Agribusiness in general and agri-cooperatives in particular are well-placed to weather the current financial crisis, according to financial experts from leading European cooperative banks.
A meeting of cooperative banks, organised by agri-cooperatives organisation Cogeca last week in Brussels, to discuss agri-cooperatives’ access to finance and risk assessment found that such groups are likely to benefit from having a business model based on credibility, stability and a low-risk approach.
Speaking following the conclusion of the meeting, Cogeca president Gert Van Dijk said that European agri-cooperatives had already “tightened their belts”and were now “beacons of financial stability overall”.
“Cooperative banks in particular, due to their direct and long-established links with agri-cooperatives, are keeping up much of their lending activity in agriculture even as credit is becoming increasingly scarce,” he said.
At the meeting, a joint expert group was set up between Cogeca and the European
Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB) to develop appropriate financial indicators to assess risk and improve credit access for agri-cooperatives.
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