<Article>Comparative Historical Study on Cooperative Banks in Japan and Germany

DOI IR HANDLE Web Site Open Access

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • <論文>日本とドイツにおける協同組合金融機関の歴史的比較研究
  • 日本とドイツにおける協同組合金融機関の歴史的比較研究
  • ニホン ト ドイツ ニ オケル キョウドウ クミアイ キンユウ キカン ノ レキシテキ ヒカク ケンキュウ

Search this article

Abstract

In the industrialization process in Germany and Japan, cooperative banks have taken a significant role to support local economy in the agricultural regions. In Germany it is Raiffeisen-kasse, born in the middle of 19th century, now Raiffeisenbank/VR Bank, and in Japan it is Sangyo-kumiai (cooperative), born in 1900, now Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA). These cooperative banks kept developing after the second World War and high economic growth, making their central bank competitive to the biggest private banks in both countries. In spite of many similarities in two countries, however, their social evaluation became critically divergent particularly in 21st century: in Japan claims on abolition the cooperatives have become louder, while in Germany, especially after Lehman-shock, the cooperatives got more evaluated as an important means of sustainable development. Here we focus on the similar but divergent development of cooperative banks in Germany and Japan, which have been seldom dealt in academic discussions, and examine why this kind of divergence made its appearance through historical comparative study on two countries. Particularly we focus on the significance of the community-based role of cooperative banks which responds to the diversified local financial needs through their microcredit loans. We examined the continuity and disconnection of this financial activities of cooperative banks in the local economy through their historical development before and after the War. As a result we could argue that on one hand in Japanese cooperative banks they have been exposed to the continuous political pressure that their financing would be limited only to agricultural loans, so that they could not adequately respond to the more diversified small credits. On the other hand in Germany, just as the example of GLS Bank shows, they have developed methods to respond the more diversified financial needs in local economy, where cooperative banks were evaluated as the means for sustainable development.

Journal

  • 国際日本研究

    国際日本研究 12 45-62, 2020

    Master's and Doctoral Program in International and Advanced Japanese Studies, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Related Projects

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top