160. Duties Of Officers In A Country Bank

The duties to be assigned to the various officers depend very largely upon local conditions. In a country bank, the president is usually a man of means in the community and is able to devote only such portion of his time to the bank as will enable him to pass upon the large loans and all the investments. He is usually able to surround himself with a coterie of men who act as directors and assist him in his work. He acts as chairman of the board of directors. He usually serves without salary, unless he devotes a considerable portion of his time to the bank.

The office of vice-president is purely honorary. The vice-president should be a director.

The cashier is the real executive head. He should be a man of considerable experience in banking. He should know the law very thoroughly, under which the bank is chartered, and be well informed in the negotiable instruments acts of his state, as well as to know when to call upon the bank's attorney in the general conduct of the business. He should be familiar with the modern banking systems of accounting, and be able to organize the clerical staff so that the best results can be obtained with the least amount of effort. If possible, he should be a director and act as secretary of the board. If a director, he should be an ex-officio member of the loan committee. If he is an experienced man with executive ability, his position may be made the most important in the bank. He should not be encumbered with a mass of detail, as is usually the case, but should always be in a position to drop whatever he is doing, to take up the need of the moment, whether it be to converse with a borrower, prospective customer or salesman, or turn his attention to one of the many things that must be looked after immediately. He should not be the teller of the bank, nor have any other duties that demand constant attention. He may take care of the general ledger, the statement book and the loans and discounts, if necessary. It will be worth while to pay him a salary commensurate with his work. The cashier, as well as the president, should be bonded.

161. Duties Of Officers In A City Bank

In a large city bank, the duties of the officers may be much more clearly defined. The volume of business to be transacted makes it necessary to place some one in definite charge of the different branches of the business and hold him distinctly responsible for his special duty. Much more efficient work will be accomplished by so doing, than by allowing every officer to handle every kind of work. The president should keep in touch with market conditions and with the best bankers in the community. He should devote his entire time to the bank and approve every investment and every loan made, excepting purely call loans on securities with ample margin to protect the bank in case of a declining market. These loans are usually made from day to day and are intended to keep the excess funds invested. They may safely be entrusted to an under officer if the president has not time enough to devote to them himself. He should eliminate details from his work as much as possible, and keep his head and desk clear of those matters of minor importance, so that he will be ready to throw his whole energy into action in case of emergency.

The vice-president (or vice-presidents) should assist the president in the above duties. Certain kinds of loans, such as call loans on collateral may be approved by him without referring to the president. He may be given authority to loan, up to a certain amount to any one borrower, and to refer to the president all matters of greater importance. He may be the bond man of the bank, and decide upon the purchase and sale of the bank's bonds with the consent and advice of the president and the board of directors or its executive committee. In recent years the vice-president has been the chief solicitor of new business. He has bent his energies to the task of getting depositors, depending upon the efficient management of the bank to hold them after he has succeeded in persuading them to open an account. The banker of the old school thought it undignified to solicit deposits. Not so the modern banker; he knows that he will not be able to compete with other banks unless he does. The means employed to interest and secure new customers are indeed numerous and some are indeed undignified. The vice-president if he fills this role, and the bank is a national bank in the city of New York, should be capable of making a public address. He should attend the conventions of the bankers' associations throughout the country, interest himself in them and meet the delegates. However, if all New York banks were to do this sort of thing, the conventions would soon become marts for the selling of wares and not educational conventions. The wise banker will then retire and leave the field for others. He should have charge of the advertising of the bank and devote a good deal of energy to it.

The cashier in a large bank is the executive officer. He should act as secretary of the board of directors and keep its minutes. He should have personal supervision of the stock ledger and stock certificate book. If the stock is inactive, he should personally prepare all transfers. He should receive a copy of the daily statement and see that the reserve is kept up to the standard required. He or his assistants should sign all checks disbursing funds of the bank, all certificates of deposit and initial all expense items for which cash is paid, no matter how small. The cashier should have direct charge of the clerical staff, placing the men to the best advantage and hiring such new employes as are necessary. He will be more efficient in this respect if he has had experience in all the departments of the bank himself. There is nothing that will make the clerical staff inefficient more quickly than to receive orders from an incompetent or inexperienced officer. The president himself should not issue orders to the clerical staff without consulting with the cashier, and it would be far better if the orders were issued in the name of the cashier. The cashier should have a desk with the other officers and among his other duties, meet the general public who come to the bank to transact business. It is needless to say that an affable disposition will win friends for the bank.

The duties of the cashier in a bank are about equally divided between the secretary and the treasurer of a trust company, with this general distinction, that the secretary attends more specifically to the trust business, while the treasurer is responsible for the banking department. The secretary ranks a little higher in that he acts as secretary of the board. Frequently the two offices are combined in one.

The cashier may be relieved of a great deal of detail work by the creation of the position of chief clerk. If there is such a clerk, he should be responsible to the cashier for the successful operation of the clerical staff. He should have the privilege of shifting clerks from one department to another as occasion requires, but should not make important changes without consulting with the cashier. He should see that each department has enough men to do its work and should see that all clerks are fully employed. He should conduct all correspondence with applicants and all necessary preliminary examinations prior to employment. He should see that all departments prove their work properly, that the messengers give efficient assistance to all departments, that the supply of stationery is properly maintained and accounted for. In general, he should relieve the cashier of all duties in connection with the clerical staff and general work of the bank.

The office of auditor is becoming more and more important. The work is of vastly more value in a trust company than in a bank. He should be an expert accountant and should be in complete control of the accounting methods, with power to change, substitute or add such books, forms or memorandum records as he considers necessary to properly set the affairs of the institution before the officers and directors. If the company has or can obtain the right man, he will soon become invaluable. He should prepare all statements required by the officers and directors and certify as to their correctness. He should make audits of the work of each department at frequent intervals. The majority of the defalcations. of clerks is made through manipulation of the individual ledgers, therefore the auditor should take every precaution possible in watching these books. Valuable use of the pass books left for balancing may be made in this connection. All reconcilements of accounts receiving statements through the mail should be addressed to him. Such other duties may be added as may properly be attended to by him.