Banco Credicoop (''Creditco-op Bank'') is the largest cooperatively-owned bank in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Overview

Banco Credicoop was established in 1979 through the merger of 44 Argentine

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provisi ...

s. This was motivated largely by the adverse effect Economy Minister

José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz (13 August 1925 – 16 March 2013) was an Argentine lawyer, businessman and economist. He was Minister of Economy under Jorge Rafael Videla's administration between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy at th ...

's Financial Entities Law of 1977 had on this sector. The policy encouraged commercial banks in Argentina to offer high-yield, exotic investments by extending the

Central Bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...

's guarantee to losses accrued from these financial vehicles. This practice collapsed between 1980 and 1982, however, and hundreds of unregulated, non-banking financial institutions, as well as numerous banks, closed.Lewis, Paul. ''The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism''. University of North Carolina Press, 1990. Today, Banco Credicoop is Argentina's eleventh-largest bank by total assets and ninth-largest by deposits (US$2.8 billion); Nearly all of this is accounted for by its over 670,000 members, and Credicoop maintains 244 branches.Banco Credicoop: memoria
/ref> The institution is organized as a

, and operates as a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

. Each member is given one vote at all shareholder meetings, and the top ten depositors account for less than 10% of deposits. It is also a lender in a country where domestic credit is difficult to access, holding a net loan portfolio of nearly US$1.7 billion (3.5% of the domestic total). Loans to small and medium businesses accounted for 70% of this, and the credit union holds 5% of the nation's domestic loans to this sector. The credit union provides personal and business financial and accounting services; since 1980, it has issued ''Cabal'', the only cooperatively-managed

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

in Argentina. The group also manages the Previsol Pension Fund and numerous insurers. Credicoop is a standing member of the International Co-operative Alliance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banco Credicoop Banks of Argentina Credit unions of Argentina Banks established in 1979