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The European Savings and Retail Banking Group is a European banking association representing around two dozen members from 20 countries (EU and non-EU), comprising approximately 1000 individual savings and retail banks. These institutions operate 60,000 outlets and employ 810,00 people. At the start of 2015, total assets of ESBG members amounted to €7.1 trillion and total non-bank loans to €3.7 trillion. Based in 20 European countries, ESBG members employ 810,000 people who serve some 190 million customers in Europe. ESBG members have €500 billion in loans to small and medium-sized enterprises on their books in the European Union, equal to roughly one-third of the EU SME lending market.
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History and activities
The European Savings and Retail Banking Group was founded in 1963 as the 'Savings Banks Group of the European Economic Community'. The association changed its name to European Savings Banks Group in 1988 and then to its current name in 2013. ESBG is the sister organisation of the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute, with both organisations managed in Brussels by a WSBI-ESBG jointly run Office.
ESBG represents the interests of its members vis-à-vis the EU institutions and fosters cooperation between them. To this end, it defines and expresses the position of its members in matters related to the European financial services industry. It publishes research papers and studies on the evolution of legislation and the retail banking market in Europe, notably in comparison with other markets. ESBG also provides technical consultancy in partnership with multilateral agencies and offers training to its members.