Savings-bank book

Sberkassa (Russian: сберкасса, IPA: [zbʲɪrˈkasːə] ( listen)) in the Soviet Union and modern Russia is a financial institution to store the savings of the population. The term is traditionally translated as savings bank, however sberkassas in the Soviet Union were not banks in the usual sense.

A personal document for keeping track of person's savings is a kind of a bankbook (Russian: сберкнижка, сберегательная книжка, "savings booklet", usually translated as savings book or savings-bank book). The track of deposits, withdrawals and accrued interest is written into the bankbook by a sberkassa clerk.

Credit and savings institutions (сохранная и ссудная казна) existed in Imperial Russia since the beginning of the 19th century. The first "saving banks" (sberegatelnaya kassa) were opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1842.

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