Classifying credit union industry types as Mature, Transition or Nascent provides a useful heuristic device by which to better understand grorwth ancl development issues facing the world- wide credit union movement. By defining the key attributes of each industry type an evolutionary linkage can...

This study examines the relative performance of Japanese cooperative banks between 1998 and 2009, explicitly modelling non-performing loans as an undesirable output. Three key findings emerge. First, the sector is characterized by increasing returns to scale which supports the ongoing...

<title/> The government has been actively encouraging the development of credit unions to help the financially excluded. However, rather than stimulating credit union development, government grants can erode the community self-help ethos on which credit unions are founded. Policies should be formulated...

As member-owned, not-for-profit financial institutions, credit unions are an important instrument of public policy, particularly in pushing forward measures to tackle financial and social exclusion. Historically, the credit union movement in Great Britain has been hampered by a number of...