[1] The origins of Česká spořitelna go back to the emergence of savings banks as a specific form of financial institutions in Europe, starting in Germany in the late 18th century.

The first such institution in the Austrian Empire was the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse in Vienna, founded in 1819, which was soon emulated in other cities of the Habsburg Monarchy.

[2] Thus, in Prague, the Böhmische Sparkasse (Czech: Česká spořitelna) was established in 1825 after local government official Josef von Hoch first submitted a proposal for its creation in 1823.

The first to respond to the proposal was Prince Rudolf Colloredo, who invested 300 florins in the fund of the future bank.

The first group of contributors, with a contribution of 300 florins, were the nobles Franz Josef of Vrtba [cs], August Lobkowicz, Johann Adolf II of Schwarzenberg [de], Philip Kinsky, Joseph Wratislaw of Mitrovice, and Prague Archbishop Vaclav Leopold Chlumčanský [cs].

People had to keep certain amounts from which they received a small interest, and thus created stock in case of illness, old age or unemployment.

The new bank was at first open for only a few days a week (on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday) from 9:00 to 12:00, and from 15:00 to 18:00, and with two rooms in the building of the Bohemian Diet.

In 1861, it completed a prestigious new head office designed by architect Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann, Prague's first building specifically erected for a banking institution.

[4] On September 26, 1844, new Austrian legislation provided a more consistent basis that led to the flourishing of new savings banks in Austria and the rest of the Empire, including the Czech lands.

The outbreak of the First World War caused a huge panic among the population, and people tried to withdraw their deposits, so on July 31, 1914, the government announced a moratorium on all large payments, which continued until the summer of 1915.

As deposits in rural banks grew, the central balance improved; the surplus was then invested in military loans.

Although the possibility was offered of canceling various restrictions that made it difficult for savings banks to compete with other financial institutions, in the end the point of view prevailed that it was these restrictions that gave savings banks a reputation for solidity and stability, and therefore such changes did not take place.

77 established the Association of Czechoslovak Savings Banks (Czech: Svaz československých spořitelen) as an organizational and control body.

In the fall of 1938, the Sudetenland were annexed by Nazi Germany, and in the spring of 1939, the rest of the republic was dismantled and occupied.

The Ústřední svaz peněžnictví pro Čechy a Moravu was established as the supreme body, which was divided into three economic groups.

Efforts towards concentration continued in the following years as well, which manifested themselves in the reduction of the network of financial institutions and their Germanization.

District savings banks in Smíchov, Karlín, Hostivař and Zbraslav were also brought into the new institution, and the entire newly established institution was called Prague Savings Bank (German: Prager Sparkasse, Czech: Spořitelna pražská).

After the end of the war in 1945, the restoration and creation of a network of savings banks began, especially in the border areas, where the previous German institutions were liquidated.

The government of Klement Gottwald, with J. Dolanský as minister of finance, made further attempts to reorganize the monetary system after 1946.

Nationalization changed the previous function of savings banks, namely providing loans: their main task now became the acquisition and concentration of deposits and their use for the needs of the centrally planned economy.

The supreme authority was the so-called main administration of all savings banks (Czech: hlavní správa všech spořitelen), which was established at the Ministry of Finance in Prague.

The growth agenda and the effort to subordinate the activities of savings banks to a unified system led to the adoption of Act No.

In 1969, premium savings for young people were introduced, and from 1972, so-called sporojiro accounts, which allowed non-cash transfer of deposits.

At the end of the 1980s, under the influence of changes brought about by the Russian perestroika, a new law on the State Bank of Czechoslovakia was approved on 15 November 1989.

Another 20% was obtained by a free transfer to the cities and municipalities of the Czech Republic, and 3% formed a reserve for possible restitution.

It has issued 3.3 million debit and credit cards, and it also has the largest ATM network in the Czech Republic (about 1244).