Cooperative Banks’ Membership: which ubiquity? The Case of Banques Populaires

This article aims to identify the roles that cooperative banks assign to their members. The empirical study, based on the analysis of institutional discourse published on the websites of the 16 regional banks forming Banques Populaires network, reveals that the ubiquity of the members is not primarily based on the historical principle of dual quality: A client who holds shares. This characteristic seems to be disappearing in favor of a wider...