Social Banking and Social Finance: Answers to the Economic Crisis

2014

This dissertation examines the evolution of financial sectors and provides an analysis of the linkages among finance, the real economy, and the social structures in which they are embedded in the context of the evolution of financial sectors. It analyzes the social and economic consequences of an increasingly complex, financialized economy.

2015

The concept of social banking is often confused with other similar notions, such as alternative, civic, value-driven, ethical or sustainable banks. This ambiguous situation makes it very easy for a given financial institution to proclaim their social and environmental commitment. Quite often, however, there is an obvious gap between overstated intentions and real facts. Within this context, the aim of this paper is to draw a clear distinction between the concept of social banking and other related banking practices. In more precise terms, the paper will first explore the context allowing the emergence of social banking. Secondly, a concrete characterization of social banks will be proposed taking into account two complementary approaches: 1) a study of their specific underlying philosophy; 2) an analysis of their distinct banking practice

This book is about the social and cultural study of finance, of the markets and institutions used for fmancial transactions, and the trading of assets and risks. The financial system controls and manages credit; in contemporary societies, the ultimate users of real capital rely heavily on others (investors) to provide the funds with which to acquire the resources they need. Investors make the transfers of money to those seeking credit in the hope of reaping profits at later points in time; the debts the receivers of the funds incur are claims investors can make on future income and on economic output and development. Characteristically, these claims (which take the form of company shares, governments bonds, etc.) and their derivatives are marketed and traded onfinancial markets••••with the help of financial intermediaries (e.g. banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies) who package the deals, assume some of the risks, and facilitate the trading of claims and risks among market participants. The existence of such markets allows participants to sell claims and risks they no longer want, and to pursue additional profits through clever trading. Financial markets, then, are a major, if not the most important component of the credit mechanism in risk-based economies. Economists regard them as constituting an efficient mechanism that :fuIfi11s vital functions 01: and for, the financial system: for instance, they pool and transfer wealth for capital use, decrease the costs of finance (through the elimination of banks as direct lenders), and spread and control risks risk being more widely distributed when credit is obtained in financial markets through the splitting of shares and through derivative products that can be used for hedging risky investments (e.g. Merton and Bodie 1995: 4f, 13-15). In contemporary Westem societies, financial activities are a defining characteristic not only of the corporate economy, but also of politics, the welfure and social security system, and general culture. For example, the corporate economy has long depended on credit to finance production and investments. A Robinson Crusoe with nothing to invest could not hope to produce much. He would first have to invest his own time and labor in order to build the rudiments of a productive capital structure (Shapiro 1985: 77). As Susan Strange argues (1994: 30), if we had had to wait for profits to be accumulated there would have been none of the economic growth of the past decades in industry and agriculture. The state has long needed credit and borrowed vast amounts of money. From the seventeenth century onward, states systematically financed costly military interventions by issuing debt (government First publ.

Providing public goods and commons, 2018

Following a political economy perspective about financialization and its impacts on social economy, it seems important to understand the role of the neoliberal ideological hegemony and the ways in which, it not only influences academic thinking, but it goes well beyond, by shaping the “common sense” and therefore reinforcing its dominance. Describing the essential features of the financialization process brings to light the driving forces and the mechanisms that were put into practice and, finally, explains why, in spite of its negative effects which could provoke a rejection by the majority, the ideology is nonetheless reinforced. The text seeks to establish a framework concerning the impacts of financialization on the social economy sector, by reflecting what the main differences are between the different branches of social economy and how they can be affected by neoliberal ideology and policies. It seems particularly important to separate the institutions of social economy that d...

2025

This study examines what constitutes social in social finance. It addresses the lack of understanding of the multifaceted ways in which social finance might be social. The common understanding is that social finance is only social in its use. This study challenges this narrow premise and argues that social finance can be social in its attributes both in its source, uses, infrastructure, policy and design. In other words, social finance can be social in (i) its source, (ii) its uses, (iii) the policy that enables social financing, (iv) the infrastructure used to facilitate social financing, and (iv) the nature or design of the contract that produces the financial instruments used to raise social funds. The implication is that social finance mechanisms can be designed to be social in several ways. Understanding the different ways in which social finance can be social will ensure that we do not dismiss emerging social finance innovations that are not social in their use, but are social in other aspects.

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1997

According to Edward LiPuma, a dominant name in the anthropology of finance, we now live in a new and transformative phase of capitalism in which the proportion of wealth "held in financial as opposed to physical assets" is continually growing. This monetary capitalism is increasingly marked by financialization, speculation, risks, creation of derivative instruments, and circulation rather than production. To comprehend the economy of present and its politics, LiPuma argues, we need an adequate theorization of the social life of the new financial instruments such as the derivatives (p. 2).

Towards a sustainable socio-economic development: Is there a need for a socially inclusive financial system? By Ros Aniza Mohd Shariff. The global financial crisis has made the search for financial stability as well as socio-economic development an imperative issue globally. The crisis has raised new questions as well as expectation about a new financial system. Thus, the new financial system is to provide social and community finance to those in need especially to vulnerable group and reinforces social unity without leaving the importance of Islamic worldview in it. Accordingly, a socially responsible role has been assigned to Islamic banking and finance by some scholars to the Islamic economics literature where the institutions are called upon to play the role of universal banks in promoting socio-economic development. The development of the Muslim societies will ensure the survival of it in the future. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the need for a socially inclusive financial system and its role to foster the socio-economic development among the Muslim communities.