Savings Bank Act

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A savings bank law is in Banking a law that deals with the market regulation of public financial institutions concerned.

General

Savings bank laws serve the legal standardization of the public savings banks. They regulate the establishment , business purpose , public mandate , regional principle , contractual obligations , statutes , sponsorship and liability , organs , financial year , annual financial statements , appropriation of profits , mergers or supervisory authorities . In the latter, it should be noted that financial institutions like the other credit institutions of banking supervision of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority subject ( technical supervision ), but in addition, the legal supervision of the competent Ministry of Finance .

Savings bank laws do not exist in all states in which savings banks exist. While in Germany the savings bank laws are subject to state law and therefore only apply to the legal area of one state , the Austrian savings bank law is a federal law . However, the regional savings bank laws in Germany are very similar.

history

The requirement for savings bank laws can be traced back to the large number of German savings banks founded in the 18th century. The first institutes similar to savings banks are the lending bank in Hanau (founded in April 1738 by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII. ), The Württembergische Waisenkasse in Roth (1746 by Anselm II. Schwab ), the Braunschweig- Ducal pawnshop (founded in March 1765 “under lordesfürstlicher Guarantee ”), the - still existing - Fürstlich Castell'sche Credit-Casse (1774) or the Fürstliche Leihkasse in Detmold (1786). In June 1801 the Spar- und Leih-Casse Göttingen was the first municipal credit institute to start work.

In the following years, a large number of the citizens' savings banks became the responsibility of the municipalities. The town ordinance of Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein of November 19, 1808 ensured local self-government , which led to the communities taking up the communal savings bank idea and initiating the establishment of savings banks. In May 1818, the Württembergische Spar-Casse was founded in Stuttgart for the whole Kingdom of Württemberg , followed by the Berliner Sparkasse in June 1818. In January 1819, the first savings bank in Saxony was founded in Königsbrück . The first urban savings banks in the Kingdom of Bavaria were established in Nuremberg (November 1821), Augsburg (February 1822) and Würzburg (October 1822).

Of the 86 German savings banks that existed in 1838, 81 owned public institutions. In order to create a homogeneous legal basis for these regionally active savings banks, the idea of ​​the savings bank laws came up in 1838. The reason for this, however, was initially not the standardization of savings bank law, but rather doubts as to whether the savings bank books issued by the savings banks were not subject to royal approval as bearer papers based on a law passed in June 1833. On December 12, 1838, the “Regulations concerning the establishment of the savings bank system” were finally adopted, which in particular contained regulations for the administration of the savings banks and the security of savings. This savings bank law is the first German regulation of a group of institutions within the framework of banking law . In the Prussian Guardianship Ordinance issued in July 1875 , the legislature spoke for the first time of "public savings banks". However, it was not until July 1900 that a joint decree by the Prussian Minister of the Interior and Justice clarified that “public savings banks are only to be understood as those which are either operated for the account of a corporation under public law or for their liabilities a corporation under public law Has taken over the guarantee ". With the 3rd Reich Emergency Ordinance of October 6, 1931, the savings banks and giro centers were given the legal form of an institution under public law during the German banking crisis .

The Prussian Savings Bank Act of 1838 was still in force in most of the Prussian successor states after 1945, for example in Hesse (until December 1954) and North Rhine-Westphalia (until January 1958). The savings of the GDR were now in March 1956 by the "Statute of the state-owned savings banks in the GDR" as a supervisory body, the Ministry of Finance of the GDR . The task of the GDR savings banks was limited to the acceptance of savings deposits , payment transactions and the credit business ( consumer credit and housing loans ), while the securities business was abolished. In January 1976, a new savings bank statute came into force, which transferred the supervision of the State Bank of the GDR . It remained in place until the fall of the Berlin Wall and was replaced by the Savings Banks Act passed in July 1990.

Regulations in Germany

The regional savings bank laws restrict the business activities of the savings banks more than the Banking Act (KWG), which also applies to savings banks, and the EU- wide capital adequacy regulation (CRR). It is a lex specialis in relation to the KWG and CRR , which the savings banks must primarily observe.

legal form

Savings banks are usually public credit institutions . They are / are established by a local authority ( municipality , city , district ) or a special purpose association . In the early years of the savings bank system, the savings bank was often a dependent part of local government . Its current legal form, standardized in the laws, of an independent institution under public law, was developed in the Weimar Republic .

In addition to the public-law savings banks, there are so-called “free savings banks”, which, previously designed as an economic association or foundation , have recently developed into the legal form of a corporation . The institutes are part of the Association of German Free Public Savings Banks . In Austria, too, there are savings banks in the legal form of a stock corporation .

The designation “Sparkasse”, like the designation “bank” or “banker”, is protected in Sections 39 and 40 KWG in Germany .

Sponsorship

In the past, the corporation that set up the Sparkasse, its sponsor , was responsible for institutional burden and guarantor liability .

  • The institutional burden is to be understood as the responsibility of the public sector to stand up for its legally independent public organizational forms. The institutional burden was borne by a single municipality (e.g. in the case of a city savings bank) or a plurality of municipalities (e.g. in the case of a district savings bank). In the past , the executing agency therefore had to provide adequate personnel and financial resources, possibly by providing endowment capital , in order to enable its institution to properly perform its tasks. The current versions of the Sparkasse Act regulate that, with effect from July 19, 2005, the Sparkasse is neither entitled to nor any other obligation to provide funds to the institution.
  • The guarantor liability took effect when a savings bank was over-indebted and no longer had its own assets. If - roughly simplified - the available own funds ( reserves ) were not sufficient, in the event of insolvency, the institution behind the Sparkasse had to be liable and ensure the repayment of the sums of money deposited with the Sparkasse. The private banking sector suspected that this would be disadvantageous and in March 1993 the EU Commission in Brussels intervened. The guarantor liability for institutions under public law was abolished after a long discussion within the framework of the Brussels Concordance in July 2001 and the Anstaltslast was replaced in order to exclude any unjustified competitive advantages over competitors.

The savings bank laws now stipulate that in the event of over-indebtedness, creditors alone are liable for the entire assets of the savings bank and that their sponsor does not pay for the institute's liabilities . In order to protect depositors in the event of insolvency , there are additional security institutions of the regional savings bank associations.

Public-law savings banks generate their own liable equity capital ; there are no capital injections from outside parties. More than in the past, a savings bank is forced to achieve adequate income through cautious business conduct in order to be able to serve its customers permanently in accordance with its mandate.

Corporate purpose

The savings banks have to provide the general population with opportunities for secure and interest-bearing investments and are supposed to satisfy local credit needs. They should promote cashless payment transactions .

The regional principle applies to savings banks , which means that they may only operate in their business area. Lending is therefore concentrated to borrowers in their region. For supraregional medium-sized corporate customers , syndicated loans, for example with the responsible Landesbank, can therefore represent a solution. Since the satisfaction of justifiable customer needs is the top priority, there may be deviations from the regional principle in individual cases.

Public contract

The savings banks have to cultivate the economy in the population. They ensure the supply of the population in their business area with monetary and credit services. They promote general wealth creation and economic education for young people.

The institutes are committed to the common good , but not charitable in the tax sense. They meet their obligation to serve the common good by using part of their annual surplus but also donations for charitable, cultural, scientific or social purposes in their business area. The sponsorship also shows the commitment for the general public as intended by the legislature.

Organizational structure of the Sparkasse

The Savings Banks Act contains more detailed provisions on the administrative and representative bodies , which are usually the administrative board and the management board of the Sparkasse. If necessary, the board of directors forms a loan committee that decides on large loans to borrowers.

Board

The Board of Directors is responsible for managing the current business of the Sparkasse. He fixes interest rates and prices . He is obliged to regularly inform the Board of Directors about the course of business. The framework for the powers to grant loans is usually set out in the Sparkasse's articles of association.

Board of Directors

The board of directors monitors the board of directors. It issues the business instructions for the board of directors, for any credit committee and for internal auditing . Among other things, he approves the action cost estimate on personnel and material expenses and the position plan . The law requires the approval of the board of directors for certain non-everyday transactions. The Savings Bank Act specifies how the committee is composed.

Credit committee

An educated by the Board Credit Committee meets on a smaller circle lending decisions on the granting of large loan amounts that exceed the Board competence. The smaller number of people allows for more frequent meetings and facilitates quick loan approvals in the interests of customers .

In the Savings Banks Act for Baden-Württemberg (Section 11), the credit committee is designed as an organ of the savings bank alongside the board of directors and the administrative board. In most countries, however, the credit committee is not an independent body.

Employees

The Savings Banks Act also lays down rules for the employees working at the Sparkasse, for example which body may hire staff or the list of signatures showing the powers of attorney . The requirement of confidentiality is often standardized.

statute

The Savings Banks Act requires statutes that regulate, among other things, the powers of the board of directors or details of business activities. The articles of association are approved by the savings bank supervisory authority and then published.

Business management and annual accounts

Here provisions are made for the financial year , for the preparation of the aforementioned estimate on running costs, the accounting at the end of the financial year and the use of the annual surplus.

Community facilities of the Sparkassenfinanzgruppe

Savings Bank Association

The Savings Banks Act contains the legal basis for the respective regional savings banks association . It prescribes its legal nature, the requirement of a statute, the tasks and organs of the association as well as the question of who can be a member of the association. The Sparkassenverband advises the Sparkasse, but is also the point of contact for the Ministry in matters relating to the Sparkasse. An auditing body set up by the association but independent of instructions from the association carries out audits on behalf of the supervisory authorities in the savings banks and audits their annual financial statements .

Landesbank

The savings bank laws generally also contain principles for cooperation with the respective Landesbank / Girozentrale and / or the Landesbausparkasse .

Further elements of the law

Authorization for detailed regulations

Every Savings Bank Act contains the authorization of the executive by the legislature to regulate more details on the savings banks within a framework specified by it. This is usually made use of by the Savings Banks Ordinance.

Savings Bank Ordinance

The - also regional - savings bank ordinances regulate the regional principle, which as a rule limits the lending business to the statute area defined in the savings bank statutes. The association principle envisages the savings banks as part of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe , so that the savings banks may also broker or sell the financial products of association members such as regional building societies or public primary insurers . Also write the savings bank regulations trade restrictions for lending operations ( borrowing principles for credit securities ), capital investments and the investment in securities and money market instruments and derivatives , which deal with specific responsibilities of the institutions or the cancellation of savings certificates.

Territorial reforms

The savings bank laws have proven their worth especially in the case of the association of savings banks regulated in the savings bank laws , their reorganization in the case of territorial reforms by their sponsors or the transfer of branches . For example, the regional reform in North Rhine-Westphalia had a significant impact on the savings banks, for example with the Cologne Act that came into force in January 1975 . This Cologne law brought about the dissolution of the former districts of Cologne and Bergheim, which were merged into the Erftkreis . As a result, the Kreissparkasse Köln lost 26 branches to the Stadtsparkasse Köln . The transfer of the branches now outside the guarantor area of ​​the Kreissparkasse Köln was ordered on June 30, 1983 by the savings bank supervision.

Transitional and final provisions

The law always states the date of entry into force. Furthermore, transition rules from changes in the law may apply.

Web links to the savings bank laws

Germany

Austria

International

The first Austrian savings bank law was the savings bank regulation of September 2, 1844. In January 1979 the entire savings bank system was reorganized. It created the legal basis for the savings banks to operate as a universal bank and, as a special provision, is a pure organizational law for savings banks. According to Section 1 of the Savings Banks Act (SpG), savings banks are “legal entities under private law founded by municipalities or savings banks associations”. According to § 2 SpG, “community savings banks are the savings banks established by communities within their own sphere of activity. The municipality is liable for all liabilities of the Sparkasse incurred up to April 2, 2003 as a default guarantee in the event of insolvency according to § 1356 ABGB ”.

In Switzerland , the canton of Friborg was the first canton to subject the district and communal savings banks to special monitoring by a law of November 24, 1862. In 1892 the Canton of St. Gallen established the first savings bank law of major importance . In the cantons of Thurgau (1883) and Zurich (1896) savings bank laws were rejected by the people. Another proposal for a cantonal savings bank law was accepted by the people of Zurich in December 1913. By 1917, eleven cantons (both Appenzell , canton Basel-Stadt , Friborg, canton Glarus , canton Graubünden , St. Gallen, canton Thurgau , canton Uri , canton Valais and canton Zug ) included provisions on the savings banks in their introductory laws for the Civil Code . Four cantons enacted actual savings bank laws ( Canton Aargau , Canton Obwalden , Canton Ticino and Canton Zurich ). The other cantons waived the enactment of statutory provisions. It was not until November 8, 1934, that all financial institutions succeeded in submitting a national law, the Federal Law on Banks and Savings Banks , which is still in force today . Otherwise, the savings banks are mainly subject to the Swiss Federal Code of Obligations .

The oldest savings bank law in Italy was the Ordonnanz of October 2, 1840, which established rules for the creation, management and supervision of the savings banks ( Italian cassa di risparmio ). Today the Italian savings bank system is subject to the law of August 15, 1888, the provisions of which were called for at the Savings Banks Congress in Florence (1886). It contains provisions on the constitution of the savings banks, the issue of savings books or the formation of a reserve fund.

In Hungary and most of the North American states ( English savings banks ), however, the savings banks are subject to commercial law , in Japan essentially also (the savings banks law there contains only a few special provisions).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseföffelholz / Gerhard Müller, Bank-Lexikon: Concise dictionary for banking and savings banks , 1983, p. 280
  2. ^ Andrea Kositzki, The public-law credit industry , 2004, p. 12
  3. ↑ Sybille Grübel, Timeline for the history of the city from 1814–2006 , in: Ulrich Wagner (Ed.), History of the City of Würzburg 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, 2001–2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1226
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Schmitt-Wellbrock, Free Savings Banks and Regional Principle , 1979, p. 142, FN 436
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Schmitt-Wellbrock, Free Savings Banks and Regional Principle , 1979, p. 142
  6. ↑ MBliV 1900, p. 255
  7. ^ Thomas Brzoska, The public-law savings banks between the state and municipalities , 1976, p. 86, FN 42
  8. ^ Cirsten Witt, Assessment of public savings banks in the context of a privatization decision , 2006, p. 8
  9. ↑ Hugo Bänziger, The Development of Banking Supervision in Switzerland since the 19th Century , 1986, p. 25
  10. ↑ Ludwig Elster / Adolf Weber / Friedrich Freiherr von Wieser, Concise Dictionary of Political Sciences , Volume 7, 1926, p. 695
  11. ↑ Leo Barbar / Wolodymyr Starosolskyĭ / Max Seidel / Johannes Pfitzner, On the economic basis of the Turks' campaign against Vienna in 1683 , 1916, p. 82