History
The institution most frequently identified as the first modern savings bank was the “Savings and Friendly Society” organized by the Reverend Henry Duncan in 1810, in Ruthwell, Scotland. Rev. Duncan established the small bank in order to encourage his working class congregation to develop thrift. European voluntary organizations and “friendly societies” provided the inspiration for their state incorporated American counterparts.
These first savings banks were envisioned as philanthropic endeavors, designed to uplift the poor and working classes. The banks were started by philanthropists, who took on the positions of savings bank trustees, managers, and directors as opportunities to teach the working class the virtues of thrift, and self-reliance by allowing them the security to save their money. The first incorporated US mutual savings bank was the Provident Institution for Savings, in Boston. Its 1816 charter was the first government legislation in the world to safeguard savings banks.
Since the 1970s, when the industry was deregulated, thousands of mutual savings banks have been converted into stock ownership companies, raising more than $40 billion. In 2010, only about 600 remained. These conversions have often resulted in large financial rewards for top bank executives.
Read more about this topic: Mutual Savings Bank
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)