Throughout the period, the Agents' clients held funds in the UK to pay for goods purchased by the Agency and to meet salary, pension, loan interest and other commitments. The money, known as floating balances, was remitted to Britain, and also comprised the unspent proceeds of loans raised in London and the colonies, money from realized Sinking Funds that had yet to be used to repay associated loans, monies about to be invested on behalf of other Funds, unused British government aid, and, from around 1937, a portion of colonial Currency Funds. Before 1924, each colony's floating balances were invested separately for very short periods. Sums likely to be required immediately were placed in the Agents' Bank of England current account. Because this paid no interest, as little as possible was deposited here, and, to ensure this was the case, the anticipated cash requirements of each colony were studied on a daily basis.

Depending on when they would be needed, the remaining balances were either deposited at call or for fixed periods, advanced to other colonies, or used to buy UK Treasury bills or securities with slightly longer maturities, such as National Bonds. Money deposited at call was usually entrusted to the Westminster Bank, which, ‘jealous of their position [as] … the CAs bankers’, paid interest ¼ per cent above the normal deposit rate. Fixed deposits, on the other hand, were lodged with a number of banks and also with discount houses.