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Free Webinar: Policy Guides for Co-operatives and Mutuals

Over the past decade Mutuo has produced a series of policy guides, helping to improve the business environment for co-operatives and mutuals.

As a central part of a communications plan, these guides improve lobbying by sharpening our messages and by clarifying our joint objectives.

They have had a real impact, leading to better relations with government, new policy initiatives and improvements to legislation.

The guides have been produced for national representative bodies in the UK and Australia, and for global business sector bodies such as the International Co-operative Alliance and ICMIF.

In this presentation, Mutuo’s Mark Willetts sets out how and why these guides were created, how they help to influence, and what they have achieved.

So please check out the webinar,  if you’d like more information about how we can help you, please get in touch.

UK Parliament considers new co-operative capital Bill


A new Bill will be introduced in Parliament today [Wednesday 5th February 2020] which aims to facilitate more capital investment into co-operatives. The Bill, brought forward by Cardiff North MP, Anna McMorrin, will be read for a first time in the House of Commons on Wednesday 5th February.

The Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill proposes a way for co-operatives to grow and develop their businesses whilst enhancing their commitment to member ownership and control. Also known as the Green Share Bill, it will focus new funds on environmentally sustainable investments within this important business sector.

The Bill also introduces new provisions including an option restricting the demutualisation of co-operatives into companies and the distribution of their legacy assets.

It takes forward a key recommendation of The Ownership Commission and builds on similar legislation seen in other parts of the world.

Mutuo’s Managing Partner, Peter Hunt, said,

‘The challenge has been to amend the capital regime for co-ops and community benefit societies, to permit the injection of external capital, whilst enhancing their mutuality.  We can point to existing examples of where this has been achieved in other countries such as Canada, Australia and The Netherlands. 

Anna McMorrin’s Bill offers an important step forward for these mutuals, helping to make the business model even more popular for co-ops which are keen to take advantage of their high levels of trust among customers and members.’

New report: Who Owns Europe? … and why it matters for Progressives

Who Owns Europe
Who Owns Europe? ... and why it matters for Progressives

Ownership matters. Owners of businesses set the strategic direction, purpose and the terms of employment. Owners of land decide what should be done with it and who can access it. Owners of property decide how it is deployed and who can enjoy its benefits.

But increasingly, ownership is being concentrated in fewer hands, shifting ever more from shared ownership towards private corporations and individuals.

Government policy across the EU takes little or no account of the shifting nature of ownership. It is time to make sure that ownership works in the maximum public interest, serving citizens, customers and employees alike.

Who Owns Europe?, a new report from FEPS/Mutuo launched today, examines ownership across the European Union. It considers how Europe’s businesses are owned and where the benefits of business flow. It looks closely at different types of corporate ownership and the effect they have on fairness and equity.

View the report in full

The report makes a series of recommendations aimed at ensuring strong economies which benefit the wider public good and recommends that progressives should promote policies that:

  • Encourage corporate diversity to ensure that businesses for public benefit are recognised in national constitutions or other supreme law
  • Ensure that the remit of government business and enterprise departments includes all types of business, including mutually owned and public purpose enterprise
  • Ensure that in all legislation, the role of and impact on different types of business forms are considered, rather than simply assuming one approach
  • Seek to ensure in particular, that co-operative and other fields of organisational law merit equivalent attention
  • Promote the appointment to ministerial and official posts, champions to represent different types of business
  • Explore incentives for encouraging those setting up new businesses to choose a public benefit business

The report concludes that we can only prevent Europe being taken over by an idea – that of the pursuit of private gain – if we move away from an economy dominated by business for private profit to one for public benefit.

Learn more about FEPS

A Manifesto for Mutuals: 2019 General Election Policy

Since the last General Election, UK Mutuals have enjoyed continued and welcome all-party political support. 

But there is much more to do to ensure that these important businesses can play a greater role in our economy and society and help to build a fairer country. 

By its policy, legislative and regulatory actions, the next Government can enable these businesses to fulfil their potential and deliver a wide range of public policy objectives. 

In this election, we call upon each of the political parties to promise to adopt our plan for action:

1. Recognise and support the value of diverse forms of enterprise in the UK economy 

2. Ensure that policy, legislation and regulation works to provide a fair business environment for mutuals: 

• Greater recognition and policy understanding of the sector by national and devolved politicians 

• A commitment to an enabling legislative environment for the sector in the UK 

• An understanding of where inappropriate regulation affects the sector and a commitment to address this where it occurs 


3. Work with Mutuo and other sector bodies to implement the objectives of the UK Mutual Economy Report 2019

Download the Manifesto

Mutuo launches new influencing strategy for consumer co-ops

Mutuo has launched a new influencing strategy document for consumer co-operatives. The policy guide, co-produced with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide [CCW], makes the case for consumer co-ops and demonstrates their importance to the global economy and wider society.

The document sets out a number of ways in which a better policy environment for consumer co-ops could be created, including:

  • Adoption of the 2002 UN recommendation that governments should support co-ops
  • Ensuring government departments and ministers are sufficently skilled to work with co-ops
  • Improving education about co-ops
  • Adopting the legal principle of ‘indivisible reserves’ to safeguard co-op assets
  • Legislating for new co-op capital raising instruments 
  • Permitting more cross border trading for co-ops 
  • Better collection of statistics nationally and internationally 

Speaking at the launch of the guide in Moscow, Mark Willetts said: 

“We want to ensure the best possible business environment for consumer co-ops. These businesses are the original type of co-op. They provide significant competition for consumers and drive up standards of safety, quality and sustainability. CCW’s guide sets out a number of key measures that should be adopted to ensure this sector continues to grow and thrive.”

The document is the latest in a series of policy guides that Mutuo has co-authored in order to boost the international co-operative and mutual sector, having previously published guides with ICMIF, AMICE, the ICA and Australia’s BCCM.

Download the guide

To find out more about CCW, click here.

Purpose-driven businesses top £130 billion income per annum

Purpose-driven businesses top £130 billion income per annum

Co-operative and mutual businesses account for over £133.5bn of income annually and touch the lives of 1 in 3 people in the UK, according to a new report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals.

These businesses have a distinct purpose to serve their customers and communities, in contrast to investor owned firms.

Mutuals exist in every sector of the economy, from financial services to housing, to food retailing, to public services and sport. Whether it is through supplying affordable and sustainable services to consumers, providing rewarding work or strengthening community enterprise, a strong network of co-operative and mutual businesses plays an important part in a diverse and modern British economy.

The report shows significant income from each of the various sub-sectors of the co-operative and mutual sector:

from co-operatives:£36.1bn
from building societies:£5.8bn
from friendly societies & mutual insurers:£19.6bn
from housing associations:£20.0bn
from NHS foundation trusts:£52.0bn
Total:£133.5bn

At a time when Brexit dominates the UK policy agenda, mutual businesses are continuing to grow – creating an economy and society that works in the interests of the widest number of people by sharing power in, and the rewards of, business.

Mutuals help to deliver a wide range of public policy objectives. They:

  • Strengthen a UK owned business sector
  • Spread wealth more broadly and fairly throughout the country
  • Provide competition and choice for consumers in a range of markets especially those for essential goods and services
  • Create diversity in business, withbusiness strategies for a healthy, balanced economy that take a longer-term view and act as a counterbalance to mitigate systemic risk to the economy
  • Create business structures for public service providers that keep them accountable to their users and taxpayers, reducing centralisation and bureaucracy
  • Provide more than just an economic benefit to local communities by aiding social bonding and stakeholder empowerment
  • Rebuild and maintain public trust in business

Published today, the UK Mutual Economy Report makes a number of policy recommendations for increasing the contribution of co-operative and mutual business to growth, prosperity and fairness.

The All-Party Group calls on all parties to encourage:

  • Greater recognition and policy understanding of the sector by national and devolved politicians;
  • A commitment to an enabling legislative environment for the sector in the UK and
  • An understanding of where regulation disproportionately affects the sector and a commitment to address this where it occurs

Parliamentary Group Chair Gareth Thomas MP said:

Whether it is through providing rewarding work, strengthening community enterprise, or supplying affordable and sustainable services to consumers, this report clearly shows that a strong network of co-operative and mutual businesses plays an important part in a diverse and modern British economy.”

View the report

Australian Parliament passes reforms for co-operatives and mutuals

On Thursday the Australian Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Mutual Reforms) Act 2019.

This is the culmination of three years work by Mutuo, the Australian Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals and an unprecedented collaboration between mutual businesses across industry sectors.

It is a major step forward for Australia, delivering new landmark legislation and the first positive change to the Corporations Act for mutuals in 18 years.

• The mutual definition in the Corporations Act now identifies the importance of the sector as part of a diverse economy.
• New mutual capital instruments will facilitate growth and innovation of mutuals helping them to compete with listed businesses.
• All of this achieved whilst mutuality is safeguarded for future generations by ensuring member control remains paramount.

Mutuo’s Chief Executive, Peter Hunt, said:
“This success reflects the willingness of the Australian sector to work positively and provide leadership for mutuals. The story in Australia is inspiring. In just a few years, the way mutuals are seen and understood by the government and opposition has been transformed.”

“We have also enjoyed ongoing and sustained support across the political landscape, from the government as well as opposition parties. The Australian sector has shown how a well executed strategy can deliver real improvements to the business environments for co-operatives and mutuals.”

Find out more about the Act.

Launch of updated BCCM Sector blueprint

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the updated Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals [BCCM] Sector blueprint.  Conceived and produced by Mutuo, BCCM’s updated strategy document reflects the success of its advocacy over its short history as well as the new priorities of the Australian co-operative and mutual sector.

View the document

BCCM-Mutuo Advocacy App

We’re proud to announce the launch of the new Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals [BCCM] Advocacy App. The App is the first of its kind and represents a deep collaboration between the BCCM and Mutuo.

For the first time, a national peak body for co-operatives and mutuals has taken the step to communicate with its members in a new and innovative way.

The App, which is available only to BCCM members, provides a quality new service to the membership. The App’s simple format allows members to access key talking points, news and briefing from across the entire co-operative and mutual sector in Australia.

For example, if called on to speak about the benefits of mutuality in your sector the App can provide key talking points and statistics at the touch of a button.

We think this a great way for the co-op and mutual sector to get its message out and we’d love to help you develop a similar App in your country.

Talk to us today about how we can help produce an App for you.

Mutuo project delivers draft legislation for Australian mutuals

On Monday the Australian Government released a second draft Bill to create a new capital instrument for co-operatives and mutuals.

The new legislation when fully enacted will allow co-operatives and mutuals to raise capital and compete on a level playing field with investor-owned firms. The first of the two Bills will be introduced into Parliament in the first week of December, and the second in February 2019.

Peter Hunt, Mutuo’s Managing Partner said, ‘This is the culmination of three years work with the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), building on a carefully designed and executed political strategy.’

Success in this project will mark the seventh time that Mutuo has brought about the enactment of new legislation to improve the business environment for co-operatives and mutuals, in different jurisdictions.

BCCM Chief Executive, Melina Morrison said, ‘Today we are delighted to see the final tranche of draft legislation that will help to deliver on the Government’s promise to our sector. The bipartisan nature of this process has been very encouraging.

This will enable co-operatives and mutuals to grow and better serve Australians, whilst protecting their co-operative or mutual ownership structures.”

The consultation can be viewed here:

Treasury Laws Amendment (Mutual Entities) Bill 2018: 

Australian government publishes draft legislation for mutuals

  • Mutuo partnership with BCCM delivers first ever Federal legislation for mutually owned businesses
  • Draft Bill opens for consultation ahead of introduction in Parliament in November
  • Treasury announces a second Bill will follow to introduce new capital raising instruments

Following three years’ work with the Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), Mutuo has today welcomed the publication of draft legislation that begins the process of modernising the Federal law for mutual businesses in Australia.

The legislation forms the first part of a two-phased approach to improve the business environment for mutually owned firms and improve their ability to compete on level terms with investor-owned corporations.

The draft legislation provides a definition of a mutual entity to recognise the sector in the Corporations Act and to determine which companies will be able to raise capital through the issuance of mutual capital instruments.

It also addresses the uncertainty in Part 5 Schedule 4 of the Corporations Act to enable mutually-owned credit unions and banks to raise capital by providing that the enhanced demutualisation disclosure requirements are only applicable where an entity no longer meets the definition of a mutual entity.

Mutuo Managing Partner Peter Hunt said,

‘This is a big day for Australian co-operatives and mutuals. It is the result of Mutuo’s careful strategy to influence government, which has been deployed with a leading group of 13 Australian mutual businesses through BCCM.

BCCM was only created in 2013.  In five short years, under the inspiring leadership of Melina Morrison, it has successfully brought together mutually owned businesses from across Australia to take their rightful place on the Australian business stage.

It has made the case for an improved business environment, first gaining political support in the Australian Senate, and now resulting in landmark legislation from the Federal Government.  All the time, this has been achieved with the enthusiastic support of politicians from across the political spectrum.  It is a case study in influence for the global co-operative sector.’

More homes; more voice – Member-based social housing

Cliff MillsIn his latest Mutuo think piece, Cliff Mills talks about the policy opportunity for mutual social housing.

There are two clear challenges for social housing today which are making it one of the top political priorities.

The first is the need to build more homes: homes that people can afford, and are of the quality that people want to live in.  The second is to give tenants a voice in how housing is provided, which includes the ability to have influence over things that impact on neighbourhoods and communities, and being able to use this voice as a mechanism for ensuring that social housing providers are accountable to communities.

Housing is more than one issue.  It cannot be separated from jobs, health and well-being, elderly care, fuel poverty, environmental issues, community safety, education and training, and much else besides.  Homes are part of neighbourhoods and have to be understood in their context. The success of housing can only be measured in this bigger context, and in interaction with that context.

Policy-makers can and should do what they can, seeing things from their strategic vantage point. But since 2000 there have been some radical developments from within the social housing movement itself which it is time to take note of, because they could make a significant contribution in meeting today’s challenges.

These developments involve a democratic member-based approach, giving individuals a voice in their organisation, sharing power beyond the board and senior executives, and at the same time making governance more robust. 

There are now eleven democratic member-based housing providers in England and Wales, which together provide over 85,000 homes. A recently released corporate strategy by one of these organisations (discussed further below) outlines how it will be delivering services and what its ambitions are over the next ten years. This document provides evidence of the relevance of this approach in meeting today’s pressing challenges.

Read ‘More Homes More Voice’

Mutuo working with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide to develop business sector policy guide

Mutuo is developing a business sector policy Guide for Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide.  This will be an opportunity to address regulatory, legislative and policy barriers to the development and growth of consumer co-operatives around the world.

Its principal use will be to develop coherent policy positions that can be used at a global, regional and national level.

Detailed survey work of CCW members will begin shorty and we look forward to engaging with members to identify the priorities of the consumer co-operative sector.

The document builds on Mutuo’s previous policy work in producing the International Co-operative Alliance Global Manifesto in 2017.

The business sector policy guide will be published in summer 2018.

Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW) unites, represents, and defends the interests of 26 national organizations of consumer co-operatives around the globe, which represent 75 million individual members, and which register a combined total annual turnover of more than 500 billion EUR.

International Co-operative Alliance publishes Mutuo’s global guide for promotion of co-ops

ICA Global Policy Guide

Co-produced with Mutuo, the Global Policy and Advocacy Guide was designed for the International Co-operative Alliance and its members to help strengthen their advocacy efforts.

The policy guide draws together case studies of good practice from various regions and suggests methodology and communications protocols that can help to grow a consistent global approach to promoting co-operatives.

“It is important that we seek to make the case for co-operatives in an easily understood and consistent way”

Mutuo worked with the International Co-operative Alliance and its members over a nine month period to identify the movement’s policy priorities and the challenges it faced in working with national governments. The consultation process ensured that the strongest practice could be shared globally, to help co-operatives communicate their value to policy makers, legislators and regulators.

View the Guide

Australian Government announces plans to modernise laws for co-operatives and mutuals

  • Mutual enterprise to be defined in reforms to Australian corporations law
  • New options to invest in co-operatives and mutuals
  • Allows Australians to take a stake in mutual businesses
  • Major success for Mutuo advocacy strategy with BCCM

The Australian Federal Treasurer, Hon. Scott Morrison MP, has today announced that the Australian Government will legislate to create a better business environment for co-operatives and mutuals.  The announcement means that co-operatives will have the potential to access new and additional capital for long term business investment that benefits all Australians.

Today’s news is the result of two years painstaking work from Mutuo in collaboration with the Australian Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) and fifteen great Australian Mutuals. The decision comes on the back of the Federal Senate Inquiry into Co-operatives and Mutuals in 2016 and accepts in full the recommendations of the Hammond Review to reform the business environment for the sector, which has been published today.

Mutuo’s Peter Hunt said, “This is a huge day for co-operatives and mutuals across Australia. Throughout this project we have sought to champion a better business environment for the sector and today’s announcement is a recognition of the critical impact of our sector on the wider Australian economy.

The creation of new capital instruments has the potential to build a strong new asset class to shake up the investment environment and allow co-operatives and mutuals issuing them to invest, innovate, grow and compete.”

The proposed new capital instruments are similar to those that have been developed for Building Societies and Mutual Insurers in the UK and form part of a global Mutuo campaign to give co-operative and mutual business more financing options and greater opportunity to compete.

Mutuo developing policy guide for the International Co-operative Alliance

Mutuo is currently developing a Global Policy Guide for the International Co-operative Alliance.  This will be a toolkit that can be used by the ICA and its members in their advocacy work on behalf of co-operative businesses worldwide.

The Policy Guide will provide a keen communications narrative and crisp policy recommendations that can be taken forward at a Global, regional and national level by ICA members, regions and sectors.

Detailed survey work of ICA members has already been carried out and presented to the ICA board in Bulgaria last month; these findings will inform the document’s final recommendations. We were delighted to receive 110 responses from across all regions from 47 different nation states.

The document builds on Mutuo’s previous policy work in producing the ICMIF Global Manifesto and the Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals Policy Blueprint for an Enterprising Nation in Australia.

The document will be completed and presented in draft at the ICA’s Global Conference in Kuala Lumpur in November 2017.

Planet UK: news from another galaxy

So now we know what the EU negotiating position on Brexit will be. To be fair, anyone could have guessed it, but here on Planet UK we are expected to be surprised.

The level of British self-delusion on the realities of this divorce are going to take some time to overcome. After all, the whole basis of the referendum was forged out of misinformation about the EU. People here will talk seriously about bendy bananas, benefit tourism and uncontrolled immigration, none of which are real things.

The referendum campaign did little to illuminate the general public, with a strong media campaign reinforcing negative EU stereotypes and impossible promises for an ‘independent’ UK written on the side of buses.

As Progressives we must take our share of responsibility for the lacklustre Remain campaign, but also for years of failing to counter the anti-European propaganda that is fed to the British public on a daily basis.

All of this is well known among our friends in the EU. The question is how British Progressives should respond next.

If we just look at a handful of the conditions of the 27, we can see how soon reality is going to collide with the fantasy world of Planet UK:

-We expect that EU citizens rights will be quickly agreed – this can be presented positively as the UK citizens in the EU will benefit equally.

-The single financial settlement is much more problematic, as it is a key tenet on Planet UK that we ‘won’t pay a penny.’ The absurdity of this position will be laid out shortly as the list of commitments are identified, at which point the huge likely cost of 40-60 billion Euros needs to be accepted to move forward.

-A ‘soft’ border with Ireland sounds ideal in principle, but will potentially produce an anomaly that makes a farce of leaving. Expect this to re-ignite long held animosities in Northern Ireland.

-The location of EU agencies are to be in the EU. Expect UK media to scream about ‘punishing’ the UK. Louder if this extends to the Euro clearing system, which looks inevitable.

-Ongoing jurisdiction for the European Court of Justice – this is guaranteed to make the arch-Brexiteers foam at the mouth. Expect a disproportionate and incoherent response from the UK.

Progressives should urgently provide leadership, yet the Labour Party position since the referendum has been a disaster. Despite an unequivocal pro-European policy platform, and with most Labour voters and virtually every Labour MP supporting Remain, the Labour Parliamentary response to Brexit has been muddled, contradictory and ultimately self-harming. Labour proposed a number of amendments to the Bill enacting Article 50, including a unilateral guarantee of rights for EU citizens in the UK and crucially, a meaningful vote in Parliament on the final deal; all were defeated by the Conservative majority.

Inexplicably, Labour then voted with the Government after the amendments failed, allowing the article 50 Bill to pass with a massive majority and feeding the folklore that there is a popular majority support for the UK Government’s idea of a hard Brexit.

The logic was that Labour would pacify the Labour supporters of Leave, who it feared would desert them for UKIP or the Conservatives in Midlands and Northern Labour constituencies. More likely, their tactics in Parliament will instead have disillusioned ardent Remainers who are now considering lending their vote to the Liberal Democrats, who have been steadfast in their opposition to the Government’s position.

This all adds to the serious challenge Labour faces in the General Election, and on current polling, is likely to face severe losses.

So is there any chance of a Progressive response to Brexit? In many ways, one could say that this situation has to get worse before it can improve. Labour will inevitably be weakened by the election, but after that, it has the chance to take a principled stand against a hard Brexit, though its influence and power will be much diminished.

In the meantime, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and others have called for voters to only support candidates (of any party) that have an open mind on the final deal for Brexit. This is unprecedented, and may have little effect on who is elected, but it may deliver a few more MPs who are prepared to insist on being able to intelligently consider a final deal before it is adopted.

The fact is that sooner or later, the UK will have to face the realities of the divorce, and it remains to be seen how the public will respond to the cold, hard, truth of leaving.

This article was first published in The Progressive Post

New business policies in the interests of customers and workers

Mutuo has today launched new policy proposals to help make business work in the interests of ordinary citizens.

The People’s Business report seeks to put cooperatives and mutuals – firms owned by customers and workers – at the heart of business policy and calls on progressive politicians to support and champion them.

It is a positive response to the disillusionment felt by so many people who feel that economic and political systems only work for the vested interests of capitalist business, the wealthy and the powerful.

Cooperatives and mutuals are the true people’s businesses – they generate profits to share amongst their customers and workers in the form of dividends or lower prices.  This way of doing business benefits consumers, employees and European nations as a whole, providing diversity and choice in markets and sharing wealth more equitably.

The report shows that the people’s business is already hugely significant – across Europe there are 130,000 cooperatives and mutuals which account for 1.3 trillion Euros in income every year and provide work for nearly 5 million Europeans.

The Peoples’ Businesses already deal with some of the biggest political challenges we face by helping create:

  1. An economy that prioritises people before other interests 
  2. Policy ideas that counterbalance the effects of globalisation 
  3. Businesses that challenge inequality and spread wealth 
  4. Financial services in the interests of customers, not capital
  5. Work that is meaningful and rewarding
  6. Access to quality affordable housing 
  7. Energy security through local control

Yet their impact is uneven across the EU. Legislation, regulation and national policies often work to limit the opportunities for the people’s businesses to flourish.

This report proposes a series of practical measures to increase the contribution of the People’s Business and help address some of these huge social and economic challenges. It offers a political vision for Progressive politicians seeking to re-connect with the people they wish to serve.

View the report


Working with colleagues from the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) the report launch represents the culmination of 18 months work which took us to all corners of the European Union to meet with sector experts, academics and policymakers. We examined powerful examples of where this approach to business benefits Europeans every day – for example through worker cooperatives in Spain and Italy or customer owned banks and insurers in France and food retailers and producers across Northern Europe.

Some of Europe’s best known and most enduring businesses are cooperatives and mutuals – their resilience and longevity is testament to their relevance to the people they serve – the customers and workers of Europe.

Mutuo launches Mutual of Mutual and Cooperative Capital at Quebec Summit

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Mutuo has today launched the Mutual of Mutual and Cooperative Capital at the Quebec International Summit of Cooperatives.

The project has launched after a year of close work with our partners, Charles Taylor PLC.

Introducing MoMaCC 

Mutuals and cooperatives of all sizes need to raise capital. They also need to make secure investments to deliver returns. It is proposed to create MoMaCC as a new mutual to meet these needs. 

MoMaCC’s members and investors will themselves be mutuals and cooperatives. The board of directors will be drawn from the membership.

It is believed to be the first time that mutuals and cooperatives will be able to securely raise capital through an institution that they collectively own and control.

Who will create and manage MoMaCC? 

MoMaCC will be created by two businesses with a history of working with mutuals and cooperatives – Mutuo and Charles Taylor plc. Mutuo is an independent consultancy that works internationally with mutuals and cooperatives, particularly in relation to legislation and policy.

Charles Taylor plc is a professional services provider which has managed mutuals for over 130 years. The Group currently manages four mutuals and advises a fifth.

The opportunity 

Mutuo and Charles Taylor are approaching a small number of leading mutuals and cooperatives to become the founding members of MoMaCC. Founding members will join the initial board of the mutual, controlling key decisions including quality control of membership, investment criteria and areas of operation.

Longer term the membership of MoMaCC will be open to any cooperatives or mutuals that meet the due diligence and other quality criteria set by the board. The initial membership will focus on entities within the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) top 300 plus other mutuals of similar standing.

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