La Cooperativa Obrera, among the 300 largest cooperatives in the world

The Credicoop bank, Agricultores Federados Argentinos (AFA), Grupo Sancor Seguros and Cooperativa Obrera (founded in 1920 in Bahía Blanca), are the four Argentine entities that make up the ranking of the 300 largest cooperatives in the world, according to a measure prepared by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).

The latest edition of the World Cooperative Monitor report was presented today by the ICA and the Euricse research institute.

As reported by Banco Credicoop, the latest edition of the Cooperative Monitor report, explores the economic and social impact of the world’s largest cooperatives and mutuals, through sector classifications, employment data and a special analysis of cooperatives and of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13.

Likewise, this report deals with the Covid-19 pandemic and how despite the enormous impact it has had around the world, cooperatives have shown great resilience and capacity to innovation.

According to the classification of the International Cooperative Alliance, the Argentinian companies Credicoop and AFA are located respectively at positions 286 and 293.

The French group Crédit Agricole retains the first place in the turnover ranking, escorted by the REWE group, in Germany, and the BPCE group, also in France.

Another classification presented by the Monitor is that of the ratio of turnover to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, so that the volume of turnover of a company is related to the wealth of the country where she operates.

In this case, Banco Credicoop went from position 169 to 105 compared to the previous edition; AFA, 116-109; Grupo Sancor Seguros, from 121 to 115; and the Cooperativa Obrera, from 237 to 186, stands out from the shore.

Most of these 300 cooperative societies, mainly agricultural and insurance companies, followed by wholesale and retail companies, are located in industrialized countries such as the United States (74), France (44), l ‘Germany (30) and Japan (24).

A total of 312 federations and confederations from 109 countries are members of the International Cooperative Alliance, a convening body that represents cooperatives and provides a global voice and a forum of knowledge, experience and coordinated action for the 3 million cooperatives believed to be there are on the planet.

The International Co-operative Alliance works with governments and organizations, both internationally and regionally, to create the legal frameworks that enable co-operatives to form and grow.

Founded in 1895, it is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations and one of the largest entities according to the number of people represented: 1.2 billion cooperative members worldwide, reports Credicoop. (Telam and La Nueva.)