The banks listed in this advertisement were Ban Hin Lee Bank Ltd, Bangkok Bank Ltd, Bank of America, The Bank of Canton Ltd, Bank of China, The Bank of East Asia Ltd, The Bank of India Ltd, Bank of Singapore Ltd, The Bank of Tokyo Ltd, Banque de L'Indochine, Batu Pahat Bank Ltd, The Chartered Bank, Chung Khiaw Bank Ltd, The Eastern Bank Ltd, Far Eastern Bank Ltd, First National City Bank, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, The Indian Bank Ltd, The Indian Overseas Bank Ltd, The Industrial and Commercial Bank Ltd, The Kwantung Provincial Bank, Kwong Yik (Selangor) Banking Corporation Ltd, Lee Wah Bank Ltd, Malayan Banking Ltd, Mercantile Bank Ltd, The Mitsui Bank Ltd, Nationale Handelsbank NV, Netherlands Trading Society, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd, Overseas Union Bank Ltd, Sze Hai Tong Bank Ltd, The United Chinese Bank Ltd, The United Commercial Bank Ltd and United Malayan Banking Corporation Ltd. Numbering 34 in all.
The name Malayan Exchange Banks Association was a puzzle to me and I'm sure it would also be a puzzle to most other people, including my former colleagues at Ban Hin Lee Bank. A normal Google search on this name also turned out nothing much. But luckily I was able to dig a bit deeper. Digging deeper may not uncover any useful results but fortunately, this one did.
The Exchange Banks Association was a fore-runner of both the Association of Banks in Malaysia and the Association of Banks in Singapore. The earliest reference to this association in the newspapers was in 1935 when it announced, to subsequent great hue and cry from the public, an imposition of a $5 half-yearly service charge on small current account balances of below $1,000. It is now known that the Exchange Banks Association was formed in 1934 by 15 commercial banks in Singapore.
After the Second World War, a separate Exchange Banks Association of the States of Malaya (or Malayan Exchange Banks Association) was set up in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, the Exchange Banks Association continued to function in Singapore. No idea how inter-dependent on one another were the two bodies, but their functions included the interest rates and other terms on lending, determination of charges for various types of banking transactions and setting common foreign exchange rates.
In July 1965, the Malayan Exchange Banks Association and the Exchange Banks Association decided to merge into one entity called the Association of Banks in Malaysia, comprising the 43 banks operating in the country at that time, with separate secretariats in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Membership was also opened to Sarawak and Sabah-based banks. The formation was regarded as necessary so that they could cooperate closely with Bank Negara Malaysia.
After Singapore exited from Malaysia later the same year, there was a name change to the Association of Banks in Malaysia and Singapore to reflect the situation. The body continued to be representative of the banking institutions in the two countries. However in May 1973, Malaysia and Singapore ended the interchangeability agreement on their currencies and subsequently, they issued their own currency notes and coin. As a consequence, the joint association dissolved. Replacing it, the Association of Banks in Malaysia was established in November 1973 while the Association of Banks in Singapore was formed one month earlier in October 1973.
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