City Savings Bank of Zagreb

The City Savings Bank (Croatian: Gradska štedionica) was a significant bank headquartered in Zagreb, created in 1913, reorganized after World War II and eventually merged into the National Bank of Yugoslavia in 1952.

Former head office of the City Savings Bank on Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb, designed by Ignjat Fischer and completed in 1925

History

The Zagreb City Assembly approved the Statute of the City Savings Bank in Zagreb on 10 February 1913. At a time, Zagreb had a population of 100,000 and was rapidly developing into a modern city. The bank's primary role was financing the city's public companies. In 1916, the bank acquired the Zagreb electric tram company (ZET) and invested heavily in the development of the tram network and public transport in general.

The bank fared comparatively better during the European banking crisis of 1931 than many of its competitors. It had to request a moratorium on its liabilities, but this was lifted in 1935,[1]: 61  earlier than for peers including the larger First Croatian Savings Bank which had entered moratorium in April 1932.[2] The City Savings Bank benefited in this from its backing by the municipality of Zagreb.[3]: 172 

It was reorganized in 1946-1947 as a so-called Komunalna Banka,[4] with the task of servicing local budgets and controlling plan fulfillment by local enterprises. Like all other such entities, it was merged into the National Bank of Yugoslavia in 1952 under the era's "monobank" system, which was however dismantled later in the same decade.

Legacy

The Zagrebačka banka (Bank of Zagreb) was formed in 1977 by amalgamating various assets and operations including some from the City Savings Bank such as its former head office on Ban Jelačić Square, and views itself as the continuating entity of the City Savings Bank.[5]

See also

Notes
  1. Federal Reserve Board (February 1944), Army Service Forces Manual M355-5 / Civil Affairs Handbook Yugoslavia: Money and Banking, Washington DC: U.S. Army Service Forces
  2. Decision No. 1158 under the Yugoslav Claims Agreement of 1948 and the International Claims Settlements Act of 1949 (PDF), Washington DC: Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States, 19 August 1954, p. 2
  3. Mira Kolar-Dimitrijević (2018), The History of Money in Croatia 1527 – 1941, Zagreb: Croatian National Bank
  4. "Gradska štedionica u Zagrebu". Nacionalni arhivski informacijski sustav.
  5. "History". Zagrebačka Banka.


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