A new database on financial services cooperatives:description and first results

This paper describes the new database of the International Observatory of Financial Services Cooperatives (FSCs) set up by the Desjardins Center for Studies in Management of FSCs located at HEC-Montreal. The database covers 38 FSCs with 70 data fields per year over a period of 8.8 years on average. A cross sectional analysis of the data for 2010 shows significant differences between large and small FSCs, but similar levels of profitability nonetheless. A time series analysis of eight large FSCs over the period 2001-2010, reveals the behavior of four key financial indicators through this turbulent decade.