The story
Founded by Government of Malaysia on Dec 1, 1974.1
Early Post Office Savings Banks
Late 19th century Malaya did not have a unified central postal savings system. The Straits Settlements Post Office Savings Bank was founded on 1 January 1877 as part of the Postal Services Department in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Perak and Selangor Savings Banks were established in 1888 and 1893 respectively. In 1907, these two Banks were merged into the Federated Malay States Post Office Savings Bank (Malay: Bank Simpanan Pejabat Pos). The Unfederated Malay States however had their own Post Office Savings Banks years before the Second World War (including Johor and Kedah in 1938 and Kelantan in 1939).
When Japanese occupied Malaya, Singapore and the British Borneo Territories, postal savings systems in all states came under the Dai Nippon Post Office Savings Bank control. However, few years before the end of the second world war, the jurisdiction of the Four Malay States were briefly transferred to Thai Postal Administration.
Post War Reforms
Following the end of the Second World War and the dissolution of the Straits Settlements, the 1948 Savings Bank Ordinance came into effect and on 1 January 1949, POSB in Singapore was separated from the other post office savings banks in Malaya, with the bank's assets and liabilities split between Singapore and Malaya. However, operations of the Singapore POSB remained under the jurisdiction of the Postmaster-General of Malaya until 1966 when Singapore as a newly independent city state took full control of the bank. The Singapore chapter of POSB eventually became the POSB Bank in 1972.
Following the establishment of Malaysia in 16 September 1963, the Malayan POSB became the West Malaysia POSB. Meanwhile in Borneo, only Sarawak had a POSB which was set up in 1925. It remained a separate entity from Malaya until 1972, when the Savings Bank Ordinance was extended there, resulting in a single unified POSB for Malaysia. Sabah, on the other hand, never had Postal Savings Service until 15 May 1968, when the same Ordinance was first applied to the State.
Prior to the savings bank unification, the Sarawak POSB (under colonial rule) was governed by the Sarawak Post Office Savings Bank Ordinance 1957, while North Borneo (now Sabah) passed a legislation in 1954 to establish its own savings bank which however never went into operation.
Establishment of National Savings Bank
By the 1960s, the deposit in the Post Office Savings Banks suffered a decline due to rise of Commercial Bankings in urban areas, with an increase in annual growth rate of 5.8% in savings deposits compared to 18.1% of commercial banks. To ensure their relevance and competitiveness, the federal government (with the help of the Central Bank of Malaysia) decided to establish a new institution to replace the Post Office Savings Bank.
Following a Royal Assent of the Bank bill passed by parliament on 30 July 1974, the gazette was published on 22 August the same year.
Bank Simpanan Nasional was incorporated on 1 December 1974 under the Bank Simpanan Nasional Act 1974, effectively split the bank from the Malaysian Postal Service Department (which later corporatised as Pos Malaysia Berhad in 1992), and upon which the bank took over all assets, liabilities, and responsibilities of the former POSB, as the former Post Office Savings Bank Ordinance 1948 was simultaneously repealed. Since then, it became a federal agency and statutory board with its own board of directors and constitution and is directly responsible to the Minister of Finance on basic issues.
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On 5 December 1974, the newly established National Savings Bank was launched by then-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdul Razak Hussein at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Hall in Kuala Lumpur, with Syed Nahar as the bank's first Chairman. The bank headquarters in Kuala Lumpur began operations by leasing office spaces at the newly-built Wisma Pahlawan near Jalan Sulaiman for a period of four years.
On 7 July 1977, it became a member of the International Savings Bank Institute (now known as World Savings and Retail Banks Institute) as part of the Asia-Pacific Member Group.
To foster a consistent savings habit and promote financial inclusion across Malaysia, the BSN Premium Savings Certificate initiative (known as Sijil Simpanan Premium or BSN SSP in Malay) was launched on 1 January 1978. It combines Shariah-compliant wealth accumulation with the excitement of lucky draws, giving customers a chance to win prizes like cars, motorcycles or cash payouts. Early days Certificates were handed out in the form of a traditional paper.
In the beginning, BSN only had 13 main branches nationwide in each state capital and operations were mostly conducted in post offices until 1986, when the bank was reorganised and few branches were added to provide better services to the public in places like universities, shopping complexes or commercial areas.
To attract more depositors, it introduced automated teller machines (ATMs) in 1983, following similar moves by other financial institutions.
During this transitional period, the post office was continuing to perform its old savings collection functions, such as accepting deposits only in rural areas and savings deposits in areas where no ATM facilities existed and the use of post offices and postal vans in areas that lack access to banking services.
In 1987, it introduced Giro Service as its core product to ease transfer of money between banks.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bank Simpanan Nasional, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4