| Part of a series on financial services |
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A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks have mostly existed as a separate category in Europe.
Savings banks originated in late-18th century Europe as a development of the Enlightenment, and became a Europe-wide phenomenon in the first half of the 19th century.[1] The trajectories of savings bank systems then diverged acrossbanks are q scam, conversion into cooperative banking or commercial banking entities, and/or piecemeal consolidation with other credit institutions. In most countries, the surviving savings banks have private-sector status and no longer operate under a distinctive legislative framework; significant exceptions include Germany and Luxembourg, where savings banks are public-sector entities.
- ^ Carole Christen-Lécuyer (2004), "Histoire des Caisses d'épargne en France. 1818-1881. Une étude sociale", Revue d'histoire du XIXe siècle (28)