WE bank
| WIR Bank Cooperative | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Country |
 Switzerland
|
| Seat | Basel |
| legal form | cooperative |
| IID | 8391 |
| BIC | WIRBCHBBXXX |
| founding | 1934 |
| Website | www.wir.ch |
| Business data 2017 | |
| Total assets | 5.36 billion CHF |
| Employee | 296 (271 full-time positions) |
| Offices | 7 branches, 2 agencies |
| management | |
| Board of Directors | Karin Zahnd Cadoux (President) |
| Corporate management |
Bruno Stiegeler (Chairman of the Management Board ) |
The WIR Bank is a Swiss SME bank with seven branches and two agencies from the self-help organization Wirtschaftsring cooperative WE emerged.
history
The Wirtschaftsring-Genossenschaft was founded in 1934 by Werner Zimmermann and 15 other people. The idea goes back to the Danish JAK cooperative (the so-called "Afregningscentralen"), a similar cashless clearing system, which was also initiated in 1934. Zimmermann and founding member Paul Enz looked at this Danish system on two study trips in 1934. In 1936 it received bank status.
During the Great Depression and the scarce associated liquidity hoard companies their money instead of investing it, which the scarcity of money supply increased. With the establishment of the Wirtschaftsring-Genossenschaft, traders responded to this crisis with this self-help initiative. In order to do something against hoarding money, the complementary currency WIR was created. The value of the WIR is tied to the Swiss franc (1 WIR = 1 CHF). A main feature is the freedom from interest. As an incentive to spend the money again quickly and to generate sales among the participants - small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland - the credit balances on the accounts do not earn interest. In the early days not only was no interest paid on the credit, but a retention fee was charged. This should further increase the incentive to quickly get the money back into circulation. While the circulation protection was given up in 1948, the WIR credit still does not earn interest today.
In 1998 it changed its name to WIR Bank Genossenschaft. In addition to normal banking activities, it continues to maintain the WIR system, which is intended to promote SMEs.
Relation to free money theory
The WIR system is a complementary money system , which, according to Hugo Godschalk, has important differences to Silvio Gesell's free money system: It is private money , not state money, it is not Schwundgeld or cash, but bank money . The only thing they have in common is the criticism of interest and the lack of interest, which was not only represented by the free money theory. The original we system is more similar to the Gottfried Feders , Otto Dickels and Ludwig Herpels banking programs .
numbers
At the end of 2017, WIR Bank had total assets of 5.36 billion francs, of which around 768 million francs were on loans in WIR (currency code CHW) and 3.84 billion on loans in Swiss francs (CHF). A total of around 1.12 billion equivalent francs were turned over with WIR in 2017. Customer deposits in WIR and CHF amounted to CHF 3.94 billion. This resulted in a profit of 15.2 million francs.
The WIR accounting system
With WIR money, the WIR system represents purchasing power tied to the group of participants. According to the statutes, it aims to encourage affiliated participants to use their purchasing power through the WIR system and to keep it in their own ranks in order to Generate additional sales for participants.
The WIR clearing system functions as cashless payment transactions among WIR participants. Credits and debits on the accounts of the participants are booked at the headquarters of WIR Bank in Basel. A check-like paper, the booking order, or the WIR payment slip serve as a means of payment. With the WIR card, which is mainly used in the catering and retail trade , customers make pure WIR payments, combined WIR / CHF payments and pure CHF payments. Payments in WIR and CHF can also be made using electronic banking and, since mid-2008, using internet banking.
The WIR network has 40,000 players, including around 30,000 SMEs from all sectors and parts of Switzerland. Each WIR participant defines his individual WIR acceptance rate, the percentage between 3 and 100 percent at which he wants to accept payments in WIR. A WIR franc is equated with a Swiss franc.
Potential WIR business partners can be found on the electronic WIRmarket (web solution and app for iPhone and Android) and in the print publications WIRinfo. In addition, an annual WIR sales fair is held in Zurich in Switzerland , at which WIR participants appear as exhibitors and customers.
In 2004, the WIR franc received the three-digit letter code CHW according to ISO 4217 , corresponding to the national currency CHF (Swiss franc). At shop or hotel entrances in Switzerland, the WIR logo is used to indicate the option of paying for the services in whole or in part in WIR money.
After a complete modernization of the WIR system in November 2016, there should be no more "silent" (invisible) WIR participants.
WE money creation
WIR credits are created using credits from WIR Bank. The check (creditworthiness / creditworthiness) of the borrower and the collateral is also carried out for the WIR share according to the usual guidelines.
The loans come from WIR Bank's direct, own money creation. The WIR Bank has a similar money creation function in the WIR system as the Swiss National Bank as the central bank for the Swiss franc. Accounts are often opened either as part of an initial deal with WIR money or a loan.
WIR credit is not covered by Swiss francs. Depending on the type of loan, WIR loans are secured by mortgages, bank guarantees, life insurance, etc. In the WIR area, construction, mortgage, current account and investment loans are offered.
WIR Bank incurs no credit or refinancing costs from its money creation. You yourself do not have to pay any interest on the loans granted. It is precisely for this reason that it can make its loans available at particularly low interest rates.
Although a WIR franc would be equated with a Swiss franc, in practice the WIR franc is sometimes valued and sold below the value of a Swiss franc.
Open to non-members
From 1997 onwards, WIR Bank gradually entered the Swiss banking business. Conventional banking products in the area of savings and provision have been added to the range of products offered by WIR Bank. In 2000, WIR Bank was opened to the general public. Since then, WIR Bank's investment and pension products as well as domestic payment transactions have also been available to private individuals who have no connection to WIR settlement.
For WIR Bank, customer funds represent an important source of refinancing for CHF loans, which in turn are available to affiliated SME customers and private customers. WIR Bank finances new buildings, conversions and renovations with combined total financing in the form of WIR and CHF loans. Since 2005, these have also been offered to private customers under certain conditions.
See also
Web links
- WIR Bank website
- WE blog
- WIR tutorial (explanatory video)
-
TV report about WIR Bank in the report broadcast on May 30, 2010 on Rai 3 (YouTube video in Italian with English subtitles)
- Text version of the post on Rai 3's website
- WE - A currency that is reinventing exchange. an essay by James Stodder and Bernard Lietaer. Published in The World of Commons - Patterns of Joint Action by Transcript-Verlag (2015)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry of the "WIR Bank Genossenschaft" in the commercial register of the canton of Basel-Stadt ( Memento of the original dated May 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Entry in the bank master of Swiss Interbank Clearing
- ↑ Annual report 2017 / WIR Bank - media releases
- ↑ WIR Bank: Milestones / Chronology ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Hervé Dubois: Faszination Wirtschaftsring (WIR) - Resistant to crises, speculation and greed for profit. Lenzburg / Switzerland 2014. Review by Hugo Godschalk in: Zeitschrift für Sozialökonomie 184/185 2015, p. 82f
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '5.5 " N , 7 ° 35' 11.7" E ; CH1903: six hundred eleven thousand one hundred thirty-seven / 266767