Our History
The Beginnings of Bank Simpanan Nasional
The
advent of Savings bank service in Malaysia dated back to the late 19th
century. The first banks, namely the Perak and the Selangor Savings Bank
were started in 1888 and 1893 respectively and were administered by the
respective State Treasuries until they were taken over by the Postal
Department. In 1907 the Perak and Selangor Savings Banks were dissolved
and brought under the Federated Malay States Post Office Savings Banks
which also provided services in the states of Negeri Sembilan and
Pahang. It had then 3,320 depositors with just over RM340,000 standing
to their credit.
Separate
Savings Bank services under the Straits Settlement Post Office Savings
Bank were in existence in Penang, Malacca and Singapore as early as 1902
while the Unfederated Malay States had their own Post Office Savings
Banks in the years prior to the Second World War.
Since
1949 savings with the Post Office Savings Bank have grown steadily. In
1949 it had 229,652 depositors with a credit balance of RM47.2 million.
At the time of the launching of Bank Simpanan Nasional, Malaysia on 1st
December 1974, it had more than 2.5 million depositors. The accumulated
assets of the bank were over RM537 million, out of which over RM526
million were in government securities. The amount standing to the credit
of depositors was over RM511 million. At the end of 1981, the Bank had
more than 4.3 million depositors with accumulated assets of more than
RM1.2 billion.
With
the establishment of Bank Simpanan Nasional, a new chapter is opened in
the history of public saving institutions in the country. Bank Simpanan
Nasional Act, 1974 provides for the transfer of the powers of
management from the Postal Services Department to the Board of Directors
which will assume functions and undertake responsibilities in
accordance with the objectives of the Act.
