Do mutual financial institutions need to be re-created?

[Kristina Burns]

Do mutual financial institutions need to be re-created?

[ChrisJCook]

Indeed they do, but IMHO not as intermediaries.

We need an entirely new financial architecture based upon "Peer to peer" market networks operating within (inherently mutual) partnership-based frameworks.

I wrote this

http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/index.cfm?section=articles&action=detail&id=38754

some 8 years ago, in the aftermath of a "Dot Com" I set up, and it is now being picked up by one or two IT gurus.

And this was recently published by the Carnegie Institute

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/000085

[Dr Price]

I think your unitization option is brilliant, simple and promotes stability

[Martin Upton]

Much has been made of the demise of the de-mutualised building societies during the financial crisis and this has certainly led some to point to the virtues of mutuality over the plc model.

One unfortunate and ironic by-product of the financial crisis has been the requirement for societies to pick up a proportion of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) bill resulting from the Government's rescue of the Bradford&Bingley. The charge is representing a not inconsiderable burden on societies and is hitting their profitability - although the sector as a whole remains both highly liquid and strongly capitalised.