The most important international associations of cooperative banks, both based in Brussels, are the CIBP (International Association of Cooperative Banks), which has member institutions from all around the world, and the European Association of Co-operative Banks.
Quebec
The caisse populaire movement started by Alphonse Desjardins in Quebec, Canada, pioneered credit unions. Desjardins wanted to bring desperately needed financial protection to working people. In 1900, from his home in Lévis, Quebec, he opened the first credit union in North America, marking the beginning of the Mouvement Desjardins.
United Kingdom
British building societies developed into general-purpose savings and banking institutions with ‘one member, one vote’ ownership and can be seen as a form of financial cooperative (although some de-mutualised into conventionally owned banks in the 1980s and 1990s). The UK Co-operative Group includes both an insurance provider, the CIS, and the Co-operative Bank, both noted for promoting ethical investment.
The origins of the cooperative banking movement in India can be traced to the close of nineteenth century when, inspired by the success of the experiments related to the cooperative movement in Britain and the cooperative credit movement in Germany, such societies were set up in India. Cooperative banks are an important constituent of the Indian financial system. They are the primary financiers of agricultural activities, some small-scale industries and self-employed workers. The Anyonya Co-operative Bank in India is considered to have been the first cooperative bank in Asia.
Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world.
Cooperative banking (for the purposes of this article), includes retail banking, as carried out by credit unions, mutual savings and loan associations, building societies and cooperatives, as well as commercial banking services provided by mutual organizations (such as cooperative federations) to cooperative businesses.
Institutions
Definition of a cooperative bank (Source : ICBA, International Cooperative Banks Association)
A co-operative bank is a financial entity which belongs to its members, who are at the same time the owners and the customers of their bank. Co-operative banks are often created by persons belonging to the same local or professional community or sharing a common interest. Co-operative banks generally provide their members with a wide range of banking and financial services (loans, deposits, banking accounts…). Co-operative banks differ from stockholder banks by their organization, their goals, their values and their governance. In most countries, they are supervised and controlled by banking authorities and have to respect prudential banking regulations, which put them at a level playing field with stockholder banks. Depending on countries, this control and supervision can be implemented directly by state entities or delegated to a co-operative federation or central body. Even if their organizational rules can vary according to their respective national legislations, co-operative banks share common features:
• Customer-owned entities : in a co-operative bank, the needs of the customers meet the needs of the owners, as co-operative bank members are both. As a consequence, the first aim of a co-operative bank is not to maximise profit but to provide the best possible products and services to its members. Some co-operative banks only operate with their members but most of them also admit non-member clients to benefit from their banking and financial services.
• Democratic member control : co-operative banks are owned and controlled by their members, who democratically elect the board of directors. Members usually have equal voting rights, according to the co-operative principle of “one person, one vote”.
• Profit allocation : in a co-operative bank, a significant part of the yearly profit, benefits or surplus is usually allocated to constitute reserves. A part of this profit can also be distributed to the co-operative members, with legal or statutory limitations in most cases. Profit is usually allocated to members either through a patronage dividend, which is related to the use of the co-operative’s products and services by each member, or through an interest or a dividend, which is related to the number of shares subscribed by each member.
Co-operative banks are deeply rooted inside local areas and communities. They are involved in local development and contribute to the sustainable development of their communities, as their members and management board usually belong to the communities in which they exercise their activities. By increasing banking access in areas or markets where other banks are less present – SMEs, farmers in rural areas, middle or low income households in urban areas - co-operative banks reduce banking exclusion and foster the economic ability of millions of people. They play an influential role on the economic growth in the countries in which they work in and increase the efficiency of the international financial system. Their specific form of enterprise, relying on the above-mentioned principles of organization, has proven successful both in developed and developing countries.
Credit unions have the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at reasonable rates, and providing other financial services to its members.[1] Credit union members are usually required to share a common bond, such as locality, employer, religion or profession. Credit unions are usually funded entirely by member deposits, and avoid outside borrowing. They are typically (though not exclusively) the smaller form of cooperative banking institution. In some countries they are restricted to providing only unsecured personal loans, whereas in others, they can provide business loans to farmers, and mortgages.
Cooperative banks
Larger institutions are often called cooperative banks. Some of these banks are tightly integrated federations of credit unions, though those member credit unions may not subscribe to all nine of the strict principles of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU).
Like credit unions, cooperative banks are owned by their customers and follow the cooperative principle of one person, one vote. Unlike credit unions, however, cooperative banks are often regulated under both banking and cooperative legislation. They provide services such as savings and loans to non-members as well as to members, and some participate in the wholesale markets for bonds, money and even equities.[2] Many cooperative banks are traded on public stock markets, with the result that they are partly owned by non-members. Member control is diluted by these outside stakes, so they may be regarded as semi-cooperative.
Cooperative banking systems are also usually more integrated than credit union systems. Local branches of cooperative banks elect their own boards of directors and manage their own operations, but most strategic decisions require approval from a central office. Credit unions usually retain strategic decision-making at a local level, though they share back-office functions, such as access to the global payments system, by federating.
Some cooperative banks are criticized for dilution of cooperative principles. Principles 2-4 of the Statement on the Co-operative Identity can be interpreted to require that members must control both the governance systems and capital of their cooperatives. A cooperative bank that raises capital on public stock markets creates a second class of shareholders who compete with the members for control. In some circumstances, the members may lose control. This effectively means that the bank ceases to be a cooperative. Accepting deposits from non-members may also lead to a dilution of member control.
Building societies
Building societies exist in Britain, Ireland and several Commonwealth countries. They are similar to credit unions in organisation, though few enforce a common bond. However, rather than promoting thrift and offering unsecured and business loans, their purpose is to provide home mortgages for members. Borrowers and depositors are society members, setting policy and appointing directors on a one member one vote basis. Building societies often provide other retail banking services, such as current accounts, credit cards and personal loans. In the United Kingdom, regulations permit up to half of their lending to be funded by debt to non-members, allowing societies to access wholesale bond and money markets to fund mortgages. The world's largest is Britain's Nationwide Building Society.
Others
Mutual savings banks and mutual savings and loan associations were very common in the 19th and 20th centuries, but declined in number and market share in the late 20th century, becoming globally less significant than cooperative banks, building societies and credit unions. Trustee savings banks are similar to other savings banks, but they are not cooperatives, as they are controlled by trustees, rather than their depositors.
A bankers' bank is a financial institution that provides financial services to community banks in the United States of America. Bankers' banks are owned by investor banks and may provide services only to community banks.
By leveraging positive economies of scale, bankers' banks are able to provide many services to community banks that typically would be economically available only to large national or multinational banks. The advantage here is that community banks which use these services can in turn offer them to their customers, allowing these smaller independent banks to effectively compete with larger banks.
The first bankers' bank was formed in Minnesota in 1975. Currently there are 22 bankers' banks across the US serving more than 6,000 banks in 48 states. The largest bankers' bank is at present TIB-The Independent BankersBank, located in Irving, TX, and serving over 1,400 banks across 46 states - plus Guam and Bermuda.
