IMF Working Papers

Cooperative Banks and Financial Stability

By Martin Cihak, Heiko Hesse

January 1, 2007

Download PDF

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Martin Cihak, and Heiko Hesse. Cooperative Banks and Financial Stability, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2007) accessed November 21, 2024
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Cooperative banks are an important, and growing, part of many financial systems. This paper empirically analyzes the role of cooperative banks in financial stability. Contrary to some suggestions in the literature, we find that cooperative banks are more stable than commercial banks. This finding is due to the lower volatility of the cooperative banks' returns, which more than offsets their lower profitability and capitalization. This is most likely due to cooperative banks' ability to use customer surplus as a cushion in weaker periods. We also find that in systems with a high presence of cooperative banks, weak commercial banks are less stable than they would be otherwise. The overall impact of a higher cooperative presence on bank stability is positive on average but insignificant in some specifications.

Subject: Banking, Commercial banks, Cooperative banks, Long term interest rates, Personal income

Keywords: Break, Commercial bank, Cooperative bank, Savings bank, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    36

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2007/002

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2007002

  • ISBN:

    9781451865660

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941