ITALY. 



OFFlClAlv ENQUIRY INTO SAVINGS IN ITALY 

 11^ THE YEARS 1911 AND 1912. 



SOURCES : 



NOTIZIE STATISTICHE SUI. RISPARMIO IN ITALIA NEGLI ANNI I9II E I912. Parte II. Societ^ or- 



dinarie e co-operative di credito. Annali del Credito edella Frevidenza {Statistical Inform- 

 ation on Savin£;s in Italy in the Years 1911 and 1912. Part II. Ordinary and Co-operative 

 Credit Societies. Annals of Credit and Thrift). Series II. Vol. 2. Ministero di Agricoltura, 

 Industria e Commerdo. Direzioiie generale del Credito e deUa Previdenza. Rome. Tipo- 

 grafia Nazionale di Bertero e Co., 191 4. 



The General Management of Credit and Thrift at the Department of 

 Agriculture, Industry and Commerce has recently terminated an interest- 

 ing statistical enquiry into the fluctuations in the amount of the deposits 

 held in trust by the ordinary and co-operative credit societies in the years 

 1911 and 1912. This enquiry, extended to about 2,600 institutes, completes 

 that into the deposits in the Ordinary and Postal Savings Banks and Pawn 

 Institutes, the report of which was published last year (i). 



For the classification of the various kinds of deposits the terminalogy 

 in general use was employed, and, leaving out of consideration deposits 

 at sight (for the most part merely placed in safekeeping), the rest are gener- 

 ally divided into savings deposits, deposits in current account and fixed 

 term deposits. 



Savings deposits differ from those in current account in that, while 

 the former remain more or less time in the banks as real and true investments, 

 those in current account are not invested really but rather deposited with 

 intention of future investment, rather to be sure of the safety of the 

 money than to increase it. 



There are also corresponding extrinsic differences, the higher rate of 

 interest on savings deposits, the minimum and maximum fixed for the 

 deposits, higher for those in current account ; the absence of any maximum 

 limit of the credit bearing interest in current account, and the shorter 

 term for notice of withdrawal. 



(i) See Bulletin of Economic and Social Infelli';;ence, September. 1913. pp. 65 et sqq. 



