Royal Commission on Monetary and Banking Systems

Announced in the Senate on 3 October 1935 by Sir George Pearce for the Lyons government, after Labor had made bank nationalisation an issue at the 1934 election, and appointed by the Governor-General by Letters Patent dated 15 November 1935. It was to inquire into the monetary and banking systems in operation in Australia and report whether any alterations were desirable in the interests of the people as a whole. The chairman was Justice John Mellis Napier of the Supreme Court of South Australia; the members were E. V. Nixon (chartered accountant), Professor R. C. Mills (economist, University of Sydney), J. B. Chifley (former Minister for Defence), H. A. Pitt (Director of Finance, Victorian Treasury) and J. P. Abbott (president of the Graziers' Association of New South Wales). Treasurer R. G. Casey arranged Chifley's appointment.

1. 3 October 1935Commission, membership and terms of reference announced in the Senate.
2. 1936Public sittings began early in 1936; the commission examined more than 200 witnesses.
3. 24 August 1937Report tabled in the House of Representatives.

The report, dated 16 July 1937, was laid before the House of Representatives on 24 August 1937. Its thirty recommendations, including a strong central bank to regulate credit and a restructured Commonwealth Bank of Australia, became the basis of banking regulation enacted between 1939 and 1959, notably in the Commonwealth Bank and Banking Acts of 1945. Every commissioner recorded some reservations; Chifley's favoured nationalisation of banking.

• Monetary and credit policy
• Role and constitution of the Commonwealth Bank as a central bank
• Private trading and savings banks and state banks
• Finance, investment and assurance companies

Last in the portfolio of Department of the Treasury.

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