Suchergebnisse

Part I: Credit Cooperative Systems in Western Europe -- Cooperative banks in the Austrian banking system -- So-operative Credit Institutions in Cyprus -- Co-operative banks in Finland -- Cooperative banks in France: Emergence, mutations and issues -- The German cooperative banks. An economic overview -- The Greek cooperative credit system -- The financial co-operative system in Ireland -- Italian Credit Cooperative Banks -- Rabobank before, during and after the credit crisis: From modesty via complacency to fundamental steps (The Netherlands) -- The Portuguese Cooperative Credit System -- The Credit Cooperative System in Spain -- British Credit Unions - transformation and challenge -- Part II: Credit Cooperative Systems in Eastern Europe -- Bulgarian Cooperative Banking -- The changing role of Credit Unions in Czech Economy -- Credit Unions in Estonia -- The History, the current system and the special features of savings cooperatives in Hungary -- Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions in Latvia -- Credit Unions in Lithuania -- The Polish credit co-operative system: historical and contemporary experiences -- The Credit Cooperative System in Romania -- Credit Cooperatives in Serbia -- Credit Cooperatives in Slovakia -- From Credit Cooperatives to Cooperative Bank in Slovenia. .

Abstract The traditional business focus of credit co‐operatives is locally oriented and business success is explained by the efficient way to induce monitoring of borrowers. Church‐based credit co‐operatives in Germany are not that locally oriented but were extraordinary successful over the last decades. First, this analysis describes the special characteristics of church‐based institutions compared to other credit co‐operatives. This part is based on a historical backward glance, an analysis of annual reports and a survey on their business policy. Second, we discuss the special characteristics of church‐based credit co‐operatives to explain the business success in a broader context and to understand the perspectives of credit co‐operative banking beyond the local orientation.

This paper contributes to the literature on social capital and financial institutions by analysing the relationship between the market share of Italian credit cooperative banks (CCBs) in 2003–2011 at the province level and some measures of trust and of membership in formal associations (networks). According to anecdotal evidence, cooperatives require high levels of social capital to be successful, but theoretical predictions are ambiguous, and there is still little empirical evidence. We find that the social capital and market shares of Italian CCBs are related and that the links are stronger when banks lend to small enterprises. When the types of associations are separated according to their particularistic or universalistic nature, the results show that it is especially the latter that matters. We also find that the link between social capital and CCBs is due more to their cooperative structures than to their local orientations.

Over the last decade Portuguese Agricultural Credit Cooperatives (ACCs) have increasingly face survival challenges related to their difficulty in gathering equity. The main source of ACCs equity is the net benefit; thus, understanding how ACCs governance can work on correcting bad economic performance is of crucial importance to overcome this constraint. The main objective of this paper is to describe the governance control mechanisms in the ACCs. Five governance mechanisms are identified: board and chairman change (internal mechanisms), central ACC intervention by an agent or by management board replacement and merger. Empirical analysis proved that the internal governance mechanisms activity is not related to the ACC performance. Additionally: (a) ACCs with a central ACC agent and merged ACCs hold a weaker credit management and a heavy administrative costs structure and profitability problems; and (b) ACCs with a management board replacement by the central ACC hold a weaker credit management and present solvency problems.