Fintech platform Coop Exchange has launched an EU subsidiary in Malta during an event on 13 July.
The initiative forms part of Coop Exchange’s efforts to build a global network of stock exchanges dedicated to cooperatives and mutuals.
Cooperative leaders and high-level politicians, including Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela, attended the official launch. Mr Abela said his administration would fully support Coop Exchange in “becoming an integral part of Malta’s dynamic and progressive financial sector”.
The ICA’s President, Dr Ariel Guarco, and Director General, Jeroen Douglas, also attended.
“Coop Exchange is a fundamental instrument for the fulfilment of our cooperative principles and for increasing the economic power of the cooperative movement on a global scale,” said Dr Guarco.
“By directing resources towards a triple impact: economic, social, and environmental, Coop Exchange demonstrates that cooperative principles can and should be put into action through concrete tools that generate visible fruits for cooperatives and strengthen the cooperative ecosystem globally,” he added.
“Prosperity for all cannot be achieved without inclusive finance,” said Mr Douglas. “Coop Exchange will offer a unique opportunity to close the income gap and provide finance for those who need it most,” he added.
Former ICA President Dame Pauline Green, a non-executive director of Coop Exchange, was another keynote speaker at the launch.
“Coop Exchange is a creative, new way of doing business for cooperatives,” she said, “and it has the potential to help double the size of cooperatives in the UK and hopefully worldwide. This launch marks our progress towards resolving the challenges of cooperative capital acquisition.”
Headquartered in London, Coop Exchange is a cooperative set up in 2020 to provide cooperatives with access to new sources of capital – and enable everyone to invest in tradable cooperative shares. The cooperative is building a platform that will specialise in creating and offering financial products and services that resonate with today’s ethical investors and forward-thinking communities. Its long-term goal is to establish a network of tech-enabled cooperative stock markets around the globe.
Coop Exchange recently completed its pre-seed funding round, which saw it reach a £10m valuation, with Canadian insurer Co-operators leading the investment by acquiring a 12.4% stake. Co-operators is a member of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF), whose president and CEO, Shaun Tarbuck is also a non-executive director of Coop Exchange.
“The cooperative movement is now necessary because we are long-term thinkers,” said Tarbuck. “The UK government’s pledge to double the size of the cooperative economy over the next five years is inspiring. Imagine if 25 governments made similar commitments by 2025, it would change inequality and create a fairer society and jobs.”
Coop Exchange founder and CEO, Stephen Gill, encouraged participants to “imagine a world where public ownership is characterised by community-driven investments that shape the future for the benefit of those communities.”
He added that investments supported by purpose-oriented investors and institutions can be a force for good. “This transformative shift in our economic paradigm is what Coop Exchange is at the forefront of,” he concluded.
Photo: Coop Exchange founder and CEO, Stephen Gill, speaking at the launch event in Malta
