To turn to discuss savings banks, even though there are differences in ownership structure and business model among them, there are three commonalities: i) savings banks are non&profit&oriented institutions, ii) they, or the entities that own them, have a social mission, a regional commitment and a mandate to contribute to the “general good”, and iii) they can be decentralized elements of some larger system, network or nexus (Ayadi et al. 2009). Both savings and cooperative banks have a role as “dual& bottom” line institutions, combining social and financial objectives and they both have a deep local focus. What distinguishes savings banks from cooperatives is that savings banks are in many cases in public ownership, whereas co&operatives are always in private ownership (Ayadi et al. 2009). In some countries, saving banks are owned by private foundations. Co&operatives, in turn, are always owned by their own customers. Also the ownership rights of the supporting entity of savings banks (such as foundations) are less extensive than the rights of the owner&members in the case of cooperative banks. .
