Credit Unions and Co-operative Banks across the World

The various national types of co-operative banking are considered, including credit unions (as in UK), decentralized networks (as in Germany, Italy, and austria) and centralized networks (as in France, the netherlands, and Finland). The chapter considers the historical evolution that have characterized the different patterns with regard to national peculiarities (social and economic) The present process of hybridization of the sector is analyzed, as is the potentialfor such hybrids to contribute towards a renewal of co-operative enterprises in the twenty-first century.