The National Savings Bank Regulations 1972

Procedure on withdrawals

21.—(1) Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, application for withdrawal of money deposited shall be made in writing in the approved form requesting that payment be made either by an uncrossed warrant payable in cash drawn in favour of the depositor or of the person entitled to make such application, or by a crossed warrant payable only through a bank drawn in favour of the depositor, or of such person as aforesaid, or of a third party named in the application:

Provided that the Director of Savings may in his discretion—

(a) limit the number of crossed warrants which may be issued to or under the direction of the same depositor in any calendar year; or

(b) refuse to issue a crossed warrant where the sum to be withdrawn is less than a specified amount fixed for this purpose by the Director of Savings.

(2) If the issue of a crossed warrant is requested, the application shall be accompanied by the deposit book.

(3) Where an application for the withdrawal of deposits is made by more than one person, the applicants may request that the sum to be withdrawn should be paid to any one or more of them to the exclusion of the others, and an application for the withdrawal of the deposits of a society or body corporate may contain a request that the sum to be withdrawn should be paid to any officer of the society or body corporate or, where the society is a branch, to any officer of the central body or of any other branch, although such officer is not one of the applicants.

(4) Subject to Regulations 22, 23 and 24 below, and except where the Director of Savings otherwise directs, every payment made by him shall be made by a warrant, and accordingly every application for withdrawal of deposits shall be treated as implying an authority to him to issue a warrant for the amount to be withdrawn and to pay it in accordance with the terms of the warrant, and the death of the person who made the application for withdrawal shall not of itself determine such authority; but if the Director of Savings receives notice that the applicant has died or has countermanded such authority, the Director of Savings shall not issue the warrant or, if it has already been issued, shall take all reasonable steps to stop payment thereof.

(5) The provisions of section 76, sub-sections (1), (3), (4) and (5) and, so far as it relates to crossed cheques, sub-section (6) of section 77, and sections 78, 79, 80 and 81 of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 (which relate to crossed cheques) and of sections 3 and 4 of the Cheques Act 1957 (which relate to unindorsed cheques as evidence of payment and to the protection of collecting bankers) shall apply to any crossed warrant issued under these Regulations as if the warrant were a cheque drawn on the Director of Savings by the officer issuing the warrant, but nothing in these Regulations shall make any such warrant negotiable.

(6) An uncrossed warrant shall not be paid until the receipt for the amount thereby payable has been duly signed by the payee or by some person authorised by the payee to receive payment:

Provided that, where such a warrant is paid to a person purporting to be the payee or to be a person authorised by the payee to receive payment, then, notwithstanding that the receipt on the warrant was signed by some person being neither the payee nor a person so authorised, the making of the payment shall be a full discharge to the Director of Savings for the amount thereof, if it is shown that the payment was made in good faith and without negligence, and that the making of the payment is attributable to some act or omission on the part of the depositor or on the part of the payee or the person so authorised.

(7) An uncrossed warrant shall be payable, on presentation with the relative deposit book, at the place named in the warrant or otherwise in accordance with the directions contained therein, and a crossed warrant shall be payable at the office in London of the Director of Savings or at such other place as he may direct.

(8) The amount of every withdrawal shall be entered in the deposit book by the person making the payment and the entry shall be attested by that person.

(9) The posting of a letter containing a warrant issued under these Regulations addressed to any person at the last address furnished by him to the Director of Savings shall, as regards the liability of the Director of Savings, be equivalent to the delivery of the warrant to the person to whom the letter was addressed.

(10) If the Director of Savings considers it expedient so to do, he may at his discretion vary the procedure on withdrawal and the method of payment authorised by these Regulations and dispense with all or any of the requirements therein contained, and may effect payment in such manner as he may think fit.