Through this article, West makes a plea for the committee promoting the creation of the Ethical Bank, JAK in Italy (http://www.jakitalia.it/). Jord, Abete and Kapital. Labour, Land and Capital: these three elements lying behind any economic system constitute the Swedish acronym JAK. Jak is a bank which, based on a Danish experience in the Thirties, has operated in Sweden since 1973 using a simple method. Savers do not receive interests on the capital they bank and those who secure a loan pay only one commission, which is equal to bank’s managing costs.
Jak is a project of social business and aims at supporting financial and economic sustainability rather than profit maximisation. Such a banking model wants to act as an instrument of fair wealth distribution and economic emancipation. Jak’s clients/associates have all the same rights and obligations, participate in the bank management through their vote and operate thanks to a fair saving and loaning system with no interest. In order to protect cash flow, a simple program of “saving points” has been created. According to such a program, associates accumulate points when they put down a deposit and lose points when they apply for funding. The balance between the points lost and gained makes this system sustainable.
Moreover, in order to grant higher flexibility to those who do not gather an adequate number of points as to compensate the credit they will consume, there exists a “post-saving” mechanism according to which the associate who takes out a loan undertakes to put down an additional deposit on his or her bank account. The duration of loans is calculated on the basis of the single associate’s saving capacity and the access to credit respects precise rules imposed by a supervisory body.
The bank does not pay and does not accumulate interests; it does not operate in financial market and regains its original function, which is that of providing credit. Jak plays also an educational role, it develops the knowledge of economic processes and the culture of values such as solidarity and subsidiarity, giving everyone the possibility to autonomously think and negotiate.
Becoming partners is the first step to support and spread in Italy the idea of Jak and of an alternative model of access to credit.
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