POSB had its roots in the Post Office Savings Bank under the Postal Services Department which was established by the British colonial government in 1877. The British aimed to encourage ordinary workers to save and provide for themselves against ill health and adversity. By 1951, the bank had 100,000 depositors but fell into slow decline after reaching its peak in 1955. It was after Singapore’s independence when then Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee rediscovered the potential of POSB in fostering a savings culture in the fledgling nation. The national bank also provided him the chance to mobilise those savings to pay for national infrastructure projects. He created a committee to come up with a plan to revitalise POSB and by the end of 1968, the declining trend in deposits was reversed. In 1972, the bank was made a statutory board under the Finance Ministry.
