Indeed, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher opened the first savings account. Initially, the functions were limited to commercial ones. Over many years, the Commonwealth Bank slowly acquired central banking functions. As with many central banks, war financing brought the Bank to prominence in the 1914–18 conflict. The note issue, initially a function of the Treasury, was transferred to the Bank in the 1920s.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, further legislative attempts were made to strengthen the Commonwealth’s role as central bank. At least one Federal Treasurer (Theodore) made the case for a pure “central reserve bank”. But major progress was not made until an inquiry after the Great Depression outlined the intellectual foundations for the conduct of the modern central bank.