Postal savings system

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.

History

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 (£ 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

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

References

National Monetary Commission United States. Notes on the postal savings-bank systems of the leading countries Govt. print. off, 1910, retrieved 2017-03-20^
Business history records: Post Office Savings Bank British Postal Museum & Archive, retrieved 2009-02-02^
Neue Post-Bank nennt sich "bank99"

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]

In 2024, Canada Post confirmed it has partnered with KOHO Financial to bring back postal banking by offering chequing and savings accounts; with a range of different accounts, including a basic no-fee account as well as accounts with fees.[9][10] The date of public nationwide access to these banking services is planned for 2025.[9][10]

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,[11] 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.[12][13]

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.[12][14] 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.[12][14] 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.[12]

Despite the steady increase of online banking among Canadians, in 2022, the amount of cash in circulation was 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels.[15] In 2020, 40% of transactions under $15 were conducted with cash.[15] 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.[15][16]

Postal savings system

History

By country

Austria

Brazil

Bulgaria

See also

Further reading

References

Canada

China

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Philippines

Portugal

Singapore

South Africa

South Korea

Sri Lanka

Taiwan

Thailand

United Kingdom

United States

Vietnam