Savings Banks and Cooperative Banks in European Banking Systems

Reinhard H. Schmidt; Dilek Bülbül; Ulrich  Schüwer

Published: 2014-05-01

Vol. 55 No. 2 (2014)

Savings Banks and Cooperative Banks in European Banking Systems

Reinhard H. Schmidt , Dilek Bülbül , Ulrich Schüwer

Abstract

Until about 25 years ago, almost all European countries had a so-called “three pillar” banking system comprising private banks, public savings banks and (mutual) cooperative banks. Since that time, several European countries have implemented far-reaching changes in their banking systems, which have more than anything else affected the two “pillars” of the savings and cooperative banks. The paper first describes these changes and points out the specific situation in Germany, as this country is almost unique in so far as the German savings banks and cooperative banks have maintained most of their traditional features. The article then describes the structure of the German “Three-Pillar” banking system and the place and role of savings and cooperative banks in it and concludes with a plea for diversity of institutional forms of banks by arguing why it is important to safeguard the strengths of those types of banks that do not conform to the model of a large shareholder-oriented commercial bank.

Keywords:

German three pillar banking system , cooperative banks , savings banks

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Schmidt, R. H., Bülbül, D., & Schüwer, U. . (2014). Savings Banks and Cooperative Banks in European Banking Systems. Safe Bank, 55(2), 38–49. Retrieved from https://ojs.bfg.pl/index.php/bb/article/view/374

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