COOPERATIVE BANKING

Co-operative bank, in a nutshell, provides financial assistance to the people with small means to protect them from the debt trap of the moneylenders. It is a part of vast and powerful structure of co-operative institutions which are engaged in tasks of production, processing, marketing, distribution, servicing and banking in India. A co-operative bank is a financial entity which belongs to its members, who are at the same time the owners and the customers of their bank. Co-operative banks are often created by persons belonging to the same local or professional community or sharing a common interest. These banks generally provide their members with a wide range of banking and financial services (loans, deposits, banking accounts…). Co-operative banks differ from stockholder banks by their organization, their goals, their Values and their governance. The Co-operative Banking System in India is characterized by a relatively comprehensive network to the grass root level. This sector mainly focuses on the local population and micro- banking among middle and low income strata of the society. These banks operate mainly for the benefit of rural areas, particularly the agricultural sector.

The bank markets itself as an ethical bank, and seeks to avoid investing in companies involved in certain elements of the arms trade, fossil fuel extraction,genetic engineering, animal testing and use of sweated labour as stated in its ethical policy. The ethical policy was introduced in 1992 and incorporated into the Bank's constitution in 2013.^[3] In 2002, the parent company The Co-operative Group Limited brought the bank and the Co-operative Insurance Society under the control of a newly incorporated holding society, Co-operative Financial Services, which became the Co-operative Banking Group in 2011.