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99-664: The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and in all of Europe. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks that are known in German as Sparkasse , plural Sparkassen . Its activity is overwhelmingly located in Germany. The Ersparungsclasse der Allgemeinen Versorgungsanstalt , established in Hamburg in 1778,

198-452: A local government and a public-sector institution ( German : Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts  [ de ] ), i.e. the Sparkasse . Examples of such local govern entities are municipality ( German : Gemeinde ), union of municipalities ( Gemeindeverband ) or district ( German : Kreis, Landkreis, kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis )). Träger implies a form of control that

297-402: A city or a county ( German : Kreis ), while the remaining 10 percent were either private or belonged to an association. Throughout the 19th century, the services that Sparkassen could provide had been strictly restricted, but these restrictions were loosened as joint-stock banks, starting with Deutsche Bank, started competing for the collection of retail savings. In 1909, new legislation allowed

396-696: A delay of nearly five months from the IPS's intervention decision to the agreement on basic principles ( German : Grundlagenvereibarung ) for NordLB's recapitalization. A revision of the IPS statutes ( German : Satzung ) in early 2024 led credit rating agency Moody's to upgrade its ratings of IPS members and specifically of the Landesbanks, noting: "The revised statutes result in a more rule-based IPS that implements an early intervention system with clearly identified triggers and timely escalation of decision-making steps as well as increased ex-ante funds over time, which, in

495-536: A district. As banks under public law, the vast majority of Sparkassen have a public mandate which requires that they serve their local stakeholders and local communities. Five institutions known as "free Sparkassen" ( German : freie Sparkassen ) are or recently were joint-stock companies. They are: Bordesholmer Sparkasse  [ de ] , Sparkasse Bremen  [ de ] , Hamburger Sparkasse , Sparkasse zu Lübeck , and Sparkasse Mittelholstein . Their Träger are charitable foundations. They are members of

594-520: A high degree of government ownership of banks facilitates faster growth than little government ownership. Mark A. Calabria of the Cato Institute cites the corruption of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as evidence of public sector finance's mismanagement. Calabria also argues that the Bank of North Dakota's success is exaggerated and that public-sector banking decreases economic growth. He concludes, "When

693-454: A mere 608 million Reichsmarks at end-1924. In 1934, all savings banks were designated as credit institutions under new banking legislation following the crisis of 1931 . The savings banks group, designated from 1935 as Wirtschaftsgruppe Sparkassen , again participated in war financing before and during World War II . The savings banks in East Germany were nationalized and separated from

792-496: A network of over 15,600 branches and offices and employ over 250,000 people. Savings banks are universal banks and provide the whole spectrum of banking services for private and commercial medium-sized customers. 50 million customers maintain business activities with savings banks. Although independent and regionally spread, the savings banks act as one unit under the brand Sparkasse with its iconic logo and recognizable red hue. The size of savings banks differs widely depending on

891-471: A new loan creates money, the repayment of bank loans destroys money." David Korten and others from the New Economy Working Group argue that the power to create and allocate money ought to be decentralized and democratized by making such power reside in community banks. Svetlana Andrianova, Pancios Demetriades, and Anja Shortland use data from several countries for 1995-2007 and conclude that

990-551: A personal account in a Sparkassen bank, and they provide loans for small businesses and home buyers. Sparkasse executive vice president Wolfram Morales has pointed out that public banks played a major role in Germany's transition from centralized fossil fuel energy to diverse renewables, and that Germany's Sparkassen banks have been significant contributors to the renewables transition. Finance writer Frances Coppola argues that Germany's Landesbanken are in various stages of "zombification," inefficient and poorly profitable, following

1089-440: A public bank has no shareholders to pay, and so can pass the low rates onto borrowers such as public agencies, local businesses, residents, and students. At the same time because much of a public bank's funding comes from state deposits that would otherwise earn more from a private bank, there is a hidden subsidy that acts as a transfer from taxpayers to borrowers. Public banks can also partner with (underwriting or guaranteeing

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1188-459: A public bank in San Francisco, with an estimated appropriation required to for the bank to break even between $ 184 million and $ 3.9 billion, but highlights "[i]t is important to note that the length of time a model projects for annual bank breakeven depends on a variety of factors such as expenses, revenue, and growth rates. Adjusting any of these levers can shorten or lengthen the time it takes for

1287-401: A regular payment schedule to prevent inflation and ensure adherence with English sterling. The low taxes resulting from these public finance mechanisms were partly responsible for the rapid economic expansion of the colonies. The Bank of Pennsylvania , chartered in 1793, allowed the state to use its dividends to finance government expenses without any direct taxes for the next 40 years. In

1386-469: A row. Yolanda K. Kodrzycki and Tal Elmatad of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 's New England Public Policy Center argued in a report in 2011 that North Dakota's model was inapplicable to Massachusetts, which has a much larger population and more complex lending needs. They argue that the costs of starting up a state-owned bank "could be significant," requiring "funds roughly equal to one-fifth of

1485-483: A system existed in the United States from 1911 to 1967. In the ancient world, prior to the emergence of price-adjusting markets , temples provided and oversaw weights and measures critical to exchange. The expanded legal regime of Mesopotamia included price administration and fixed interest rates set by public custom, such as one shekel per mina , a rate which stayed stable for a thousand years. Most prominent in

1584-463: A variety of models. A public bank might be capitalized through an initial investment by the city or state, as well as through tax and fee revenue. A public bank, like a private bank, can take tax revenues and other government income as deposits, create money in the form of bank credit, and lend at very low interest rates. Where private banks are committed by their business model to take advantage of low interest rates by charging higher rates to borrowers,

1683-470: Is a chartered depository bank in which public funds are deposited. A Public Bank is owned by a government unit—a state, county, city, or tribe—and mandated to serve a public mission that reflects the values and needs of the public that it represents." According to Ellen Brown , public ownership of a bank is distinct from state-socialism in that the latter is government ownership of the means of production, whereas public banking involves government oversight of

1782-414: Is associated with slower subsequent development of the financial system, lower economic growth, and, in particular, lower growth of productivity." Public banks (Government Shareholding %, as at end-June 2021) Gemeindeverband Gemeindeverband ( German: [ɡəˈmaɪ̯ndəfɛɐ̯ˌbant] ) is a union of at least two municipalities ( German : Gemeinde ) in Germany to form

1881-462: Is in place). They also act as auditors and operate regional savings bank academies for educational and training purposes. They are, from north to south: In addition, a dedicated association, the Verband der Freien Sparkassen  [ de ] (VFS), exists for Sparkassen that are (or recently were) joint-stock companies. The latter are members of both the respective regional Sparkassenverband and

1980-407: Is itself depleted in which case it is in turn supported by the other regional sub-funds on a proportional basis ("supra-regional equalization") and, if further needed, also by the two national sub-funds ("system-wide equalization"). The exact formula for such equalization, however, has not been made clear in the public domain, and the protection is in no way automatic but instead relies on voting within

2079-515: Is likely to encounter such obstacles. Newness has been California's stock in trade since its founding, and when accompanied by talent and judgment, innovation has produced many of the state's signature enterprises." In March 2019, the San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector published a 151-page feasibility study for a public bank. The study analyzed three approaches to start

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2178-515: Is not legally considered ownership, but it is functionally similar to ownership. This is because Sparkasse is an independent public entity, but the Träger holds governance rights that resemble ownership. As a result, most Sparkassen are overseen by locally elected politicians. The Träger position (German: Trägerschaft ) cannot be sold, and it does not grant rights to the Sparkasse's financial surplus, which

2277-542: Is specific to each of the states of Germany ( German : Länder ) except Hamburg , which has no SpkG. The states of Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein have less restrictive legislation on the Regional Principle than the other German Länder , linked to the fact that, as in Hamburg, they have Sparkassen under the legal-form of joint-stock companies ( Aktiengesellschaft ) as opposed to public-sector entities. In late 2020,

2376-647: Is the central asset manager of the German Savings Bank Finance Group. Based in Frankfurt and Berlin it provides asset management and other services for the Sparkassen and Landesbanks. It resulted in 1999 from the merger of Deutsche Girozentrale (DGZ), established in 1918 as a national hub for the savings banks' regional giro associations, and Deka (Deutsche Kapitalanlagegesellschaft), an investment company established in 1956. Until 8 June 2011, DekaBank

2475-530: Is typically retained or used for local public welfare projects. Until the early 21st century, the Träger also provided explicit financial guarantees to the institutions they controlled, but these guarantees were mostly phased out under an agreement concluded on 17 July 2001 between a group of German negotiators and the European Commission represented by Competition Commissioner Mario Monti , known in German as

2574-522: Is widely viewed as the first modern savings bank . Other accounts emphasize the significance of the savings bank of Göttingen , founded in 1801, which was the first established with a municipal guarantor whereas earlier foundations had been initiated by merchants, clerics or academics (Hamburg later created its own municipal savings banks in 1827). In 1838, the Kingdom of Prussia adopted the first savings banks legislation ( Sparkassenreglement ), which unified

2673-569: The Bank of England have explained that, rather than banks receiving and then loaning deposits specifically, banks loan money, creating matching deposits in borrowers' bank accounts, thus creating "new money." Western Michigan University political scientist Susan Hoffmann, author of Politics and Banking , opens that book by declaring that Congress has historically struggled with the reality that banks create money and that money itself arises "in an institutionalized decision process." This became apparent to

2772-617: The Basel city council stated that "our municipal bank is being founded to benefit the public good." The Bank of Hamburg (1619) was a public bank based on the Amsterdam model but with an expanded credit role and a grain store for the city. Currency-issuing public banks later appeared in Sweden, England, France, Vienna, and Prussia. According to OECD studies, the German public banking system controls 40% of total banking assets in Germany. According to

2871-623: The Brüsseler Konkordanz  [ de ] . The Regional Principle ( German : Regionalprinzip  [ de ] ) stipulates that entities of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe such as Sparkassen or public insurers have a local monopoly within the group within the geographical area in which they are established, namely the territory of their Träger . It is established in the Sparkassen legislation ( German : Sparkassengesetz  [ de ] , German acronym SpkG) which

2970-663: The DSGV , and FIDES Beta and Delta are trustees for the sub-fund of the Landesbanken in the IPS. Landesbank Berlin (LBB) does not belong in the same category as it was converted into a joint-stock company ( German : Aktiengesellschaft ) in 2007, when the DSGV rescued it and took full ownership through two of its legal entities, Erwerbsgesellschaft der S-Finanzgruppe mbH & Co. KG (owning 89.37 percent) and Beteiligungsgesellschaft der S-Finanzgruppe mbH & Co. KG (owning 10,63 percent). The nine public insurers that belong to

3069-661: The Deutsche Girozentrale (DGZ). Also during World War I , the Imperial German government leveraged the network of Sparkassen to place war bonds, marking the beginning of their activity in the securities space. In 1921, further legislative changes enabled them to underwrite and sell securities more broadly, thus allowing them to act practically as universal banks. The Sparkassen, however, were severely impacted by hyperinflation : their deposit base shrunk from nearly 32 billion marks in late 1918 (up from 19 billion in 1913) to

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3168-431: The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis , Chari and Phelan, refer to the process of fractional reserve banking as "private money creation." Some scholars and authors disagree with the argument that banks create money by lending it. Austrian School economists, for example, emphasize that only one party at a time can have a legitimate claim on the same unit of deposit. Those who deny that banks create money may argue that

3267-480: The Potsdam -based Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse  [ de ] ; and two specialized arms of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, S-Kreditpartner  [ de ] (car loans and consumer credit) and S Broker  [ de ] (securities brokerage). Hamburg Commercial Bank left it by end-2021. Each of the regional sub-funds absorbs losses as needed to preventively support a member entity in need, unless it

3366-620: The Taula de Canvi (established 1401 in Barcelona), designed to draw deposits away from private banks and finance short-term debt; the first and second Banco di San Giorgio (1408 and 1530), with mission statements reflecting goals of extinguishing public debt and steering banking practices to the public good; the Banco della Piazza di Rialto, Venice (1587) to pay public debts; and the Banch de la Ciutat (1609), allowing

3465-456: The "main bank" of the respective Länder . They are also local banks, mortgage banks and general commercial banks. Their duties and powers are codified in the individual banking laws of the Länder ( Landesbankengesetze ). The specific tasks for the savings banks include central clearing for cashless payments and liquidity funding for the regional savings banks . They also provide many services for

3564-454: The 14th century, Mons Pietatis ( Mount of Piety ) were charitable institutions of credit that lent money at low- or no-interest, upon the security of objects left in pawn, with the stated aim of protecting clients from usury. Profits were used to pay employees and extend the scope of their charitable work. The institutions took the form of either autonomous entities or municipal corporations. Periodically, net profits from interest were applied to

3663-729: The 1950s. The leading public figure of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe at the national level is the President of the DSGV, also known as the Sparkassenpräsident . Public bank Public or 'state-owned' banks proliferated globally in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as vital agents of industrialisation in capitalist and socialist countries alike; as late as 2012, state banks still owned and controlled up to 25 per cent of total global banking assets. Proponents of public banking argue that policymakers can create public-sector banks to reduce

3762-806: The 1970s when the New York State Assembly filed legislation to establish a state-owned bank but was opposed by the New York Chamber of Commerce and the New York Stock Exchange . In 2016 and 2017, several candidates nationwide ran on public banking platforms, with some, like New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy , achieving victory. A renewed interest in municipal public banks has driven movements in Los Angeles , Oakland , Seattle , Santa Fe , San Francisco , and other cities. Meanwhile, states' moves towards cannabis legalization , because of

3861-533: The 19th century and was instrumental to agrarian populist revolt. In response to price manipulation and market domination from Minneapolis and Chicago , the NPL advocated state control of mills, grain elevators, banks and other farm-related industries. Initially, the Bank of North Dakota struggled for legitimacy. Minnesota and east coast banks made considerable efforts to undermine the BND. In 1931 and 1932, delinquencies on

3960-486: The 24 existing states. In many instances, legislatures made policy decisions about the types of loans and credits these banks were to provide. Some of these state-run institutions duplicated the success of colonial assembly land banks in meeting government expenses. For example, the Georgia Central Bank covered all the state's expenses from 1828 to 1842. Concerning the various state-owned or state-involved banks in

4059-573: The American Prospect highlighted the success of the Bank of North Dakota and the 250-year old German public banking system in the growing support for a public bank in Los Angeles, stating "No serious look at L.A.'s housing supply or its small-business climate would give anyone the impression that our existing mega-banks are interested in making the city great again. That will require a dedicated commitment to local investment... Any new public enterprise

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4158-462: The Association of German Public Banks (VOB), the total assets of public banks in Germany at the end of 2016 was 2,900 billion euros, and German public banks have 75,000 employees. The Landesbanken in Germany are a group of state-owned banks primarily engaging in wholesale banking. Sparkassen are public savings banks operated with a mandate of public service and local development. Anyone can open

4257-591: The Counties of Alameda and Santa Cruz, and the City and County of San Francisco. In 2018, the Los Angeles City Council introduced Measure B, a ballot measure to allow Los Angeles to form a municipal bank. The Measure B campaign was led by Public Bank LA, a volunteer organization advocating for a Los Angeles municipal bank. With only four months to organize and limited funding, Measure B was able to gain 44 percent of

4356-631: The German activities of its group entities, in line with the disclosure requirement for IPSs enshrined in Article 113(7)(e) of the EU Capital Requirements Regulation . Specifically, the scope of aggregation in 2021 (report on the financial year 2020) included all Savings Banks , Landesbanken, Landesbausparkassen, as well as Hamburg Commercial Bank since it was still affiliated with the Institution Protection Scheme. Neither

4455-455: The John F. Kennedy School of Government Department of Economics at Harvard University, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, and Andrei Shleifer noted in a 2000 paper that government ownership of banks is pervasive around the world and in particular countries with low levels of per capital income and underdeveloped financial systems. The researchers wrote "that higher government ownership of banks

4554-538: The Landesbanken and Sparkassen have supplied local economies in Germany with liquidity when private banks stopped lending and instead engaged in risky behaviors, behaviors which helped cause the 2008 global economic downturn. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was established by the Commonwealth Bank Act and opened in 1911. Prior to privatization (the bank became fully privatized in 1996), the bank could issue

4653-562: The Landesbausparkassen are diverse, even though all involve one or several regional associations ( Sparkassenverbände ). Some, like LBS Ost and Bausparkasse Schleswig-Holstein-Hamburg, are joint-stock companies, while others are public-sector entities. Bausparkasse Schleswig-Holstein-Hamburg is owned by the Sparkassenverband (57.5%) and Hamburger Sparkasse (42.5%). LBS Nord is owned by NordLB (44%), Landesbank Berlin (12%) and

4752-619: The Lower Saxon Sparkassenverband (44%). Landesbausparkasse Hessen-Thüringen is majority-owned (68.85%) by the regional Sparkassenverband but also has stakes from the two Länder of Hesse and Thuringia as well as from the two Sparkassenverbände of North Rhine-Westphalia and two legal entities of the Finanzgruppe, FIDES Alpha and FIDES Beta. Landesbausparkasse Saar is owned by the Land (74.9%) and the Sparkassenverband (25.1%) of Saarland. For

4851-553: The Sparkassen to offer checking and related payment accounts. This change fostered the creation of regional public entities that cleared payments between different Sparkassen, known as Girozentralen . The first Girozentrale was established in 1909 in Saxony , soon followed by those for Bavaria (1914), the Rhineland (1914), Thuringia (1915), Silesia (1916), and from 1916, the national Deutscher Zentral-Giroverband which in 1918 became

4950-553: The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe are complex, in line with its largely decentralized structure that mirrors its long history. The core feature of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is a set of mutual support arrangements known as an Institutional Protection Scheme (IPS) in EU law, namely the Capital Requirements Regulation . The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe IPS is complex and its contractual details are not made public. It started in 1969 with

5049-501: The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe are: The core business of the eight Landesbausparkassen  [ de ] ("Land-level building savings banks") is collective real estate saving products ( Bausparen ) and low-interest residential mortgage loans, with a share of the German mortgage market of about one-third and cumulative assets of €74.5 billion.. As of 2022 they were, from north to south: The first Landesbausparkassen were established in 1929. The corporate forms and ownership structures of

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5148-553: The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe have no external auditors but are audited instead by audit entities of the group itself. Some group-level entities such as DekaBank , however, publish externally audited financial statements. The S-shaped logo of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is one of Germany's most recognizable brand images. It was introduced in 1938 and given its present form, with the trademark red color, in 1972 by designer Otl Aicher . Erste Bank in Austria also uses said logo under license since

5247-487: The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe included 520 member entities, as described in its 2021 Annual Report: The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV, self-translated as "German Savings Banks Association") is a nonprofit association, based in Berlin and founded in 1924. It operates as an umbrella organization to facilitate decision-making processes, coordinate strategy, and represent its members' political and regulatory interests at

5346-655: The Sparkassenverbände and other managers of the relevant sub-funds. The corresponding uncertainty has generated concerns from the supervisors at the European Central Bank and BaFin and partial reform of the IPS adopted by the DSGV in August 2021. A new national protection fund is to be set up with 2.6 billion euro to be paid in by the Sparkassen and Landesbanken between 2025 and 2032, which is expected to allow for faster intervention in future cases of need, complementing

5445-434: The United States during the first half of the 19th century, Susan Hoffmann writes: Between the two extremes of mostly private commercial banks and almost entirely public state central banks there existed just about every arrangement imaginable. The state shared in ownership of some banks but not in governance (beyond specifying the banks' constitutions). When the state was involved in a bank's governance, its representation on

5544-538: The VFS, as is Sparkasse Westholstein  [ de ] despite its current public-sector legal status. Fulfilling public interests is still one of the most significant characteristics of public banks in general and the savings banks in particular. Although public interest is very unspecific, objects of those companies are usually: The total assets of the Sparkassen amount to about €1 trillion. The 431 savings banks operate

5643-412: The VFS. The Sparkassen work as commercial banks in a decentralized structure. Each savings bank is independent, locally managed and concentrates its business activities on customers in the territory in which it is situated under the Regional Principle. In general, Sparkassen are not profit oriented. The Träger of the savings banks are usually single municipalities or several municipalities within

5742-613: The Vermont State Bank, and the Bank of Kentucky (which was later replaced by the equally public Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky ). These banks, like the Bank of North Dakota later, were owned entirely by the state, governed by legislatively-appointed officials, and banked on the credit of the state. The Bank of North Dakota (BND) is a state-owned and state-run financial institution, based in Bismarck, North Dakota . Under state law,

5841-521: The bank is the State of North Dakota doing business as the Bank of North Dakota. The state and its agencies are required to place their funds in the bank. The Bank of North Dakota was established by revolutionary populists in the Non-Partisan League , or NPL, whose platform was "public ownership of economic infrastructure." Limited access to credit exacerbated farmers' crises in the latter years of

5940-411: The bank model to break even for the year for the first time. The New York public banking act, or S5565C, was introduced by NY State Senator James Sanders Jr. in 2019. The act would allow public banks to exist, clarify how they would run, and require them to incorporate as a benefit corporation . Interest , or payment from a borrower or deposit-taking institution to a lender or depositor, increases

6039-505: The bank's debts were sixty six percent of the total due. Today, the BND plays an integral role in North Dakota's economic development. Its mission is to "promote agriculture, commerce, and industry" and "be helpful to and assist in the development of... financial institutions... within the State." Half of its loan portfolio is business and agricultural loans originated by community banks, with partial funding by BND. This allows BND to expand

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6138-410: The belief that banks are mainly intermediaries between savers and borrowers is false. Rather, the capacity to lend at a rate not strictly tied to a bank's deposits is, for Hockett, a reason for the function of banking to be a public utility instead of a strictly private enterprise. Banks hold less in reserve than their deposit liabilities, but those deposit liabilities are also functionally money. Thus,

6237-445: The board of directors ranged from minimal to a majority plus public selection of the president. The capital of state banks consisted of various combinations of specie, mortgages on land and slaves, and bonds issued by the chartering state, other states, or the United States. Banks were authorized to provide different proportions of commercial versus real estate and agricultural loans. At least two state banks were entirely publicly owned:

6336-769: The complications in cannabis-related banking deposits and financial transactions, has led to calls for state- and city-owned banks to serve cannabis businesses, culminating in the California State Senate 's passage of a bill in 2018 to create such banks. The bill was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 2, 2019. The California state legislature approved AB 857 (the Public Banking Act) on September 13, 2019. On October 2, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 857 into law. AB 857 allows local governments to start their own public bank - specifically, to "authorize

6435-401: The costs of government services and infrastructure ; protect and aid local banks; offer banking services to people and entities underserved by private-sector banking; and promote particular kinds of economic development reflecting polities' shared notions of social good. The 2015 Addis Ababa Financing for Development Action Agenda noted that public banks should have an important role in achieving

6534-477: The credit and debit system that facilitates economic exchange, including that of free markets . Public banks are owned and operated by governments, while credit unions are private entities collectively owned by their members. In the United States, federal law forbids credit unions from making commercial loans that exceed 12.25% of their total assets. This effectively prevents credit unions from operating as mainly credit-issuing institutions. Public banks come in

6633-573: The credit of Australia to citizens in the form of loans. Established as a private bank in 1934, the Bank of Canada was nationalized in 1938 with a mandate to lend to the federal government and the provinces. This lending made public debt interest-free. In the Second World War, the Bank of Canada financed a large war effort, helping create the world's third largest navy. Following the war, the bank subsidized farmland and education for veterans, funded infrastructure, airports, and technology, and helped

6732-492: The directors of the Bank of Amsterdam in the 17th century, when they realized that loaning out deposits created money for borrowers while the same amount still sat in the accounts of the original depositors. Professor Richard Werner of the University of Southampton has utilized empirical research to conclude in favor of the credit creation theory, and that "banks can individually create money out of nothing." Two former members of

6831-518: The early part of 19th century America, before the Second Bank of the United States was closed, states scrambled to establish fully public or partially-public banks. There was considerable variation on how much public and how much private was in their design. In nearly all cases, state legislatures created central banks to provide money and regulate other banks in their states. By 1831, over 400 banks had been chartered through acts of specific legislation in

6930-619: The economy in their region. While the biggest, Hamburger Sparkasse , had total assets of €37.7 billion and 5,500 employees in 2009, the smallest ( Stadtsparkasse Bad Sachsa ) had only €129.6 million in assets and 45 employees. The Landesbanken are mostly owned by the regional savings banks through its regional association and the respective federal states. In total, the assets of the Landesbanks have shrunk by 45 percent, or more than €702 billion, between end-2008 and end-2017. The Landesbanks have traditionally acted as central financial services providers for regional savings bank association and as

7029-463: The entities' capital reserves, with surplus profit being used to lower interest rates in the subsequent cycle. Many kinds of church banks served as early public banks. In their essay on the history of credit, Elise Dermineur and Yane Svetiev say that church structures "(abbeys, convents, Mons pietatis ) could extend credit and recorded the transactions in their own account books. Parish wards also extended credit." Early Catalan public banks included

7128-522: The establishment of protection schemes ( German : Sicherungseinrichtungen ) on a regional basis, expanded to the Landesbanks through a community of liability ( German : Haftungsverbund ) in 1973, and was reformed in 2005 following negotiations with the European Commission on state aid control . As of 2021, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe IPS included 13 participating sub-funds ( German : Teilfonds ): The Landesbanks' sub-fund includes

7227-438: The existing IPS setup of 13 regional and sectoral sub-funds. The DSGV does not generally disclose cases or amounts of IPS interventions. One known case was the rescue of Norddeutsche Landesbank in 2019, in which the IPS contributed 1.2 billion euro in fresh equity in addition to contributions by the relevant Länder. This case also highlighted the protracted nature of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe's IPS decision-making process, with

7326-798: The foreign branches of Landesbanken nor any of their subsidiaries, whether domestic or foreign, are included, and neither are the foreign branches of Landesbausparkassen. On that basis, the group had total aggregated assets of €2.4 trillion as of end-2020, of which 1.4 trillion in the local savings banks. The following entities are members of the IPS even though they are not included in the group's scope of accounting aggregation: Berlin Hyp , Deutsche Hypothekenbank , Frankfurter Bankgesellschaft (Deutschland) AG, Landesbank Berlin Holding , Portigon AG , S-Kreditpartner  [ de ] , S Broker  [ de ] , and Weberbank  [ de ] . Most entities of

7425-483: The global economic crisis of 2008. Coppola also argues that the Sparkassen banks are suffering from low returns to savers, low profits, and increased competition from online lenders. Writing for the Public Policy Institute for Wales, Craig Johnson similarly argues that Sparkassen banks have had problems producing profits because of its inability to give robust returns to savers. However, Ellen Brown writes that

7524-542: The government establish pensions and Medicare. Beginning in the 1960s, the Bank of Canada began restricting the nation's monetary supply to curb inflation, and by 1974 the bank was no longer lending to the government. In the 17th and 18th centuries, governing colonial assemblies in the thirteen colonies began taking on the lending functions of banks to generate revenue and finance farming and development. The governments would establish offices called "land banks," and would issue and lend paper currency. The loans would return on

7623-454: The government owns the banks, lending decisions become increasingly driven by politics rather than economics." The Public Banking Institute has argued that Calabria's conclusions are based on research that doesn't incorporate the Bank of North Dakota; that Calabria doesn't compare the performance and corruption histories of public banks to private banks, and that he uses an insufficient number of examples to reach his conclusions. Researchers at

7722-816: The income streams created by the loans, such as the tolls from RFC-financed bridges and tunnels. RFC-financed projects included the San Francisco Bay Bridge , the California Aqueduct , bridges over the Mississippi River , and the Pennsylvania Turnpike . Between the Great Depression and the present time, many states attempted to create public banks through referendums or legislation. These attempts were often opposed by state chambers of commerce and other private financial interests, such as in

7821-495: The legal status of the 234 savings banks then existing under its jurisdiction and put them under the regime of the respective local governments; it served as a model for other German polities. Between 1850 and 1903, the idea of the municipal savings banks spread further, and the number of savings banks in Germany increased from 630 to 2834. In 1913, of the 1765 Sparkassen that operated in Prussia alone, about 90 percent belonged to either

7920-698: The legislature by Assemblymembers David Chiu and Miguel Santiago on February 19, 2019. AB 857 received wide popular support with 180 major labor unions, civic, community organizations, and the California Democratic Party endorsing the bill. In a show of support by local governments, 17 California cities and counties passed local resolutions to endorse AB 857, the Public Banking Act, including: the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, Long Beach, Santa Rosa, Beverly Hills, Berkeley, Richmond, Santa Cruz, Huntington Park, Eureka, and Watsonville,

8019-414: The lending capacity of North Dakota's community banking industry and reduces the role of out-of-state banks in North Dakota's financial system. BND also funds disaster and farm relief, public infrastructure, schools, and student loans. Interest payments are annually paid back to the state in the form of dividend payments. In 2017, the Bank of North Dakota recorded record profits for the fourteenth year in

8118-518: The lending of public credit to public banks and authorize public ownership of stock in public banks for the purpose of achieving cost savings, strengthening local economies, supporting community economic development , and addressing infrastructure and housing needs for localities." AB 857 was conceived of by the California Public Banking Alliance, a grassroots network of activists representing 10 California cities, and introduced in

8217-403: The limited use of inferior coinage by the general public. In the rest of Europe, the Bank of Amsterdam (1609) set out to simplify and standardize coins and other exchange and was soon joined by other Dutch exchange banks, many of which survived well into the 19th century. In Germany and Switzerland, many municipalities formed banks between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The charter of

8316-538: The loans of) local banks to fund projects that might otherwise go unfunded. Such partnering with local banks leads practitioners of public banking to say, like Bank of North Dakota President Eric Hardmeyer , that public banks are partners, rather than competitors, with local private financial institutions. Public savings banks, such as postal banks, typically offer individual savings accounts, savings bonds, remittances and other services. Around three out of four postal systems worldwide offer such banking services, and such

8415-467: The national and international levels. The 12 regional associations ( German : Sparkassenverbände ) are statutory bodies, of which savings banks Träger are statutory members. They are responsible for coordination between savings banks in a region, and manage the regional sub-funds that participate in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe's institutional protection scheme (except in Berlin where a special arrangement

8514-510: The new Sustainable Development Goals . Increasingly, major international financial institutions are recognising the positive and catalytic role public banks can serve in the coming low carbon climate resilient transition. Further, international NGOs and critical scholars argue that public banks can play a significant role in financing a just and equitable energy transition . According to the Public Banking Institute, "[a] Public Bank

8613-513: The others, the relevant regional association(s) are the sole Träger . Further consolidation happened in 2023: LBS Süd ( Landesbausparkasse Süd, Stuttgart und München ) was formed by merger of LBS Bayern and LBS Südwest; LBS NordWest ( Landesbausparkasse NordWest, Münster und Hannover ) by merger of LBS Nord and LBS West; and LBS NordOst ( Landesbausparkasse NordOst, Hamburg, Kiel und Potsdam ) by merger of Bausparkasse Schleswig-Holstein-Hamburg AG and LBS Ost. DekaBank with its subsidiaries

8712-444: The overall costs of goods and services. Critics of high interest payments say that 35% to 40% of the money paid for goods and services actually goes to interest payments to finance the chains of supply, production, and distribution necessary for delivery of products. Governments pay similarly high rates of interest for capital projects such as infrastructure and schools. Thus, public banks, which do not need to charge high interest rates

8811-483: The process of lending gives the outsider the false appearance of money creation due to the recording of the same asset twice, once as a deposit entry and once as an asset account entry. Rather, the two figures are transactional representations of the same unit of money. Other scholars and authors qualify their belief that banks create money by following up with an account of what happens to that money when loans are repaid. Thus, Mcleay, et al. point out: "Just as taking out

8910-405: The rest of the network in 1945, but reintegrated into it after German reunification in 1990. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is highly idiosyncratic, and its description requires understanding of key notions that are unique to its German context. In the context of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, the German word Träger  [ de ] ("holder") refers to the owner-like relationship between

9009-550: The savings banks in the region in securities and cross-country businesses. In contrast to savings banks, they do wholesale banking rather than retail banking. After multiple mergers and restructurings, five Landesbanken operated in Germany as of late 2022: FIDES Alpha and Gamma are trustee entities for the regional sub-funds of the Sparkassenverbände within the Institutional Protection Scheme (IPS) under

9108-457: The six remaining such institutions (BayernLB, Helaba, LBBW, NORD/LB, SaarLB, and Landesbank Berlin AG) as well as the national DekaBank ; the Berlin entities Landesbank Berlin Holding and Berlin Hyp ; the defunct WestLB's "bad bank", Portigon AG; Frankfurter Bankgesellschaft , the group's main private bank; Weberbank  [ de ] , another private bank once owned by WestLB and subsequentlty by

9207-594: The state's general obligation debt." They also conclude that certain market failures might call for "establishing a public bank that differs from the one in North Dakota . . . " Between 1932 and 1957, a government corporation in the United States called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgage associations, and other businesses. RFC loans were "self-liquidating," meaning that they drew revenue from

9306-862: The three business divisions AMK (Asset Management Capital Markets), AMI (Asset Management Real Estate Business), C&M (Corporates and Markets), the sales division or one of the corporate centers. As of end-2020, the Savings banks network maintained a total of 769 foundations in Germany, with total capital of €2.72 billion. At the national level, the German Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation  [ de ] ( German : Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation e.V. ) in Bonn , also known as Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung, centralizes actions in favor of international development. The internal legal and financial arrangements of

9405-415: The very practice of fractional reserve banking grows the money supply beyond banks' deposit bases. Nations' central banks attempt to regulate that growth through interest rates , reserve requirements , and capital adequacy requirements, although most advanced economies today have deprioritized reserve requirements. Acceptance of the view that banks create money is widespread. Authors writing on behalf of

9504-601: The view of the rating agency, increase the likelihood and timeliness of support". In line with the EU Deposit Guarantee Scheme Directive of 2014, the IPS of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is also designated as the deposit guarantee scheme for all its member banks. in August 2021, the DSGV members unanimously adopted a resolution to reform the system and establish a Deposit Insurance Fund, gradually from 2024-2025. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe publishes unaudited, unconsolidated, aggregated financial statements of

9603-505: The vote, although the measure did not pass. In light of the fact that many progressive ballot issues that challenged well-funded business interests routinely get buried by 3–1 margins, this strong showing was all the more impressive. The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board called a public bank "risky, expensive and a potential waste of tax dollars," while a contributing writer to the Los Angeles Times Opinion and executive editor of

9702-516: The way private banks must do in the service of shareholders, would arguably lower the cost of interest on public projects, and on those private endeavors a public bank was directed to support. Banks are often held to be mere financial intermediaries, taking deposits and lending money from those deposits. Others disagree with this view and point out that banks create money through lending, and that banks lend far more than their deposit base. For example, Robert C. Hockett of Cornell Law School argues that

9801-572: Was owned by the DSGV and Landesbanks which grouped the shares in the GLB GmbH & Co.OHG, which held the DekaBank shares. On 7 April 2011, the Savings Banks bought the 50% stake from the landesbanken for €2.3 billion to become sole owner of the DekaBank. The acquisition was closed on 8 June 2011 and DekaBank became fully, directly owned by the savings banks. 3,700 people throughout the group work in one of

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