200 years ago, pioneers like Henry Duncan in Scotland, Georg Christian Oeder in Germany or Benjamin Delessert and François de la Rochefoucauld in France launched innovative institutions dedicated to collect savings of private households, and to re-invest these funds in a responsible and sustainable way to the local community, in small and medium-sized entreprises, and local authorities. Innovative at the time of creation, most savings banks were founded at the beginning of the 19th century, these savings banks continue to be forward-looking institutions and still guarantee reliable and accessible services to a maximum of people.
Although already a significant amount of research has been conducted on the banking sector in general and on savings banks specifically, there is still a largely unknown territory to discover and explore.
The European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) and World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI) strongly believes that encouraging and supporting research on savings banks is critically important. This is necessary to improve awareness and increase appreciation of the characteristics of savings banks against both the background of the savings and retail banking sector and within the context of the multi-dimensional world of banking.
For these reasons, in 2004 the ESBG launched the ‘European Savings Banks Academic Award.’ The Award seeks to:
- encourage academic research into the savings banks industry in Europe
- stimulate thought and discussion on trends and market forces impacting the industry’s evolution and dynamics
- strengthen collaboration among European research centres and academia and
- promote and stimulate future comparative research projects on European savings banks.
The previous editions of 2005, 2008 and 2010 brought some very high-quality standard laureates. In 2005, we were happy to read the outstanding study of Mrs. Beate Sturm on the early modern system of personal loans as a structural basis for the first foundations of savings banks in Germany. In 2008, the award winning study of Mr. Stefan Gärtner focused on the importance and significance of the German savings banks in the regional structural and cohesion policy. The latest 2010 edition has been awarded to the study of Mrs. Lindstrand and Mrs. Lindbergh for their study on the impact of local banks on the internationalization of SME’s.
General Guidelines for Submissions
The Award is geared towards any academic work which addresses either the evolution of the European savings banks systems or savings in the community in general. Specific attention to historical aspects of savings banks are particularly encouraged as are studies which prove to be useful for the day-to-day development and work of the savings banks.
Applications to the Savings Banks Academic Award must be written in a clear, understandable, and narrative style. The research work should have the potential to be published in academic/savings banks professional circles and should also be accessible to a wider audience.
Prizes
Prize money totalling € 9,000 is awarded to three outstanding submissions. The winner receives € 5,000. Submissions are evaluated based on the structure and methodology of the paper, the breadth of analysis, the relevance and originality of the research and the importance of the results for savings banks. They will be reviewed by a jury presided over by Mr. Chris De Noose, Managing Director of the WSBI-ESBG.
Calendar and Focus of the 2012 edition
If you would like to compete for the 2012 edition of the European Savings Banks Academic Award, please contact your country’s national coordinators for all practical information.
The national coordinators will prepare a short list of three candidates which will be submitted to the European Savings Banks Award judging committee before 31 December 2011.
The selection will take place in March/April 2012. The winners will then be informed and invited to participate in the awards ceremony during the next Conference on Savings Banks History planned in the summer of 2012.