KEO.PLUS

On February 17th, 1901, a crowd gathered on a street in Sydney, eagerly awaiting.

One by one, people smiled, sometimes looking gratefully at the government and where Arthur was.

Right in front of the crowd, a building had been simply refurbished and had the sign of the Australian Royal Bank hung up, officially opening for business today.

A mere bank opening would not attract so many spectators and supporters. What really brought these people here was a policy that Arthur introduced alongside the bank’s opening: every Australian family could borrow up to 200 pounds unconditionally from the Royal Bank, and an additional loan of up to 1,000 pounds could be secured based on their assets.

When the two types of loans were combined, the maximum loan amount that each family could obtain reached 1,200 pounds.

Even in the affluent homeland of the British Empire, this sum was the kind of saving that only high-income families could afford.

For some people, this deposit could possibly change their destiny, becoming the initial capital for a small entrepreneur or even the rise of a business star.

Of course, for the vast majority of people, being able to use this money to buy more land, increase their family’s income, and improve their own lives was already the best outcome.

As the loan interest was very low, even negligible, many people planned to borrow money.

At ten o’clock in the morning, amidst the respectful and enthusiastic gazes of the crowd, Arthur arrived slowly in a horse carriage, followed by Hunter Steward and a few guards.

As Arthur arrived, the scene gradually began to quiet down, waiting for Arthur’s speech and actions.

Arthur was here to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the bank opening, but before the ceremony, various speeches were inevitable.

After Hunter Steward introduced the purpose and goals of the bank, it was time for Arthur’s speech.

The content of the speech was simple, covering the purpose of the loans and encouraging Australians to work hard and strive in their businesses.

Although the content of the speech was simple, it still elicited warm welcomes and cheers from many Australians.

The reason was none other than Arthur’s prestige and popularity in Australia.

Afterward, with the completion of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Australian Royal Bank officially opened for business.

Subsequently, under tense yet orderly queuing, the onlooking crowd entered the bank’s interior, asking questions and handling business.

Fortunately, the Royal Bank only opened in the capital Sydney for the short term, and branches in other states had to wait until next month or even longer to open.

This greatly alleviated the bank’s financial issues. Although the onlooking crowd seemed large, many people were still undecided about loans, and only a minority had already clearly decided to borrow.

Arthur had specifically prepared 5 million pounds in cash for the bank’s opening, which seemed to be more than enough now.

After all, most ordinary people who had already decided to borrow would likely choose the small, unconditional loans.

Apart from the few who had real confidence that they could seize opportunities and develop their industries, most people were unwilling to bear huge loans.

In addition to the popular loan business among ordinary people, some people came for the bank’s savings business.

Many officials and wealthy individuals, including cabinet members, were among them.

Under the experienced leadership of Prime Minister Evan, Cabinet ministers took out their own funds and deposited them in the bank. Some ministers with larger assets even directly deposited tens of thousands of pounds in large sums.

It was not surprising. The previous prime ministers had all been political heavyweights, growing from senators and naturally obtaining the approval of Queen Victoria to be granted the position of Prime Minister in the colonies.

Governors and prime ministers of colonies were actually equivalent to prominent local officials, and they held considerable power within the colonies.

Although they did not have military power, they had enough political power. Coupled with various welfare policies from Britain, it led these prime ministers to have very high annual incomes, at least in the thousands or tens of thousands of pounds, and some even reached tens of thousands of pounds.

Therefore, when they took out tens of thousands of pounds for deposit, they did not even show a hint of pain on their faces.

To them, making Arthur happy and supporting his cause was more important than these ten thousand pounds.

Compared to the previous prime ministers, the funds brought out by other ministers were a bit less impressive, but still amounted to thousands of pounds.

But this was a normal situation. Considering the income of Australian Cabinet ministers, they could only barely have a savings of 1,000 pounds within six months.

Compared to the loan business window, the number of people queuing for deposit business was pitifully small.

It was not that Australians were unwilling to deposit money in banks, but that most Australians simply did not have savings and were unable to do so with empty wallets.

After inspecting the bank for a while, Arthur returned to the manor house. Although business would be busier today due to the opening, most Australians would carefully consider whether or not to take out a loan, so the busiest time should be a few days later.

Arthur was not in a hurry, just instructing Hunter Steward to carefully examine and treat each loan and deposit business, and compile them into a detailed report.

On February 25th, after a week of operation, the Royal Bank had successfully made a name for itself in Australia, attracting many people from other states and cities to some extent.

At the same time, Hunter Steward had completed the summary of the bank’s business during its first week of operation and submitted the report to Arthur.

One could not help but lament the terrible state of poverty among Australians. From February 17th to February 24th, a full week, the Royal Bank had processed more than 2,900 operations.

Although it seemed like a lot, in reality, over 2,800 of these operations were loans, and there were only slightly more than 100 deposit operations.

It should be noted that this data was generated with the support of cabinet members and some officials.

If the support of these officials were to be excluded, the number of people depositing would likely be even smaller, and the amount would hardly reach 90,000 pounds.

Compared to deposit operations, loan operations seemed much busier.

Of the more than 2,800 loan operations, more than 2,300 were unconditional loans, with an average of 80 pounds per household.

The remaining 500-plus loans were from families who took both unconditional and secured loans. Due to the differences in their assets, the loan amounts varied but were generally more than 400 pounds..