8o 



SWEDEN - CREDIT 



Sweden where ordinary savings banks either were non-existent or very 

 few in number (i). 



They have entirely fulfilled their purpose. The ordinary savings 

 banks in Sweden work successfully and have become institutions of pubHc 

 utility working without any idea of profit, so, in order to protect them from 

 the competition of the postal banks, the deposits bearing interest in these 

 latter were Hmited to 2,000 crowns and the rate of interest restricted to 

 3.60 %, that is about one cnmn per cent less than the rate of the ord- 

 inary banks. 



The postal banks receive, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, 

 a larger amount of savings in the less populous provinces where the ordinary 

 savings banks are less active, and a less amount in the densely populated 

 provinces where there are thriving private savings banks. In the last report 

 of the postal banks we fmd that in 1911, exclusive of the city of vStockholm, 

 the provinces of Norbotten (which according to the census of December 31^* ., 

 1911 had 1.5 inhabitants per square kilometre), Skaraborg (30 per sq. km.) 

 and Kopparberg (6 per sq. km.) showed the highest figures for deposits 

 (respectively 2,758, 2,774, ^^^d 2,739 crowns per 1,000 inhabitants), while 

 in the provinces of Malmohus (91 inhabitants per sq. km.) where the 

 ordinary savings banks are more numerous and active, and Kristianstad 

 (35 inhabitants per sq. km.) the average amounts of savings per 1,000 in- 

 habitants were only 752 and 632 crowns respectively 



To throw further light on the character of the postal banks, it may 

 be observed that in Sweden more than in many other countries, their 

 work is subsidiary to that of the ordinary savings banks. They reached 

 their highest development twenty years after their institution, receiving in 

 1904 deposits to the amount of 54,899,275 crowns in 571824 bank books 

 (against 600,000 crowns in 1,300,000 books of the ordinary savings banks) 

 and declined in importance up to 1910, while the ordinary savings banks 

 continued to increase in number, as shown by the following table. 



TabIvE IV. — Number of Books and Amount of Deposits 

 in tJie Postal Banks from 1884 to 191 1. 



Year 



Number 

 of Books 



Number 



of Books 



per 1,000 



Inhabitants 



Amount 

 of Deposits 

 (in crowns) 



Amount of Deposits 



per Book 



per 1,000 

 Inhabitants 



1885-89 

 1890-94 

 1895-99 

 1900-04 

 1905-09 



1910 . 



1911 . . 



79.513 

 155.355 

 300.346 

 489,478 

 571.824 

 563,782 



557,337 

 565,759 



17 

 32 

 61 



97 

 109 

 104 



lOI 



102 



827,641 

 3,918,681 

 20,417,231 

 54,057.308 

 54,899.275 

 50,252,543 

 46,253,411 

 47,186,406 



10.41 

 23.22 

 66.49 

 109.78 

 96.02 

 89.08 

 82.99 

 83.40 



178.20 



S25.li 



4,222.07 



10,769.62 



10,561.64 



9,346.7s 



8,376.29 



8,484.22 



(i) From 1903, when the SUi(e under look the insurance of life annuities, the postal banks 

 have l)een required to collect th;; ])eraiums and pay the annuities. 



