Last week two ethical financial cooperatives met in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In a world that often seems to be rushing toward chaos, two financial actors took the time to meet to reflect on their values and practical ways they bring them to life.

Credal is a Belgian credit cooperative that was born from a citizens’ movement frustrated by financial institutions using their savings to support apartheid in South Africa. Meanwhile, Coop57 was founded in Barcelona as an ethical financial cooperative and now operates in nearly every Spanish region. Two parallel stories, set in very different contexts.

FEBEA organized the meeting. Our umbrella organization aims to support all kind of financiers driven by the same purpose and values that Credal and Coop57 share: using finance as a force for positive change. Despite some differences—such as organizational size, minimum capital contribution, geographic scope, language, and other— Credal and Coop57 discovered through this study visit how similar their activities and approaches are. They generously exchanged essential organizational information, trusting each other as allies rather than competitors, united by a common purpose.

These kind of exchanges allow FEBEA members to learn from their peers in different contexts, at various stages of development of the organizations, to learn from both their mistakes and their successes. They also foster a sense of solidarity, knowing that elsewhere in Europe, someone else is ensuring that every euro is invested in meaningful initiatives.

Both Coop57, travelling from Spain, and Credal, hosting the encounter in Wallonia, recognized similar challenges and aspirations: growing their membership, ensuring generational renewal, developing new financial products, and fostering governance structures that promote cooperative participation.

For these cooperatives, sharing knowledge is not a marketing strategy, instead, they perceive it as investing in the future of Social Economy by strengthening financial actors throughout Europe.