The legal framework regulating the activities of the savings banks had previously remained almost unchanged for 160 the end of the twenti- eth century, however, the reforms of the years 1983, 1991 and 1999 changed it radically within a period of only 16 years and gave the savings bank group a fundamentally new character. Since the reform of 1999, 34 regional savings banks and a national bank of the savings banks have been responsible for running the banking business. The national bank works together with the regional savings banks within a closely linked framework with various responsibilities. The associative tasks are carried out centrally by a national association of the savings banks. In.
