The day-to-day affairs were to be guided by a trio of honorary secretaries made up of the actuaries of the Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool savings banks.
But for a long time it remained ineffective in persuading hundreds of small savings banks to speak and act as a single body.
By the 1930s the association under Spencer Portal was already successful in putting forward a common view to parliamentary committees and the Treasury to support the progress of the savings banks.
Notable achievements included lifting limits on deposits introduced in 1915 as well as major reforms such as those of around the Act of Parliament of 1929, 1965 and 1975.
[1] In 1975, Freddie Miller, the then president secretary-general, became deputy chief executive of the newly created TSB Central Board, working under Tom Bryans.