According to the Chennai police sources, Ambika a self-help group team leader was killed in January by the mercenaries hired by the people who with Ambika’s help had been able to get a loan of 52 lakh from the Kanchipuram cooperative  bank in Porur. Altogether seven people including three women and two homeguards have already been arrested in connection with this murder. The cooperative bank had been afire in October last year losing most of its important documents and taking advantage ...

On Friday I wrote that I doubted that credit unions were going to be able to provide a painless substitute for payday loans. Felix Salmon has responded at length, making three core arguments: 1.  Credit unions already pay their overhead with current operations, so adding on a payday lending service should give them a cost advantage over payday lenders 2.  Credit unions have a very low cost of funds, particularly in today's environment, where savings accounts might as well be ...

The UK’s Co-operative Bank aims to create a new asset class providing growth capital for co-operative businesses in the developing world, starting with a new fund, Global Development Co-operative, launched on Monday. The bank aims to raise $50m, which it will lend at low rates (2-5 per cent) to co-operatives looking to expand. The loan charge would cover operating costs and the creation of a bad debt reserve, said Stuart Coe, fund manager, but was too low to provide any investment return. ...

Co-operative and mutual banks and not-for-profit savings banks have played an important role in the European financial system over the last century. Indeed, there remain several European co-operative banks that have a very strong presence in their domestic markets.