Savings facility

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A savings facility is an instrument used by housing cooperatives in which they manage the savings deposits of their members and their relatives like a bank . They are used by housing cooperatives to cover their capital requirements at low interest rates, for example for renovations, conversions or new buildings. If the housing cooperative were to cover this capital requirement by borrowing from a bank, it would have to pay market interest .

If it sets up a savings facility, it can also finance itself directly through its comrades. The bank services saved benefit both the cooperative and its members. Today 45 housing cooperatives in Germany have a savings facility and have savings of 1.6 billion euros .

history

At the end of the 19th century, the rapidly growing commercial and industrial centers attracted thousands of job seekers. In the area of ​​what will later become “ Greater Berlin ” alone , the population grew from around 900,000 to 3.7 million between 1871 and 1919, and a city like Hanover grew from 87,600 to 313,400 inhabitants between 1871 and 1912. But the living and working conditions of the new class of the population, the factory workers, are poor. Far too many people live in a confined space, in old, run-down houses. At that time, housing policy was not yet one of the areas of responsibility for government action. Planning, building and renting of living space was the sole responsibility of private entrepreneurs and was left to the "free play of forces", so creating decent and inexpensive living space remained a difficult task for a long time. But the topic is gradually gaining more attention due to new knowledge in medicine, hygiene and public health care. And so the concept of a cooperative , which originally came from England , is quickly gaining in importance. The principle is simple: first save, then build, then move in and live. The comrades contributed their shares, saved together and were able to continuously build apartments for members. At the beginning of the 1940s, most of the cooperatives put an end to their savings schemes. They were dissolved by the National Socialists and the savings made available to the war economy .

Layout and function

With a savings institution, a cooperative conducts banking business in accordance with the German Banking Act and so certain requirements must be met: The cooperative must be liquid, have its own funds , meet its reporting obligations to the banking supervisory authority and the majority of the board members must prove a suitability as bank manager. The savings facility is part of the cooperative business with which the company conducts deposit transactions within the meaning of Section 1 of the German Banking Act (KWG) and therefore requires a license from the banking supervisory authority ( BaFin ). The savings facility offers savings accounts , savings bonds and similar products.

Advantages of the model

Just like when the cooperatives were founded, when living space was scarce and expensive, the savings facilities are based on a simple model: save, build, live. The savings scheme brings advantages for the cooperative, its members and their families, now as then:

  • The cooperative can use the savings deposits to replace expensive debt at the banks.
  • And the saver receives significantly higher interest rates than a comparable investment at a bank. In addition, attractive savings conditions also increase the attractiveness of the housing cooperative for new members.
  • In this way, the saver, as a home user, can enjoy his money. The cooperative generates surpluses with the deposits - compared to the otherwise necessary borrowing on the capital market - in order to be able to better support the living comrades.

Control and Security

Companies with the legal form of a cooperative belong to an auditing association by law. The annual audit report not only certifies the respective financial year, it also contains statements and statements on the opportunities and risks of the cooperative as well as statements on the medium and long-term forecasts. The companies are also members of the security scheme of the GdW, the Federal Association of German Housing Companies, the “Self-Help Fund for Securing Savings from Housing Cooperatives”. In addition, the cooperative is subject to banking supervision because of its savings facility. A monthly reporting is mandatory. Employees of the Deutsche Bundesbank also take part in the annual representatives' meetings and an annual supervisory interview is held on the basis of the audit reports. In addition, a property portfolio that is usually well equipped is a guarantee for savings.

Web links

Expertise savings facility , Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (Ed.), October 2005