1909.] 



Credit Banks in Austria. 



869 



Owing to the limitation of the Raiffeisen banks to small 

 areas the number of members to each Society is necessarily 

 small, and averaged in 1904 about no, whereas in the case of 

 the other Societies it was from 500 to 600. In the same way 

 the amount of the loans made is very much less, the out- 

 standing loans in the Raiffeisen banks being ^10,772,000 

 in 1904, compared with ^36,454,000 in the case of the limited 

 liability Schulze-Delitzsch banks, and ,£17,049,000 in the 

 case of the unlimited liability type. When it is considered, 

 however, that these Raiffeisen banks have been established, 

 in the first instance, practically without capital, in thinly 

 populated country districts, the amount and relative import- 

 ance of the loans are sufficiently striking. The total amount 

 outstanding when divided by the number of Societies is equal 

 to about ^2,200 each, or about £20 per member. 



Interest on deposits in the Raiffeisen banks averaged about 

 4 per cent, in 1 898-1 902, but the average rate showed a tend- 

 ency to rise ; the interest paid in the other banks was about 

 4! per cent. The difference between the interest charged on 

 loans and that paid on deposits is not great, and in the 

 Raiffeisen banks it is kept very low, amounting usually to 

 only 1 per cent., and sometimes less. This is due to the fact 

 that the banks exist entirely for the benefit of the members, 

 the administration being almost entirely honorary, only the 

 Treasurer receiving a small gratuity. The average interest 

 on loans in 1902 was 4*9 per cent. In the other Societies the 

 interest on mortgages was probably a little over 5 per cent., 

 and on bills about 6 per cent., but the available information 

 on the subject is insufficient. 



These various Credit Societies are affiliated in some 35 

 separate co-operative federations, which, however, are not 

 exclusively federations of credit banks, but include also other 

 co-operative societies. These federations in 1903 accounted 

 for 5,471 Credit Societies, and they granted credit in the 

 course of the year to the amount of ,£1,91 1,152, and their 

 turn-over amounted to ^19,186,972. 



The encouragement given to the credit banks varies in the 

 different States of which the Austrian Empire is composed, 

 though the Central Government have also made a number 

 of small grants, and have generally done a good deal to 



