Zip Code Banking

British bankers have a reputation for being a stuffy lot. In the words of a Board of Trade commission, they run their banks "as a club for the benefit of members, not the public." They keep the most bankerish of bankers' hours, charge high rates for their services, and send their customers statements only once every three months. Small wonder that most adult Britons assiduously avoid checking accounts.

Soon, however, the bankers may have to start changing their ways. The reason is that they are being confronted by a competitor the likes of which they have never had before: Britain's General Post Office. Last week, with a flurry of speeches, the G.P.O. inaugurated a cheap and simple system of transferring funds without cash or checks.

From the Greek. At Bootle, near Liverpool, Prime Minister Wilson opened a $37 million data-processing complex that is to be the heart of one of the most fully automated banking systems in the world. Called Giro--the word comes from the Greek gyros, meaning circle--the system will circulate funds within the country's huge post-office network. With a deposit of $12, anyone will be able to open a Giro account. An account holder can leave standing instructions to have his regular bills rent or mortgage installments, telephone and electric bills--paid automatically out of his account. If the recipient also has a Giro account, the computer will simply credit the payment to him, and there will be no charge for the service. If he does not have an account, the post office will mail him a money order and charge the payer 9-c-, compared with a bank's usual charges of 12-c- to 16-c- for a check. Every time someone makes or receives a payment, the post office will send him a record of the transaction within 24 hours, plus a full statement of the account.

Working people are expected to become heavy patrons of the system because they feel so much more at home in Britain's 23,000 post offices than in its 5,000 banking outlets. Britons commonly go to the post office to make deposits in postal savings accounts and buy money orders for such things as bets in the soccer pools.

Giro is also likely to get plenty of business from corporations. Close to 60,000 companies have signed up for it so far, including Imperial Chemical Industries, Courtaulds, British Petroleum and most of the nationalized firms. Using Giro's computers, they can pay their employees through the system and use it to collect bills. Best of all, firms can cut down on paper work and accounting costs because they will get a daily statement of payments and receipts.

Gentlemanly Debts. Giro is the most advanced, fastest-working variant of a system that has been working on the Continent for a long time. It is also the latest effort in the British post office's drive to turn the venerable institution into an aggressive, profit-making enterprise. Giro Director John Grady hopes to pay for operating costs and also make a neat profit by investing the pool of money created by Giro's constant flow of deposits. He expects that the new service will attract about 1,500,000 customers and $450 million in deposits within a year.

Of course, Giro is not offering all the services of a bank, such as paying interest on deposits or making individual loans. Nor is it willing to emulate the gentlemanly tradition of British banks by honoring clients' overdrafts. If a Giro customer overdraws, his check is returned to him.

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