OFFICIAI, ENQUIRY INTO SAVINGS 55 



The deposits were distributed as follows at the end of January, 1911 

 and the end of December, 1911 and December, 1912. 



Savings Deposits Fixed Term 



Deposits iu Current Account Deposits 



frs. frs. frs. 



on January 31st., 1911 . . 716,461,588 160,614,563 269,075,279 

 » December 31st., 1911 . . 723,049,621 160,557,764 281,057,291 

 » December 31st., 1912 . . 705,711,116 158,269,971 283,679,632 



Therefore, while the amount of savings deposits shows a decrease in 

 the two years, and that of the deposits in current account remained station- 

 ary in 1911 and decreased slightly in 1912, on the contrary, there was a 

 decided tendency on the part of the fixed term deposits to increase. Ne- 

 vertheless, as in the case of the ordinary banks, the increase in 1912 was 

 slightly less than in 1911. 



The large increase in the fixed term, or rather, long term, deposits in 

 the co-operative credit societies, considerably greater than m the ordinary 

 societies, is explained by the special interest these societies have in 

 obtaining long use of the amounts entrusted to them. Their customers 

 are in fact small dealers, farmers, clerks etc., who require loans for 

 comparatively long periods, usually repayable in instalments. It might 

 be said that also many savings banks, especially the smaller ones, have a 

 similar class of customers and these banks do not so fiequently receive 

 fixed term deposits. But, first of all, generally the deposits in savings 

 banks are made for much longer periods than in the co-opeiative credit 

 institutes ; in the second place, the savings banks only give the name of 

 fixed term deposits to those made in return for interest bearing bonds 

 and include all deposits redeemable at long notice among the savings 

 deposits, while in the ordinary institutes and co-operative credit societies 

 the contrary course is pursued. 



The commercial credit institutes, again, not limited in regard to their 

 investments, like the savings banks, may hold out the attraction of higher 

 rates of interest to ensure the long use of the deposits, and this attraction 

 is greatest for the classes of small depositors constituting the chief customers 

 of the co-operative credit institutes. 



The above figures show the fluctuations in the amount of deposits 

 in the two years 1911-1912 in the ordinary and in the co-operative banks: 

 in the former the increase was considerable, in the latter the amount was 

 stationary. Yet this is in no way due to the different economic character of 

 capitaUstic and co-operative undertakings. The difference revealed by the 

 figures is not between the ordinary and co-operative institutes, but between 

 large and small institutes ; on the one hand, that is, there are the large 

 banks, and, on the other, together with the co-operative institutes the 

 majority of ordinary credit institutes. The contrast between ordinary 

 and co-operative banks is only apparent, as the large banks are all in- 



