the mutual form of ownership also has disadvantages. One example is that mutual companies have no shares to sell and hence no access to equity markets. At one time, most major U.S. life insurers were mutual companies. For many years, the tax status of such organizations was open to dispute, as they were technically nonprofit organizations. Eventually, it was agreed that federal taxation would be based on their share of business: for instance, in years in which mutual companies represented half of the business, they would be responsible for half of the taxes paid by the industry. Many savings and loan associations were also mutual companies, owned by their depositors. As a form of corporate ownership the mutual has fallen out of favor in the U.S. since the 1980s. Savings and loan industry deregulation and the late 1980s savings and loan crisis led many to change to stock ownership, or in some cases into banks. Many large U.S.-based insurance companies, such as the Prudential Insurance Company of America and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company have demutualized, with shares of stock being distributed to their policyholders to represent the ownership interest they formerly had in the form of their interest as mutual policyholders. The Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company has also investigated demutualization, even though its form of ownership is embedded in its name. It is noted that other formerly mutual companies such as Washington Mutual, a former savings and loan association, have been allowed to demutualize and yet retain their names. The approximate British equivalent of the savings and loan is the building society. Building societies also went through an era of demutualisation in the 1980s and 1990s, leaving only one large national building society and currently 43 (Sept 2016) smaller regional and local ones. Significant demutualisation also occurred in Australia and South Africa in the same era. Cooperatives are very similar to mutual companies. They tend to deal in primarily tangible goods and services such as agricultural commodities or utilities rather than intangible products such as financial services. Nevertheless, banking institutions with close ties to the co-operative movement are usually known as credit unions or cooperative banks rather than mutuals. Modern mutuality Various types of financial institutions around the world are mutuals, and examples include: Asset management companies (most are not mutual) The Vanguard Group – United States TIAA (formerly TIAA-CREF) – United States Building societies Nationwide Building Society