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The Colonial Postal Savings Bank:

A draft for the creation of this entity was submitted by the Governor to the Colonial Council in 1904. Because Curaçao already had several savings facilities in town, particular emphasis was placed on devising a system that would also include the rural districts. Its regulations were largely drawn from those of a similar institution then operating in the Netherlands. Savers could make a minimum deposit as low as twenty-five guilder cents and withdraw up to twenty-five guilders without notice in a single week; accounts paid 2.5% interest up to one thousand guilders for individuals or two thousand for corporate bodies.

According to the original proposed statutes, money was preferably to be invested in local mortgages (this point, alone, differed from the Dutch counterpart) but, should that not bring a good return, it could also be invested in the Netherlands. However, this point was amended at the request of the Minister for the Colonies, who pointed out that such a precarious investment strategy was not compatible with a savings bank, and insisted that funds first be invested in the Dutch National Debt, in other Dutch securities and in loans against security in the Netherlands; local mortgages should be considered only as a last option and then only in an amount not to exceed one fifth of the capital. The bank began operating in April 1905 but was of only marginal importance until the 1920s.

With the development of Curaçao's private banking sector in the 1920s the Postal Bank languished until it found a profitable niche among the growing group of immigrant refinery workers, who were comforted by the fact that the government fully guaranteed the bank's deposits. However, because foreign workers were the first to be laid off during the crisis of the 1930s, the Postal Bank was the first financial institution to be hard hit by the crisis; withdrawals already exceeded deposits as early as 1930, when other banks were still posting a major profit. By 1931, however, local workers also came to appreciate the government guarantees offered by the Postal Bank and both individuals and companies made large deposits as a kind of security backup. The bank's position was further strengthened in 1936 when it was allowed to invest in mortgages on local real estate for the first time; by 1938 its interest rate on deposits was over a half a point higher than that of the commercial banks. It used the capital it accumulated on these savings accounts to finance the mortgages of the growing number of civil servants.

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Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry