Századok – 2002

Tanulmányok - Egry Gábor: A Brassói Általános Takarékpénztár és a Nagyszebeni Általános Takarékpénztár korai történetének néhány jellegzetessége 1835–1848 VI/1261

A BRASSÓI ÉS A NAGYSZEBENI ÁLTALÁNOS TAKARÉKPÉNZTÁR... 1293 SOME FEATURES OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GENERAL SAVINGS BANK OF BRASSÓ AND THE GENERAL SAVINGS BANK OF NAGYSZEBEN, 1835-1848 by Gábor Egry (Summary) The paper deals with a problem that received little attention in the historiography of Hungarian economic history, traditional savings banks. In the realm of the Hungarian Holy Crown the first banks to belong to this category were the General Savings Bank of Nagyszeben founded in 1835 and the General Savings Bank of Brassó founded in 1841. They were founded by the Saxon elite of the two towns. They operated in the form of society, the members did not share the profit, of which one quarter was spent on public purposes. Their primary aim was to create the conditions, and disseminate the notion of saving, which they regarded as the most important means to avoid impoverishment. At least as important in their view was to increase the size of loans by the concentration of capital. Although the activities of the two institutions were in many ways similar, they operated according to different models. The distribution of loans and of deposits as well as the annual fluctuation of their amount was identical in both institutions. Over 90% of the people who placed deposits put in small amounts of money, while 95% of the amount deposited came from large deposits. Deposits were the exclusive source of funds. Within the framework of the two institutions a traditional savings bank collecting small deposits operated simultaneously with a bank. Their activities as creditors were limited by the size of the deposits. They operated within tight geographical confines. This state of affairs was reinforced by the register required for collateral. They placed great emphasis on the security of their financial operations even if their growth rate had to be held back. Even so, by 1848 their total equity exceeded half-a-million convention forints in the case of the Brassó, and one million in the case of the Nagyszeben bank. The variation in growth resulted from the different way they operated. The institute in Brassó became closely intertwined with the city magistrate from the very outset, while the one in Nagyszeben operated independently. The management in Brassó chose to hold back growth in the interest of security and at times, in line with savings bank traditions restricted the size of deposits. The other in Nagyszeben limited business risk with market means, by accumulating reserves from precious metals and securities. They succesfully promulgated the idea of saving as well. In late 1847 three - four per cent of the population in some administrative units had savings, this figure much have been much higher in the two towns. The high level of their aceptance is illustrated by the fact that the foundation of savings banks was included in the Saxon reform program. They succesfully worked for the public interest. The bank in Brassó devoted its profit to the construction' of a civilian hospital, while the other distributed it every year. In doing so it supported schooling, sports clubs, town beautification and reconstruction. In the period before 1848 the newly founded savings banks became accepted institutions of their communities. They initiated a new - civilian - model of self-care and thus actively contributed to the transformation of'Saxon communities.