|
In Spain, a savings bank ((スペイン語:caja de ahorros) or informally just ''caja'', (カタルーニャ語、バレンシア語:caixa d'estalvis), (ガリシア語:caixa de aforros), informally caixa, (バスク語: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. The Spanish government clearly displayed a preference for initial investment to come from the private sector while individual institutions would provide for some form of guarantee to secure funds held in deposit. Financially, however, the model of 1835 was very weak. Hence, in 1839 a new piece of legislation introduced the "French model" where individual savings banks were linked with a "Mount of Piety". Unlike the Scottish savings banks, French-style savings banks created an initial fund to cover set-up costs and unexpected losses through donations and setting up a charity. After this the banks became autonomous with a governing board of six to 20 principals (working pro bono) holding responsibility for the strategic direction and overall affairs of the banks. Both in Portugal and Spain the most common source of the set-up fund was the local Mount of Piety. These Mounts of Piety (a literal translation from "Montes de Piedad") were early modern charitable institutions where advances were made against some kind of collateral in pawn (usually, jewellery or clothes). Consequently, Spanish savings banks would accept low-value and low-volume savings in deposit and, in turn, place these funds in the ‘Mounts of Piety’ in order to make small loans to the more underprivileged classes. Like their counterparts in Scotland and France, Spanish savings banks briefly placed excess deposits at a government owned institution (Caja General de Consignaciones, 1852–1868). This portfolio strategy was part of a change in government policy looking for greater intervention in the business of Spanish savings banks as well as providing financial aid to the recently created Caja de Dépositos y Consignaciones. However, the change in strategy was short lived due to the poor quality of government bonds in the 19th century. Instead, Spanish savings banks increasingly used deposits exclusively to finance the activities of the ‘Mount of Piety’. A turning point in the history of Spanish savings banks came after the restoration of the monarchy in 1874. Until then regulation and government policy around savings banks had closely followed the interventionist "French model". As was the case in Britain, this approach limited the operations of savings banks. Legislation introduced in 1880, opened the way for the growth of Spanish savings banks. The Act of 1880 had clear objectives for the running of savings banks. At the same time, there were a number of areas which lacked precision in the new introduced regulation. However, it was the lack of precision in a number of areas which was to allow the growth and development of savings banks in Spain. In particular, freedom (i.e. lack of detailed regulation) regarding investment policies resulted in diversification and growth of assets at a greater rate than counterparts elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, from the time the Act of 1880 was published until the end of the 19th century, the number of entities doubled from 26 in 1880 to 66 in 1905, while the sum of cash and assets held as deposit increased by four percent from 12 per cent of total savings in Spain in 1880 to 16 percent in 1905. Alongside the savings banks, in 1890 and following German ideas to promote agriculture, co-operative banks ("caja rurales") emerged in rural areas. Most of these banks were established in the countryside under the auspices of the syndicalist, co-operativist movements and the Catholic church. However, these intermediaries grew in size until after 1920. Their impact, number, and asset size were always dwarfed when compared with the achievements of the savings banks and as a result, the "cajas rurales" were eventually absorbed by the savings banks. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Savings bank (Spain)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|