A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits. It may also perform some other functions.
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.
Nowadays, European savings banks have kept their focus on retail banking: payments, savings products, credits and insurances for individuals or small and medium-sized entreprises. Apart from this retail focus, they also differ from commercial banks by their broadly decentralised distribution network, providing local and regional outreach.
New Zealand: Savings banks ceased to exist in 1987 as an official type of bank, being replaced with registered banks (Grimes, 1998)
Soviet Union: Traditionally, the Russian term sberkassa (сберкасса, сберегательная касса) is translated as "savings bank". However sberkassas were not banks in the common sense. Initially they were the outlets of the only Soviet State Bank, Gosbank until 1987 and Sberbank (USSR Savings Bank) afterwards.
'Liberalisation of financial markets in New Zealand' Arthur Grimes, Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1998 [1] Retrieved Feb. 11, 2006.
Brunner, A., Decressin, J. / Hardy, D. / Kudela, B. (2004): Germany’s Three-Pillar Banking System – Cross-Country Perspectives in Europe, Occasional Paper, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC 2004.
