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 Martins Bank Information Department is a kind of
‘Points of View’ - its purpose being to inform customers about products and
services, and deal with all manner of queries compliments and complaints from
both customers and staff. As a centralised department it is unique within the
bank, its full title being Head Office Economic Information Department. When
compared with modern banking organisations, the Information Department does
the work of several departments at once – control of advertising, customer
service, press liaison and unintentionally a staff information point. Our
Staff Gallery below includes staff who work in each of these disciplines.
Despite having been in existence since 1959, it is clear even four years
later that for many staff the department remains a bit of a curiosity. So, in
the Spring of 1963, in an attempt to ‘lift the veil’, Martins Bank Magazine
produces the following article which attempts to describe the remit and the
varied work undertaken by Information Department…
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WHY NOT ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES
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Left to right: H. H. I. Easterling, Mr. R.
I. H. Lloyd-Jones (Manager), D. H. Gilroy, Miss A. V. Butler-Wright,
Miss P. A. Boughton. Standing on the right
is J. P. Smith, B.A. (Oxon.), who is temporarily attached
to the department from our graduate training
scheme, for special duties.
At your service …
INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
 When, in October
1959, the new Information Department opened at Head Office under the
management of Mr. R. I. H. Lloyd-Jones, we said of his new job that it would
be watched with more than a little curiosity. To many of us this must still
be a mystery department for it has no 'offshoots' in the big centres or
District Offices: it is in fact unique. Its terms of reference are,
officially, to provide a comprehensive service for customers in answering
queries on all commercial, industrial, economic and financial matters both in
this country and overseas. Those who have experienced the quality of the
work produced will know how well these objectives are being achieved. A visit
to the Department gives one some idea of the material available, from the
market price of rice in Hongkong, the tax structure in France, the principal
colleges and universities in Argentina to details of areas in England and
Wales where businesses might be set up, openings for exporters anywhere in
the world, and the economic health of industry at home and abroad. There is
even a large file on Decimal Currency. One of the biggest tasks is to keep
information up to date and Mr. Lloyd-Jones and his staff quickly realised
that the greatest value of the Department lies not so much in trying to know
everything about everything but in knowing where to turn to find out
anything, and it has been truly said that an Intelligence Department rests
behind the forehead of its Principal. Clearly, there must be very close
contact with our Overseas branches and sources of information which even
include Embassies. There are four main kinds of enquiry: the first, which
requires a quick answer, may be, for example: 'What is the value of the £ now compared with 1908?', but not all queries can be met so
readily. The second type of enquiry is that
which involves delving for basic facts and the answer probably gives no clue
to the amount of delving done.
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Martins Drive-in Bank is opened in 1959 by the
then Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, The Rt Hon Harold A
Watkinson P.C. M.P. The new service receives a great deal of attention in
the press.
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Martins’ Information Department produces this
detailed leaflet to help customers understand the concept of, and of course
use, the DRIVE-IN BANK .
Thirdly come the 'trade enquiries'—requests to put buyers and sellers in touch either in this country
or overseas, and last, but by no means least, are the full scale researches
into some aspect of economics or marketing. These are invariably produced
specifically to suit the circumstances of individual customers and are thus
of greater value to them than reports produced periodically for general
circulation. The results may well cover tariffs, trade procedure, possible
projects, agriculture, emigration, living costs, development areas, licensing
monopolies, tax structure and social services.
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“Starting a Business in Britain” – Information Department 1968 and
“The world is Your market” - published throughout the 1960s
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Pocket guides to European travel destinations with handy reckoners
for exchange rates and metric measures
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The writing and annual revision of such publications as 'The
World is Your Market', and, more recently, 'Finance for Farmers and
Growers', are the responsibility of this Department as will be future
publications and, from May 1st, the overall responsibility for
advertising. The production of the
various publicity brochures and leaflets is, however, the responsibility
of the Advertising Department. Mr. Lloyd-Jones is a graduate of Magdalene
College, Cambridge, and joined us in 1951. Prior to forming his new
Department, much of his work involved visits abroad and research. He
attended the International Summer School at Oxford in 1961 and also spent
some time in various specialised departments in Head Office and the
Liverpool District.
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This pocket guide has
been specially prepared for customers of
British Eagle Airways
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Mr. H. H. I. Easterling, his second-in-command, is also a
Cambridge graduate who entered the Bank in London in 1953 and joined the
Department in 1961. Mr. D. H. Gilroy,
much of whose time is now spent on preparing new publications, entered the
Bank in Liverpool City Office in 1949. His experience has been entirely in
Liverpool branches, including Overseas branch, and he joined Information
Department from Chief Accountant's Department in 1961. He is well known for his
work for the Operatic Society with which he played several leading roles
before assuming the conductor's baton in 1959, a post he has relinquished
only this season. He is also an accomplished pianist. Although Miss A. V. Butler-Wright has been
with us only a year, her previous secretarial experience coupled with her
active mind make her a very useful member of the Department as also is Miss
P. A. Boughton who joined the Department in 1959 after a varied school life
which, her father being an Army officer, included eighteen months in
Hongkong. In a department such as this there must surely sometimes be
frustrations when there is little to show for all the work done but it is to
the credit of Mr. Lloyd-Jones that nobody looked frustrated, nor did they
give the impression that they could be.
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