Over the past decades, the European banking market has been deeply modified by events such as globalisation, financial innovation, deregulation, disintermediation, consolidation, shareholder value and the intense process of political, social and economic integration. The new environment has enhanced the level of competition; influencing the volume, quality and price of financial services and squeezing banks' profitability. Cooperative banks, nonetheless, remain healthy and are gaining market share over their competitors. As their business model is based on retail banking, which remains segmented, they are still strong in local markets. In many respects, this segmentation represents the 'last great barrier' towards the full integration of European banking. Such an oligopoly, however, may be gradually eroded by a more qualified demand and by stronger competition from other financial intermediaries. Can this business model, based on concepts of mutuality, locality, ethics, solidarity and social cohesion, survive the new environment? This book investigates the main features of the evolution of the cooperative banking model within Western and Eastern European countries in order to assess whether it is possible to treat European cooperative banking as a unified system. Based on a wide and comprehensive 'country case-study' analysis, it gives a detailed overview of the main cooperative banking systems and aims to identify best-practice models around Europe.