Before checks drawn on the bank are paid, they are forwarded to the book keepers, where the signatures are verified and the checks are marked off the bills payable ledgers.
The window teller obtains his cash each morning, and, if necessary, at other times during the day, from the paying teller of the domestic division on memora,ndum receipt. During the day he reCeives the money coming in through the foreign draft, cable transfer, and receiving teller's windows. This gives him a good working balance. In the evening he returns the cash to the first teller against credit receipt.
The window teller also keeps the brokerage book in which he makes entries in connection with the contracts to buy or sell bills. The transactions are briefly described therein and the amotmt of brokerage is paid by cashier's checks, say, once a month.
Another duty of the window teller is to keep the due book and, on the proper date, make payment on the bought contracts.
The Handling of Bought Contracts The term "contracts" covers transactions originating with the traders, whereby exchange is bought or sold for demand or future delivery, in the form of drafts or cable transfers.
The bought contracts are obligations to receive and pay, either at once or in the definite future, cable transfers or bills. The contract is signed by the trader. The conversion from the foreign currency to dollars is made at the given rate. The pur chase is confirmed to the seller by the foreign tellers' department; this confirmation also instructs the seller as to the party to whom payment is to be made for the bank's account. The duplicate copy of the confirmation is attached to the contract.
On the basis of the bought contracts the receive sheet is pre pared in duplicate. This sheet shows the name of the bank bought from, the bank to receive, and the amount in foreign cur rency. The duplicate goes to the window paying teller, who handles the bought contracts; he follows up the banks to which the department has wired to receive credit on their books for all contracts bought. The original instructions are then handed to
the cable department, which prepares the cables and checks them against the receive sheet.
The original instructions are now handed to the window pay ing teller, who enters them in the due book under the date when, by the terms of the contract, payment is to be made. On that date he prepares the necessary tickets, charging the foreign bank that has been wired and crediting Cashier's Check account. The cashier's check is prepared and forwarded to the party from whom the exchange was bought.
Cable transfers are paid for on the day the bank receives its credit abroad. In case bills are bought instead of cable trans fers, the above-mentioned cabling need not be done. Bills bought by contract are, unless otherwise specified, paid for on steamer day.
The Handling of Sold Contracts Sold contracts are obligations to deliver, at a price, at once or in the definite future, cable transfers or bills. The contract is made and signed by the trader handling the transaction. The cable transfer clerk makes the conversion to dollars and enters it in the tickler under the date when the money is due in New York or abroad, as the case may be. The bill is made out in duplicate, the duplicate is attached to the contract, and the original is sent to the customer to whom the exchange is sold. If confirma tion comes in due course, about two days before the money is due abroad the bank's correspondent abroad is cabled to pay the institution named in the confirmation.
The cable transfer clerk lists on his cable sheet the pay cables under the names of the foreign banks which are to make the pay ments and the cable department wires on the basis of the original contracts. These two records are checked daily. The foreign receiving teller is provided with a tickler to keep him informed as to the amounts due and from whom, and before the close of day he notifies the cable transfer clerk of any payments due and unpaid, so that they will be followed up.
NVhen bills are sold for future delivery, the bank confirms the sale as having been made " through at . . . . for steamer sailing . . . . ..... ," and asks for a confirmation. When drafts are sold by contract to a bank, payment will, unless other wise stipulated, be made on steamer day only, and the drafts will be dravvn and delivered on the day before steamer day.
Investigations The handling of investigations and the correspondence con nected with them is not only a very responsible function, but also, from the standpoint of the bank's clients, is regarded as an index of ability to render service. Correspondence, cables, etc., which have reference to past transactions or which indicate that a transaction has not been handled at all or has been handled in correctly, are handed to the investigation clerk. He sorts the investigations on the basis of their importance, the more impor tant being handled first by his assistants in the manner which he feels will produce the best results and the best service.