Historical background

Postal Savings Bonds historical background

Cassa Depositi e Prestiti has been using Italy’s network of post offices to collect funding from postal savings since 1875

Law 2779 of 27 May 1875 proposed by the Minister of Finance at the time Quintino Sella, ordered the creation of a central postal savings bank, guaranteed by the State and part of Cassa depositi e prestiti, based on the British example set up in 1861
This made widespread savings possible; the individual saver earned a return regardless of the amount deposited, with a guarantee from the State that it could be repaid on demand
Initially composed solely of passbooks, funding was later supplemented with registered savings bonds introduced by Royal Decree 2106 of 26 December 1924, which authorised the Ministry of Finance to issue the bonds, making Poste Italiane responsible for placement and CDP responsible for management of the funds
Later on, following the approval of the Post Office and Telecommunication Act (Royal Decree 645 of 27 February 1936) the relationship between the post office and Cassa depositi e prestiti was modified, with the former becoming a savings branch – as already the case for the passbook service – and the latter assuming the role of issuer

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