The World Savings and Retail Banking Institute is an international banking association. It has nearly 100 members in 80 countries around the world, representing approximately 6,760 savings and retail banks.[1]
 | |
| Abbreviation | WSBI |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1924 |
| Founder | Banks at the first International Thrift Congress in Milan |
| Founded at | Milan, Italy |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Legal status | Trade association |
| Purpose | Global representative of savings banks |
| Location |
|
Region served | Worldwide |
Membership (2024) | 91 |
Official language | English |
| Affiliations | European Savings and Retail Banks Group |
| Website | www |
WSBI is the global representative of its members, typically savings and retail banks or association thereof, and fosters cooperation between them. An important area of work is financial inclusion, where the organisation has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation.[2][3][4]
It shares a common secretariat and office with the European Savings and Retail Banks Group in Brussels.
History
editWSBI was founded 1924 at the occasion of the First International Thrift Congress in Milan. Until the Second World War the headquarters of the International Savings Banks Institute remained in Milan. But since Milan had suffered from heavy bombings during the war the Institute moved to Amsterdam in 1948.
In 1963, WSBI's sister organization, the 'Savings Banks Group of the European Economic Community' was created to represent European Savings Banks from the merging European markets. This institution was renamed European Savings and Retail Banks Group in 1988 and was renamed to European Savings and Retail Banking Group in 2013
The International Savings Banks Institute was again relocated in 1969, this time to Geneva where it remained until 1994 when it was dissolved. In its place, a newly created World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI) was established in Brussels on 9 June 1994. Since then they have changed their name to the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute and the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (WSBI-ESBG), and continue to operate under a common secretariat located in Brussels.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "WSBI Key figures".
- ^ "WSBI to Develop New Strategies to Increase the Number of Savings Accounts with Member Banks".
- ^ "New WSBI Partnership with Mastercard Foundation Aims to Benefit One Million People Across Africa". 26 July 2016.
- ^ Arévalo, Angela. "WSBI's Contribution to the Collection of Data on Accessible Finance". United Nations Capital Development Fund. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011.