Savings Banking
A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits. It may also perform some other functions.
The first chartered savings bank in the United States was the Boston Provident Savings Institution, incorporated December 13, 1816. The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society began business the same year, but was not incorporated until 1819. In 1818 banks for savings were incorporated in Baltimore and Salem, and in 1819 in New York, Hartford, Newport and Providence.
A savings and loan association (or S&L), also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks.
They are often mutually held (often called mutual savings banks[citation needed]), meaning that the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights, and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization, similar to the policyholders of a mutual insurance company. It is possible for an S&L to be a joint stock company and even publicly traded. However, this means that it is no longer truly an association, and depositors and borrowers no longer have managerial control.
By law, thrifts must have at least 65 percent of their lending in mortgages and other consumer loans — making them particularly vulnerable to housing downturns such as the deep one the U.S. has experienced since 2007.
And also a mutual savings bank operates in a country. A mutual savings bank is a financial institution chartered through a state or federal government to provide a safe place for individuals to save and to invest those savings in mortgages, loans, stocks, bonds and other securities.
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.
Mutual savings banks were designed to stimulate savings by individuals; the exclusive function of these banks is to protect deposits, make limited, secure investments, and provide depositors with interest. Unlike commercial banks, savings banks have no stockholders; the entirety of profits beyond the upkeep of the bank belongs to the depositors of the mutual savings bank. Mutual savings banks prioritize security, and as a result, have historically been characteristically conservative in their investments. This conservatism is what allowed mutual savings banks to remain stable throughout the turbulent period of the Great Depression, despite the failing of commercial banks and savings and loan associations.
In America, most mutual savings banks are located in the Northeast, and are owned by their depositors and borrowers. A mutual savings bank does not issue capital stock. Profits are distributed to the owner/customers in proportion to the business they do with the institution.
Unlike a true cooperative, a mutual, mutual organization, or mutual (an organization, which is often, but not always, a company or business, based on the principle of mutuality) society members usually do not contribute to the capital of the company by direct investment, but derive their right to profits and votes through their customer relationship. A mutual organization or society is often simply referred to as a mutual.
A mutual exists with the purpose of raising funds from its membership or customers (collectively called its members), which can then be used to provide common services to all members of the organization or society. A mutual is therefore owned by, and run for the benefit of, its members - it has no external shareholders to pay in the form of dividends, and as such does not usually seek to maximize and make large profits or capital gains. Mutuals exist for the members to benefit from the services they provide and often do not pay income tax.
Profits made will usually be re-invested in the mutual for the benefit of the members, although some profit may also be necessary in the case of mutuals to sustain or grow the organization, and to make sure it remains safe and secure.
