![]() The finances of Caja Navarra have improved markedly since the adoption of Civic Banking in 2003. Similarly, the rising share of clients sensitive to environmental a development issues confirms that “you choose, you decide “is a formidable marketing tool. By the same token, the possibility to raise grants for the care of relatives with special needs has acted as a magnet in enticing their families to bank with CAN. This fact has attracted a fair share of immigrants to banking with CAN. The number of social projects sponsored in developing and transition countries is in an upward trend. The projects range – to mention a few – from a daycare center for Alzheimer patients in Valencia (Spain ), to a nutrition program for poor children in Ocongate (Peru ) or a low-cost housing project in Anantapur (India ). Anyone, anywhere in the world can present a request for grant funding provided that: (a) the project and the implementing entity meet broad defined criteria and (b) the entity agrees to provide progress reports and be subject to auditing if required.Īt present the catalogue comprises 3600 national and international social projects. There is no need to be a client of CAN to present a project. But this is not the point of my article my purpose is to analyze the Civic Banking model adopted five years ago by one of these institutions.ģ. The jury is still out as to how cajas will fare in the aftermath of the current real estate and banking crises. The largest and better known are Caixa and Caja Madrid, respectively third and forth largest banks in Spain. It comprises forty five cajas de ahorro that manage total combined assets of US$ 1.3 trillion or about one half of total banking intermediation. In Spain the sector has thrived in recent years. Two recent examples are, first, the failure and liquidation of 800 S&Ls in the US during the 1980s and second, the demutualization or merger with banks of about one half of the largest building societies in the UK during the 1990s. Like other types of financial institutions, saving banks have had mixed fortunes, averaging good times with bad times. Each homegrown variety adopted its distinctive name: building societies in the UK, caisses d’epargne in France, sparkassen in Germany, savings and loans(S&Ls) in the USA, and cajas de ahorro in Spain and Latin America. These are the roots of a myriad of savings banks that sprung up all over Europe and overseas starting in the 19th century. Some even see the origins of saving banks in an essay written one hundred years earlier by Daniel Defoe – the author of “Robinson Crusoe” – in which he called for the establishment of what he termed “pension offices”. Bentham coined the name of “frugality banks “. In 1797, the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham – father of “utilitarianism” and one of the founders of modern economics – put forth a proposal for the creation of savings banks as a self-help scheme to help paupers out of poverty. ![]() They were replicated elsewhere in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was precisely the search for alternatives to “usurers” what gave birth to the so called “mounts of piety” – or not- for- profit pawnshops – first set up by Franciscan monks in 16th century Italy. In the middle ages, “usury” laws kept lenders at the edge or in the shade. In biblical times, making a living by charging interest on loans was deemed immoral. The fact of the matter is that bankers have seldom been held in high esteem. ![]()
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