The role of Hungarian co-operative banks in the financing of agriculture

Moizs, Attila:

Keywords: savings Co-op, agriculture, network of Co-operatives, rural loans, role of Savings Co-op

Cooperative Banks have existed in Hungary for more than 160 years, and the re-newed Savings Cooperatives have been demonstrating for 60 years the reason for their existence, but the under-financing of the domestic economy, which is symptomatic in Hungary during the financial crisis, gives them a lot of new tasks. The Co-operatives had around 4 % of market share in rural loans in 2000 but currently this figure is be-tween 15 and 20 %. This paper researches the questions of rural financing connected with Co-operative banks and shows that they are capable of resolving the financial problems of Hungarian agriculture by means of their traditions, facilities and particu-larities. The most important tasks are the creation of a network and to standardise their services because, without these steps, the sector will not be capable of increasing its market share. On the basis of the results presented in this paper it seems to be con-firmed that, considering the countervailing power of the Co-operatives, their role needs rethinking and supporting in order to increase both their activities and their market share.

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