The cooperative banks’ business model is unique in the financial market. It is featured by democratic foundations (one-head-one-vote principle), proximity to the members and the community they serve, limited profit-seeking nature, and prudent management. However, these principles are applied in a variety of organisational structures and economic and regulatory contexts, making cooperative banks significantly different from one country to another. This book expands existing knowledge on the European cooperative banking sector by analysing recent trends affecting cooperative banks. Namely, the book discusses the role of cooperative banks in the policy and societal movement towards sustainability, including in adopting sustainable finance practices. It explores the digital transformation journey of cooperative banks and the impact of the consolidation of Fintech players in the financial services markets. It further showcases the need to evolve the cooperative banks’ governance structures and processes in order to foster (and in some cases restore) democracy and transparency in the decision-making. Lastly, the book debates the specific role of cooperative banks in the economic crisis that has followed the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic vis-à-vis their members and the communities they serve. Of interest to scholars, professors, students, and practitioners of banking and finance, this book will build on the existing research and explore the latest trends in the space.

This book offers a comparative analysis of how post-crisis restructuring has affected the evolution and prospects of small, locally-oriented banks. The discussion focuses specifically on “small” European countries; that is, countries with diversified banking systems, with a strong presence of cooperative and other forms of local banks. Such countries include highly developed economies like Italy and emerging European economies, such as Poland. The authors stress the unique importance of local banks in generating credit for both households and firms, and hence in contributing to overall economic growth. Chapters cohere around the argument that although smaller banks fared better than their larger counterparts the recent financial crisis, they have been directly and indirectly discriminated against in post-crisis restructuring schemes, and, as such, face many operational and strategic challenges today. The contributors are a distinguished group of researchers with expert knowledge of the competitive positions of and opportunities for locally oriented banks, who combine theoretical and empirical perspectives on these topics.

Addressing a need for innovative solutions to challenges facing organisations today, this book explores the concept of Knowledge Risk Management (KRM), outlining how this new approach can be implemented in the banking sector. The author proposes the first knowledge risk framework that is specific to cooperative banks, which aims to improve the accuracy of risk assessment procedures by combining a conventional risk management approach with knowledge management tools and techniques. Including empirical data taken from interviews with employees in the banking sector, this book provides banks with a valuable tool for tackling potentially damaging knowledge-related risks, making it an essential read for those researching risk management and banking.

A midst stormy waters, financial systems develop and evolve. New institutional forms and instruments are invented and put into use. Some of them turn out to be successful while others disappear: a natural process of creative and dynamic competition argues for diversity. Diversity offers an optimal environment in which new ideas can come to life, existing ideas can evolve and old ideas make a comeback. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the foundations of several decades of modern and innovative financial systems have suffered serious damage. This has triggered massive state interventions and has led authorities to revamp the regulatory structures and frameworks. While many voices have called for a return to more traditional approaches to banking and finance, no one has argued the merits of diversity. This book investigates the merits of a diverse banking system with a special focus on the performance and role of cooperative banks in seven European countries where they are prominent (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain). The theoretical and empirical arguments that are developed in this book tend to support the view that it is economically beneficial to have stakeholder-value banks with a dual bottom-line function, such as cooperative banks. For those who accept this premise, it would suggest that policy-makers should not take or support actions that could jeopardise this valuable element of the financial system in various countries in Europe and of the emerging integrated European financial system. Book jacket.

Routledge Handbook of Social and Sustainable Finance brings together an international cast of leading authorities to map out and display the disparate voices, traditions and professional communities engaged in social finance activity. With a clear societal or environmental mission, foundations, individual and group investors, as well as public bodies around the world have become increasingly eager to finance and support innovative forms of doing business. Together, founders and established businesses alike are embracing new sustainable business models with a distinct stakeholder approach to tackle social or environmental problems in what they see as a failed economic system in crisis. As a result, the topic of social and sustainable finance is at the forefront of financial economic thought. This Handbook is divided up into three parts. The first, "The Landscape of Social and Sustainable Finance and Investments", comprises of chapters from a multitude of perspectives in an effort to grasp the entirety of the landscape. The second, "Challenges, Suggestions, Critiques and Debates", focuses on areas ranging from sociological underpinnings to critical takes on markets, and the identification of specialized business models. Amongst ethical considerations, topics include the scaling of impact, an analysis of sustainability as risk prevention and comparative analyses of various methods of justification and measurement. In the third and final section, "Markets and Institutions", contributions range from various perspectives on sustainable banking to environmental marketplaces, and finally on to practical cases and country specific observations. This volume is essential reading for both academics and students in economics and finance. It is also of interest to those who study environmental economics, microeconomics and banking.

The next few years will be critical for Europe's banking industry. It faces a number of financial sector reforms that will have a decisive impact on the dominant practices and business models followed across the European Union. This timely volume presents the results of the first screening exercise conducted on the performance, stability, risk, efficiency, and corporate governance of twenty-six major European banks--before, during, and after the financial crisis. The authors use those findings to help identify the key strengths and weaknesses inherent in the dominant business models, in light of the upcoming regulatory changes.