bank in Israel. Italy Since the 19th century, Italy has had hundreds of banche popolari (popular banks) and banche di credito cooperativo (cooperative credit banks) which are different kinds of cooperative societies (governed by an assembly where every shareholder/member has one vote). As of 2016, the biggest was Banca Popolare di Milano (founded in 1865). Starting in 2016, due to a new law, several cooperative banks will be forced to merge and/or be converted to società per azioni. Microcredit and microfinance The more recent phenomena of microcredit and microfinance are often based on a cooperative model. These focus on small business lending. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his ideas regarding development and his pursuit of the microcredit concept. In this concept the institution provides micro loans to people who couldn't otherwise secure loans through conventional means. However, cooperative banking differs from modern microfinance. Particularly, members’ control over financial resources is the distinguishing feature between the cooperative model and modern microfinance. The not-for-profit orientation of modern microfinance has gradually been replaced by full-cost recovery and self-sustainable microfinance approaches. The microfinance model has been gradually absorbed by market-oriented or for-profit institutions in most underdeveloped economies. The current dominant model of microfinance, whether it is provided by not-for-profit or for-profit institutions, places the control over financial resources and their allocation in the hands of a small number of microfinance providers that benefit from the highly profitable sector. Cooperative banking is different in many aspects from standard microfinance institutions, both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Although group lending may seemingly share some similarities with cooperative concepts, in terms of joint liability, the distinctions are much bigger, especially when it comes to autonomy, mobilization and control over resources, legal and organizational identity, and decision-making. Early financial cooperatives founded in Germany were more able to provide larger loans relative to the borrowers’ income, with longer-term maturity at lower interest rates compared to modern standard microfinance institutions. The main source of funds for cooperatives are local savings, while microfinance institutions in underdeveloped economies rely heavily on donations, foreign funds, external borrowing, or retained earnings, which implies high-interest rates. High-interest rates, short-term maturities, and tight repayment schedules are destructive instruments for low- and middle-income borrowers which may lead to serious debt traps, or in best scenarios will not support any sort of capital accumulation. Without improving the