Postal savings systems provide depositors who do not have access to banks a safe and convenient method to save money. Many nations have operated banking systems involving post offices to promote saving money among the poor.
This 1869 deposit book would be carried by the customer, and is a typical record of a British Post Office Savings Bank savings account.
In 1861, Great Britain became the first nation to offer such an arrangement. It was supported by Sir Rowland Hill, who successfully advocated the penny post, and William Ewart Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who saw it as a cheap way to finance the public debt. At the time, banks were mainly in the cities and largely catered to wealthy customers. Rural citizens and the poor had no choice but to keep their funds at home or on their persons.
The original Post Office Savings Bank was limited to deposits of £30 per year with a maximum balance of £150. Interest was paid at the rate of 2.5 percent per annum on whole pounds in the account. Later, the limits were raised to a maximum of £500 per year in deposits with no limit on the total amount. Within five years of the system's establishment, there were over 600,000 accounts and £8.2 million on deposit. By 1927, there were twelve million accounts—one in four Britons—with £283 million (£21,337 million today) on deposit.[1]
The British system first offered only savings accounts. In 1880, it also became a retail outlet for government bonds, and in 1916 introduced war savings certificates, which were renamed National Savings Certificates in 1920.[2] In 1956, it launched a lottery bond, the Premium Bond, which became its most popular savings certificate.[2] Post Office Savings Bank became National Savings Bank in 1969, later renamed National Savings and Investments (NS&I), an agency of HM Treasury. While continuing to offer National Savings services, the (then) General Post Office, created the National Giro in 1968 (privatized as Girobank and acquired by Alliance & Leicester in 1989).
Many other countries adopted such systems soon afterwards. Japan established a postal savings system in 1875 and the Dutch government started a systems in 1881 under the name Rijkspostspaarbank (national postal savings bank); this was followed by many other countries over the next 50 years. The later part of the 20th century saw a reversal where these systems were abolished or privatized.
By country
Austria
The Austrian Postal Savings Bank (P.S.K.) in Vienna
In Austria, the Österreichische Post used to own the Österreichische Postsparkasse (P.S.K.). This financial institute was bought and merged by the BAWAG in 2005. In April 2020, Österreichische Post launched a new postal bank, bank99.[3]
Brazil
Brazil instituted a postal banking system in 2002, where the national postal service (ECT) formed a partnership with the largest private bank in the country (Bradesco) to provide financial services at post offices. The current partnership is with Bank of Brazil.
Today the bank is in a semi-defunct state since 2019, after a decree from the government shut down the branch.
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, the postal banking system was a subsidiary of Bulgarian Posts until 1991, when Bulgarian Postbank was created. In the years that followed, Bulgarian Postbank was privatized and the relationship between post offices and bank offices became weaker. Postal banking services ceased to be available in post offices in 2011.
Canada
Canada Post offered banking services via its Post Office Savings Bank, created by the Post Office Act in April 1868, less than a year following the nation's confederation. A century later, the Post Office Savings Bank was shut down in 1968–69.[4] Since at least the early 2010s, postal banking has been discussed and studied periodically, with postal unions backing the idea.[5][6] In October 2022, Canada Post dipped its toe into the possibility of rolling out postal banking services by offering small personal loans between $1,000-$30,000 in partnership with TD Bank, but no chequing or savings accounts.[7] Less than a month later, in November 2022, the loan program discontinued any new applications.[8]
Many rural communities, remote indigenous communities, and even some inner-city neighbourhoods, are lacking a local bank or credit union, many with either no reliable access to the internet or no affordable (or free public wifi) for internet banking. These financially underserved communities are left without the ability to have a locally accessible bank account, having a high risk of theft or misappropriation of funds if large amounts of cash are stored at home or else resort to paying costly fees using Canada Post's prepaid reloadable Visa card,[9] inability to get a bank loan for a business, inability to build credit, great difficulty running a business, inability to deposit or cash cheques, or inability to cash cheques for more than a limited amount at retailers (if there's any retailers cashing cheques in their community) along with cheque cashing fees, or cash larger cheques at extremely high-fee payday lenders.[10][11]
The number of bank branches in Canada have been steadily on the decline, from 6,350 in 2014 to 5,783 in 2020; as have credit union branches, from 3,603 in 2002 to 2,336 in 2022.[10][12] Of the 2,620 small towns and rural communities with post offices in Canada, 1,178 (45%) did not have any bank branches; in over 700 indigenous communities in Canada, over 90% did not have any bank or credit union branches.[10][12] As of 2018, there are more post offices (6,200) in Canada than bank branches. "Banking deserts" occur in cities also, in Ottawa's downtown Bank Street, there are more high-fees payday lenders than banks.[10]
Despite the steady increase of online banking among Canadians, in 2022, the amount of cash in circulation was 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels.[13] In 2020, 40% of transactions under $15 were conducted with cash.[13] The ability to have a chequing account and withdrawal cash in-person from a local branch is vital for teens, low-income adults, adults trying to get out of debt, and vulnerable Canadians such as the disabled (those able to live without formal trusteeship), elderly and technology-illiterate, and those fleeing domestic abuse, as handling cash gives a more concrete understanding of where money is going than making purchases with a card, as well as less fees taking from their already small funds since purchases with cash have no transaction fees, overdraft fees, non-sufficient funds fees, or card loading fees.[13][14]
China
Post office in Shanghai offering postal savings services
In Finland, Postisäästöpankki ("Post Savings Bank") was founded in 1887. In 1970 its name was shortened to Postipankki ("Post Bank"). In 1998 it was changed to a commercial bank named Leonia Bank. Later, it was merged with an insurance company to form Sampo Group, and the bank was renamed Sampo Bank. It had a few own offices, but also post offices performed its banking operations until 2000. In 2007, Sampo Bank was sold to the Danish Danske Bank.
Deutsche Postbank has a postal banking system. Deutsche Postbank was a subsidiary of Deutsche Post until 2008, when 30% of Deutsche Post's shares were sold to Deutsche Bank.[15] Postal banking services are still available at all branches of Deutsche Post and Deutsche Postbank.
The postal savings bank of Hungary was established on 1 February 1886 by order of Lax IX of 1885. This act initially only authorized savings accounts, but was later expanded by Law XXXIV of 1889, which authorized "checks and clearing" starting on 1 January 1890.[citation needed] In 1919 the Postal Savings Bank notes were issued under the decree of the Revolutionary Governing Council of the Hungarian Soviet Republic by the Magyar Postatakarékpénztár (Hungarian Postal Savings Bank).
India Post has provided an avenue for managing savings to the people living in rural or the urban poor, underserved by the formal banking system, since 1882 when Post Office Savings Bank was established.[16][17]
Over time, the scope of financial services provided by India Post grew to include other National Savings Schemes promoted by Government of India. In 2018, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was launched as a regulated bank to provide a full set of banking services, as specialised division of India Post. As of January 2022, the bank was serving around 50 million customers.[18]
Indonesia
Postal savings in Indonesia began with the establishment of the Netherlands Indian Post Office Savings Bank (Dutch: Postspaarbank) in 1897. During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, it was replaced by the Savings Office (Japanese: 貯金局, Hepburn: Chokin-kyoku, Nihon-shiki: Tyokin-kyoku) and savings were encouraged by the military administration to support the Greater East Asia War. The Savings Office became the Post Office Savings Bank again (Indonesian: Bank Tabungan Pos) after independence, before renamed into the current State Savings Bank, or Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) in 1963. Between 1963 and 1968, it became the Fifth Unit of Bank Negara Indonesia during the single-bank system, made to support the guided democracy.
Currently, BTN offers a savings plan that allows its users to deposit in post offices.
Ireland
In Ireland, An Post provide a Post Office Savings Bank Deposit Account. It provides an interest rate of 0.15% which is added to the account at the end of the year. Customers are provided with a physical deposit book and can deposit and withdraw from the account using the deposit book at any Post Office Branch. This service is run on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency with other "Ireland State Saving" schemes offered by the Irish Government, including Prize Bond.
An Post also provide saving stamps for children, from the 1980s stamps cost 50p/50c, each stamp was place in a card. There were 10 places on each side of the card, you could exchange the stamps for their value at any post office. Prior to this stamps cost 10p and allowed children to save just IR£1.
An Post also provide separate commercial banking services. Between 2006 and 2010 it ran Postbank, a joint venture with Fortis Bank Belgium. It now provides banking service under the brand An Post Money.
Israel
Israel's postal service Israel Postal Company offers utility payment, savings and checking accounts, as well as foreign currency exchange services from all post offices.[19]
Japan Post Bank, part of the post office was the world's largest savings bank with 198 trillion yen (US$1.7 trillion) of deposits as of 2006,[20] much from conservative, risk-averse citizens. The state-owned Japan Post Bank business unit of Japan Post was formed in 2007, as part of a ten-year privatization programme, intended to achieve fully private ownership of the postal system by 2017.[21]
Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, national postal operator, Kazpost, has a banking license and offers banking services in all its branches across the country.
In 1881 the Dutch government founded the Rijkspostspaarbank (National Postal Savings Bank). In 1986 it was privatised, together with the Postgiro service, as the Postbank N.V. Postbank merged with a commercial bank that would eventually become ING Bank.
New Zealand
Post Office Savings Bank was established in 1867 by the New Zealand government to give New Zealand investors a place to deposit their savings.[23][24] This included the provision of children's savings accounts known as Post Office Squirrel savings account. The Post Office Savings bank was split into PostBank in 1987 and was acquired by ANZ Bank New Zealand two years later ending the bank.
In 2002 the New Zealand government created a new state owned post bank called Kiwibank as part of the New Zealand Post to again establish a postal savings system.[25]
Norway
Postbanken was founded in 1948 after major political battle as Norges Postsparebank, however the maximum amount allowed to be saved per person was set to NOK 10,000. In 1948 the bank had services provided at 3,600 post offices and post outlets. It was sold in 1999 and became part of the commercial bank DNB ASA.
Philippines
The Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB), also known as PostalBank, is the state-owned postal savings system in the Philippines. It is the smallest of the Philippines' three state-owned banks and is governed separately from PhilPost. In late 2017, state bank Land Bank of the Philippines acquired PPSB at zero value and made it as a subsidiary. It is now known as Overseas Filipino Bank.
Portugal
In Portugal, the CTT own 100% of the Banco CTT, which has been operating since 2015 throughout Portugal.
Singapore
In Singapore, POSB Bank was established in 1877 as the Post Office Savings Bank.[26] Today, it now operates as part of DBS Bank, after its acquisition on 16 November 1998.[27]
South Africa
Postbank (South Africa), operated by the South African Post Office (SAPO). Offers transactional, savings, investments, insurance & pension banking services.[28]
South Korea
Korea Post, operated by South Korean government, has its postal banking and postal insurance business since 1982. Banking counter and ATM is available in all post office, excluding postal agencies and delivery centers. Korea Post ATM is connected with all national and regional banks via KFTC. Banking counter is also opened for Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank, Citibank Korea, and Jeonbuk Bank customers.
Between 1 April 1929 and 31 March 1947, the Post and Telegraph Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Communications of Siam (before becoming Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1932 before being split to Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Communications in 1942) has run Saving Office before becoming Government Savings Bank (GSB)[29]
United Kingdom
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2024)
The Post Office branded services are similar to some of National Savings and Investments' services, and include instant savings, Individual Savings Accounts, seasonal savings and savings bonds.[30][31][32][33] Post Office Ltd also provides a Post Office card account that accepts only direct deposits of certain state pension and welfare payments, permitting cash withdrawals over the counter.[34] This last account is offered in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions until 2010, through investment banking and asset management company JP Morgan. (This contract has recently been awarded to JP Morgan to run till 2015)
Fifty years later, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign platform included plans for postal banking.[36] In 2018, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand supported such a program.[37] In April 2018, Gillibrand introduced S.2755 - Postal Banking Act[38] partly in response to the Trump administration's suspension of payday lending regulation imposed during the Obama administration. In 2020, after Joe Biden defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, the Biden-Sanders "Unity Task Force” policy recommendations for a Biden administration, released in July, included postal banking.[39] In September 2020, Gillibrand and Sanders announced a newer Postal Banking Act.[40] It would help strengthen the Postal Service's financial situation and help unbanked and underbanked people with savings and checking accounts, debit cards and low-dollar loans that they might otherwise be forced to get from payday lenders at high interest rates.[41][42]
Vietnam
Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank or LienVietPostBank (LPB), formerly known as LienVietBank, is a Vietnamese retail bank that provides banking products and services through its own transaction points across 42 cities and provinces and 1,031 postal transaction offices nationwide. LBP is considered to be in the top 10 biggest banks in terms of assets and equity [2] and ranked 36th in VNR500 – Top 500 largest private companies in Vietnam in 2013. The Bank is striving to become the bank for everyone in Vietnam by focusing on banking products for households and small and medium enterprises especially in the agriculture sector, and expanding its activities to rural and remote areas via the post.
An Post is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, parcel service, deposit accounts, Express Post, and EMS.
The ING Group is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banking, private banking, asset management, and insurance services. With total assets of US$967.8 billion, it is one of the biggest banks in the world, and consistently ranks among the largest banks globally.
A transaction account, also called a checking account, chequing account, current account, demand deposit account, or share account at credit unions, is a deposit account or bank account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the account owner "on demand" and is available for frequent and immediate access by the account owner or to others as the account owner may direct. Access may be in a variety of ways, such as cash withdrawals, use of debit cards, cheques and electronic transfer. In economic terms, the funds held in a transaction account are regarded as liquid funds. In accounting terms, they are considered as cash.
A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque.
A giro transfer, often shortened to giro, is a payment transfer between current bank accounts and initiated by the payer, not the payee. The debit card has a similar model. Giros are primarily used in Europe; although electronic payment systems exist in the United States, it is not possible to perform third-party transfers with them. In the European Union, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) allows electronic giro or debit card payments in euros to be executed to any euro bank account in the area.
Cheque fraud or check fraud refers to a category of criminal acts that involve making the unlawful use of cheques in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the account balance or account-holder's legal ownership. Most methods involve taking advantage of the float to draw out these funds. Specific kinds of cheque fraud include cheque kiting, where funds are deposited before the end of the float period to cover the fraud, and paper hanging, where the float offers the opportunity to write fraudulent cheques but the account is never replenished.
India Post is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It's trade name of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world, and India is the country that has the largest number of post offices in the world. It is involved in delivering mail (post), remitting money by money orders, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc.
A savings account is a bank account at a retail bank. Common features include a limited number of withdrawals, a lack of cheque and linked debit card facilities, limited transfer options and the inability to be overdrawn. Traditionally, transactions on savings accounts were widely recorded in a passbook, and were sometimes called passbook savings accounts, and bank statements were not provided; however, currently such transactions are commonly recorded electronically and accessible online.
A cheque is a document that orders a bank, building society to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, known as the drawer, has a transaction banking account where the money is held. The drawer writes various details including the monetary amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay the amount of money stated to the payee.
An overdraft occurs when something is withdrawn in excess of what is in a current account. For financial systems, this can be funds in a bank account. In these situations the account is said to be "overdrawn". In the economic system, if there is a prior agreement with the account provider for an overdraft, and the amount overdrawn is within the authorized overdraft limit, then interest is normally charged at the agreed rate. If the negative balance exceeds the agreed terms, then additional fees may be charged and higher interest rates may apply.
Post Office Savings Bank, or very briefly PostBank, was a bank owned by the New Zealand Government as the government's postal savings system. The bank was established in 1867. It became PostBank in 1987 and was disestablished and the branches were rebranded when it was acquired by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in 1989.
Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a bank to the general public, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as wholesale banking.
A bank statement is an official summary of financial transactions occurring within a given period for each bank account held by a person or business with a financial institution. Such statements are prepared by the financial institution, are numbered and indicate the period covered by the statement, and may contain other relevant information for the account type, such as how much is payable by a certain date. The start date of the statement period is usually the day after the end of the previous statement period.
Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd. is a Japanese bank headquartered in Tokyo. It is a corporation held by Japan Post Holdings, in which the government of Japan has a majority stake.
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Postbank, legally known as Eurobank Bulgaria AD, is a universal bank in Bulgaria.
Tangerine Bank is a Canadian direct bank that is a subsidiary of Scotiabank. It offers no-fee chequing and savings accounts, Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), mortgages and mutual funds. Many savings and investment products are eligible for registration under a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) or Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF).
Wealthsimple Inc. is a Canadian online investment management service. The firm was founded in September 2014 by Michael Katchen, Brett Huneycutt, Som Seif, and Rudy Adler and is based in Toronto. As of September 18, 2024, the firm holds over C$50 billion in assets under management. It is primarily owned by Power Corporation indirectly at 55.1% through investments made through their holdings in Power Financial, IGM Financial and Portag3.
Equitable Bank is a Canadian bank that specializes in residential and commercial real estate lending, as well as personal banking through its digital arm, EQ Bank. Founded in 1970 as The Equitable Trust Company, it became a Schedule I Bank in 2013 and has since grown to become Canada's seventh largest bank by assets.
Simplii Financial is a Canadian direct bank and the digital banking division of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). It offers no-fee chequing and savings accounts, a VISA credit card, Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), mortgages and mutual funds. These savings and investment products are also eligible for registration under a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
↑ "The Post Office Savings Bank". 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 1966. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
↑ Stock, Rob (c. 2008). "About Kiwibank". Kiwibank, external information. Kiwibank. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
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