Paula Cabo

Why do credit cooperatives disappear?: The determinants of Portuguese agricultural credit co‐operatives failure

Purpose - The paper aims to identify “problematic” agricultural credit co-operatives (CCAM) and to evaluate their risk of insolvency as a function of financial indicators, providing regulators and other stakeholders with a set of tools that would be predictive of future insolvency and perhaps bankruptcy. Design/methodology/approach - Using a database of CCAM failures in the period between 1995 and 2009, statistical models of failure of CCAM, are estimated and compared, using logistic regression analysis and multiple discriminant analysis for assessing the potential failure of CCAM as a function of financial/economical indicators. Findings - The paper identified the variables customer resources growth, transformation ratio, credit overdue, expenses ratio, structural costs, liquidity, indebtedness and financial margin as determinants of CCAM failure. It suggests that CCAM take measures geared to boosting business, to shoring up the financial margin and the deposit base, to bolstering the complementary margin and to improving the credit recovery processes. Additionally it is necessary to increase cost efficiency, rationalizing structures and procedures consistent with reducing operating costs without detriment to the quality of service provided. Originality/value - This paper helps to understand why agricultural credit co-operatives fail.

The Portuguese Cooperative Credit System

This paper presents a literature review on the regulatory framework of the Portuguese cooperative credit system and some historic data. The aim is to understand their role in the Portuguese banking industry and how the regulatory framework affects cooperative banking activity. The cooperative credit system in Portugal comprises only agricultural credit cooperatives (Caixas de Credito Agricola Mutuo—CCAM). Its present corporate format was created in 1911, but the genesis of Portuguese agricultural credit cooperatives dates back to the sixteenth century and can be regarded as a typical example of how public policy can influence the development of cooperative credit institutions. The Caixa Central de Credito Agricola Mutuo is the pivotal institution in the Credito Agricola Group, with a remit that is the mainstay of the group, namely the strategic global coordination, supervision and guidance of its associates. The CCAM’s strong customer deposit base and prudential credit management policy have proved to be crucial in confronting current hard times. Indeed Credito Agricola is the only one of the major Portuguese banks that has not experienced negative profits since the beginning of the present economic and financial crisis.