"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."--Publisher description.

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.

This book is a result of several years of research to provide readers with a novel and comprehensive analysis on business models in banking, essential to understanding bank businesses pre- and post- financial crisis and how they evolve in the financial system. This book will provide depositors, creditors, credit rating agencies, investors, regulators, supervisors, and other market participants with a comprehensive analytical framework and analysis to better understand the nature of risk attached to the bank business models and its contribution to systemic risk throughout the economic cycle. The book will also guide post-graduate students and researchers delving into this topic.

The recent banking crisis has brought into question the business model used by most large banks. This collection of essays explores the success of ‘alternative banks’ – savings banks, cooperative banks and development banks, using case studies from around the world and discussion of both the historical and theoretical context of banking practices.

This book asks the important question of whether public banks are a better alternative to profit-seeking private banks. Do public banks provide finance for development? Do they serve as stability anchors in financial markets? What kind of governance keeps public banks accountable to the public? Theoretically the book draws on the works of Minsky for the question on stability and on interpretative policy analysis for the issue of governance. It compares empirically three countries with significant public banks: Brazil, Germany, and India.

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.