yS FRANCE - CREDIT 



There are two facts we learn from these figures, (jenerally, the number 

 of books issued by the postal banks is larger than that issued by the ordinary 

 banks, except in the case of Austria and Sweden, but the average amount 

 of savings per book and per inhabitant is higher in the case of the ordinary 

 savings banks (i). If we consider the total savings in the postal banks and 

 in the ordinary banks, we may see by the figures in Table II, that about 

 one third of the population have savings bank books. This is not an 

 average but the absolute amount. In fact, as we have said, the law of 

 July 20th., 1895 does not permit anyone to have more than one savings 

 bank book in his own name. This is therefore quite a considerable 

 that amount, above all when account is taken of another very well known 

 fact, that even the poorest classes of the French people invest a large part 

 of their savings in the purchase of personal estate securities. 



It is seen from the statistics of the French savings banks that the 

 largest number of books contain entries of not more than 200 frs. But most 

 of the capital deposited by savings banks is derived from books in which 

 more than 200 frs. are entered. The concentration of wealth as shown in 

 the entries of large deposits in the bank books is above all observable 

 in the case of the private savings banks. On December 31st., 191 1, 

 55.65 % of the total number of books showed deposits for sums inferior 

 to 200 fr., wliilst in the books showing higher sums, the total amount 

 was 3,690,719,222 frs. or 94.45 % of the deposits in the ordinary banks 

 at the said date. In the books showing deposits of above 1,500 frs. 

 but reduced to that amount by the purchase of stock on account of their 

 having exceeded that sum, we find on December 31st., 191 1 a total of 

 1,828,821,306 fr. or 46.79 % of the total deposits. 



Let us now consider the various classes of depositors, according to sex 

 and profession. 



In the the ordinary banks, since 1894, the increase in the number 

 of books belonging to women has been much greater than in those beloging 

 to men. In 191 1, the ordinary banks issued 255,690 books to men, and 

 272,446 to women. But this excess of women depositors over men is not 

 observable in the total number of the books of December 31st., 1911 (see 

 Table I\'), because in the previous years fewer books had been issued to 

 women than to men. 



(i) Exception must be made with regard to the United Kingdom, Belgiima and Holland, in 

 which countries the average amount of savings per inhabitant is higher in the postal than in 

 the ordinary banks. The explanation of this is that, either for historical reasons or because 

 of the special organization of institutions for savings, savings bank books are few in propor- 

 tion, and the deposits entered are small. 



