ICA President Monique Leroux was in Italy and interacted with the local cooperatives. She also spoke at the Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta (LUMSA), a leading Rome university, on the topic of “Sustainable Mercy in Finance”.
The event was co-organised with the International Research Centre on Co-operative Finance and three other organisations. Sustainable Mercy in Finance means “giving a second chance” and refers to businesses who have failed but have promising projects, to being given a second chance to recover and convince new lenders.
Monique Leroux, in her speech said: “Long-term capitalism or sustainable capitalism, defines how coops do business. With the economic turmoil major economies are facing, long-term capitalism is revealing itself as a suitable solution. The financial system has to work for people, communities in a perspective steering away from short-term results pressure which often misleads decision-making.
” Mrs Leroux emphasized the historic link between Canadian and Italian co-operators: “Alphonse Desjardins, the founder of the co-operative movement in Canada, was inspired by the popular bank model in Europe, particularly Italy. Alphonse Desjardins communicated with Luigi Luzzatti in 1898 to learn more about the Italian model.
This was the beginning of a long correspondence in which M. Luzzatti became a very close advisor to M. Desjardins as he was setting up the very first popular bank in Canada. Their relationship even went beyond co-operation as the two of them commented and exchanged on politics. Already then, in an era of limited means of communications, co-operation extended beyond borders.”
Rym Ayadi, Director of the IRCCF, addresses the event’s round table with a talk on: “Banks Regulation, Business Models and Sustainable Mercy in Finance”. The event concluded with an address by Giovanni Ferri, member of the Scientific Board of IRCCF.
Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta (LUMSA) is a partner of Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperative, founding Institute of IRCCF.
Source: ICA