Savings bank

A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits and paying interest on those deposits.

They originated in Europe during the 18th century with the aim of providing access to savings products to all levels in the population. Often associated with social good these early banks were often designed to encourage low income people to save money and have access to banking services. They were set up by governments or by or socially committed groups or organisations such as with credit unions. The structure and legislation took many different forms in different countries over the 20th century.

The advent of internet banking at the end of the 20th century saw a new phase in savings banks with the online savings bank that paid higher levels of interest in return for clients only having access over the web.

History

In Europe, savings banks originated in the 19th or sometimes even the 18th century. Their original objective was to provide easily accessible savings products to all strata of the population. In some countries, savings banks were created on public initiative, while in others, socially committed individuals created foundations to put in place the necessary infrastructure.

Savings bank (Spain)

In Spain, a savings bank (Spanish: caja de ahorros or informally just caja, Catalan: caixa d'estalvis, Galician: caixa de aforros, informally 'caixa', Basque: aurrezki kutxa) is a financial institution which specializes in accepting savings deposits and granting loans. Their original aim was to create the habit of thrift amongst the very poor but they have evolved to compete with and rival commercial banks.

Their trade association is the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorro or CECA).

Emergence and growth

European countries which adopted the Scottish savings bank model early on were those in which traditional Protestant values of self-help and the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Malthus were particularly influential. Such was not the case in Portugal and Spain where savings banks started rather late (1836 and 1839, respectively) and followed the French model (established in 1818).

Regulation introduced in 1835 was the first to authorise the establishment of savings banks in Spain. This piece of legislation allowed the establishment of independent non-profit-orientated institutions which had to be financed by own resources. However, it was not clear how individual institutions would access these resources although there were loose references to the expectation that capital would be raised as the well-off supplied financial resources as charitable donations.