POSTAL SAVINGS BANK 75 



In 1884, they amounted to 56,586,461 fls. and 42,223,530 fls. of these 

 were employed in the cheque business. The development of this business 

 has been extraordinary. In 1912, there were 16,500,000,000 deposited in 

 the cheque and clearing business, whilst in the savings department there 

 were only 137,793,848 crs. In 1911 the deposits in the Postal Savings Banks 

 reached their highest amount, about 142,500,000 crs. 



On December 31st., 1912, the depositors' credits, consisting of the 

 net balance from previous working years, with the interest matured, 

 amounted to : 



Savings Department crs. 201,667,362.47 



Cheque » » 485,219,841.01 



Total . . . crs. 686,887,203.48 



If we compare these figures with those of the Cheque and Clearing De- 

 partment we see clearly that the savings department, as we said above, 

 is not the most important branch of the Austrian Postal Savings Bank. 

 Its relatively small importance is also seen from a comparison of the 

 accounts of the Austrian Postal Savings Bank with those of the banks of 

 other countries. In Italy, for example the depositors' credits at the end 

 of 1912 amounted to 1,888,098,534 frs. In France, in 1910, it was 

 1,709,714,869 frs., and in Belgium, in 1911, 1,107,933,463 frs. 



For a better understanding of the work of the Postal Savings Banks, 

 above all, in regard to savings deposits, we must not lose sight of the work 

 of the other savings banks in the country. The rate of interest paid by the 

 Postal Savings Bank has contributed in a specially important degree to 

 maintain the balance between the deposits in the Postal and in other 

 Banks. 



The interest is in proportion to the yield of the deposits, which is not 

 high, because they are used for loans on terms of favour to pubUc instit- 

 utions or for purchase of Government Bonds. It is therefore generally less 

 than in other savings banks in the country. The funds placed with the 

 Postal Banks are generally contributed by the lower social classes, unable 

 through poverty to seek lucrative investments. Such depositors rather 

 seek to place their money in a safe institute in which they have confidence. 

 The distribution of the deposits in the savings banks depends, finally, on 

 other circumstances, such as the distribution of the branches and agencies, 

 the means of communication, the density of the population, the level of 

 education, the existence of competing institutes which can be reUed upon 

 to collect and invest the savings of individuals and the various special func- 

 tions of the savings banks in the economic Hfe of the different States. 



The information pubhshed by the Prussian Statistiche Korrespondenz 

 (No. 52, October 19th., 1912), already reproduced by us in the number of 

 this Bulletin for January, 1913, contains the following interesting statistics 

 in this connection. It is seen from them that the amount of the deposits 

 at the end of 1909 was : 



