World Savings Day

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Piggy bank from the 1970s

The World Savings Day is held annually in the last week of October. The idea for this day goes back to the 1st International Savings Banks Congress (First International Thrift Congress) in October 1924. Originally dedicated to promoting the idea of ​​savings, the character of World Savings Day has changed significantly in parts of the world in the past. In some of the original founding countries, the day no longer plays a role. In the developing and emerging countries in particular, the so-called “World Thrift Day” is also gaining in importance in the 21st century and here reflects the increasing awareness of financial education and financial education.

History of World Savings Day

From October 26 to October 31, 1924, a total of 354 delegates from 27 countries met in Milan for the First International Thrift Congress. Among other things, it was decided here to found the International Savings Banks Institute (today World Savings and Retail Banking Institute). The last day of the congress declared the Italian professor Filippo Ravizza and later director of the International Savings Banks Institute to be "World Thrift Day". The second resolution of the congress put World Savings Day under the central theme

"Not a day of rest, but of work and conduct inspired by the ideal of Thrift with the view to propagating its principles by example, by word and by pictorial demonstration."

The countries that participated in the founding initiative for World Savings Day included:

  • Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Uruguay, USA.

Invitations to the congress also received representatives from:

  • Estonia, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Cyprus, etc.

The first World Savings Day was celebrated by the European savings banks on October 31, 1925. Although it was celebrated as an international date, the preparation and implementation were largely left to the national savings bank associations. For the International Savings Banks Institute, the spread of World Savings Day and the idea of ​​savings were in the foreground in the early years . A request for help from the Pope was even discussed. After the end of the Second World War , World Savings Day experienced its heyday from the 1955s, but has clearly lost its importance in the past 30 years.

In the meantime it has almost completely disappeared in some countries. Under the leadership of the Sparkassenstiftung für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, however , its importance is growing in emerging and developing countries. For example, World Savings Day has been featured in:

  • Azerbaijan, Georgia or Mexico and Mozambique

introduced.

World Savings Day is generally celebrated on October 31st today, but in Germany it is celebrated on the last working day before October 31st, because in some federal states Reformation Day on October 31st is a public holiday. In Austria, too, it is officially on October 31, but it may also be postponed to the last working day before. In addition, some banks in some countries have made it a practice to celebrate all days of the week on World Savings Day as a savings week.

Purpose and meaning of world savings day

Children's counter on World Savings Day, Kiel 1968

The initiative for World Savings Day was not just about promoting savings. Rather, the pedagogical aspect was in the foreground right from the start. Against the background of financial education, the aim was not only to reach the lower income brackets; saving should be seen as a task for society as a whole.

Today, on the occasion of World Savings Day, banks and savings banks often hand out promotional gifts, particularly money boxes or even cuddly toys, games and books. This should serve as an incentive to regularly bring the filled savings boxes to the banks to be emptied in order to then invest the money. Criticism of this view of World Savings Day comes from consumer advocates, some of whom criticize the nature of the savings products on offer. Criticism is sparked, among other things, at the suitability of various financial products - such as insurance - for the intended target group.

The pure financial education of broad sections of the population - as originally postulated by the 2nd resolution of the Savings Banks Congress - as the educational core or pivotal point of World Savings Day has receded into the background, at least in the group of industrialized nations. However, this statement does not apply to emerging and developing countries, where the goal of financial education continues to play a major role.

literature

  • Bulletin of the International Thrift Institute, 1926, No. 1 . International Thrift Institute, Milan 1926, 35 pages.

Web links

Wiktionary: World Savings Day  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bulletin of the International Thrift Institute, 1926, No. 1, p. 4
  2. ↑ Consumer advice center Rhineland-Palatinate: Criticism of insurance products as an investment instrument