Page 48 - Demo

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As William H Clegg, the founding Governor of the institution, observed during the inaugural ordinary meeting of stockholders in July 1921: “The ... Reserve Bank is the outcome of a conviction that has grown ... in the Union .... that the increasing importance of South Africa in the world of commerce called for some elaboration in her banking machinery. It was felt that, however well the existing Commercial Banks had served her in the past, there was necessarily a lack of co-ordination in their activities which led to a too great profusion of credit at some times, and to a too great stringency at others. This was in no way the fault of the existing banks who, as separate and independent institutions, naturally resolved in their own and separate orbits. But there was a fault in the system – a fault which the Reserve Bank was ordained to remedy.” (Clegg: 1921−1929, p 1).
W H Clegg 1931