Post Office Savings Bank The
Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) was founded in 1861 by the
Palmerston government following a suggestion by
George Chetwynd, a clerk in the
Money Order department of the
General Post Office. It was the world's first
postal savings system. The aim of the bank was to allow ordinary workers a facility "to provide for themselves against adversity and ill-health", and to provide the government with access to debt funding; savers were paid a fixed rate of interest by the POSB, which used their deposits to purchase
government securities, which offered a marginally higher rate of return. Alongside Chetwynd,
Frank Ives Scudamore was an early champion of the savings bank. At first, 700 Post Office branches offered the savings bank service; within two years their number had risen to 2,500. Since banks at the time only had branches in larger conurbations, the POSB provided a new opportunity for many individuals. Its services were also used by
friendly societies and other
mutuals. Under
Postmaster General Henry Fawcett, the POSB was expanded and made more accessible;
savings stamps were introduced in 1880.
National Savings Bank In 1969, when the GPO ceased to be a department of government, the bank was transferred from the Post Office to the Treasury. Its name was changed to
National Savings Bank, and it gained an independent legal identity under the '''''' (c. 29). Post Office branches continued to act as agents for the National Savings Bank. Despite its independence, it was used by Government in 1980 to fund a significant proportion of the
public sector borrowing requirement. The then Director,
Stuart Gilbert, was given a target of attracting £2 billion from savers.
NS&I The name was changed again in 2002 to
National Savings and Investments. The previous graphic identity of NS&I, including the NS&I logotype, was created in 2005 by Lloyd Northover, the British design consultancy founded by
John Lloyd and Jim Northover. The identity was updated in 2020.
Headquarters The Post Office Savings Bank initially operated from a room in the
General Post Office building on
St. Martin's Le Grand in the City of London. By 1864 it had outgrown the space available there, so the Post Office took out a lease on a nearby warehouse at No. 27
St Paul's Churchyard. In the following years the business of the savings bank expanded, and further premises were acquired to the south, linked to the old warehouse by a bridge across
Little Carter Lane. An extension was built to the north, in Carter Lane, in 1890-94 by
Sir Henry Tanner; but soon afterwards work began on a new headquarters in West Kensington:
Blythe House, where the Post Office Savings Bank took up residence in 1903. (The premises on Queen Victoria Street and Carter Lane became a
telephone exchange; the
Faraday Building now stands on the site). The Post Office Savings Bank continued to occupy Blythe House until the early 1970s, although it was announced in 1963 that its main centre of operations would be moved to Glasgow. A small headquarters staff remained in London, moving to Charles House on
Kensington High Street. ==Role==