Resources on social finance

  1. Article

    Convention 190 in action: preventing harassment of workers in Japanese banks

    29 July 2021

    Labour banks (“Rokin Banks”) in Japan have been promoting workers’ access to finance for many years. They have also been in the vanguard when it comes to adopting international standards around workplace violence and harassment. Rokin Banks modelled their recent harassment guidelines directly on the ILO’s Convention 190, serving as an example and inspiration for legislation elsewhere in Japan, and for financial institutions around the world.

  2. Publication

    Rokin Banks’ responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan

    30 September 2020

    Like any other country, the population and economy of Japan are badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The preliminary figures for real GDP in the second quarter of 2020 show a decline of 7.8%. Rokin Banks (a network of 13 union-led cooperative financial institutions) are well positioned to provide support and protect the livelihoods of workers and their families, given their 70-year-experience in building an inclusive society and advancing financial inclusion of workers. Read about the special measures that Rokin Banks have recently introduced in this short brief.

  3. Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators

    Rokin Labour Banks: Financial cooperatives for workers in Japan

    31 October 2017

    "Spotlight Interviews with Cooperators" is a series of interviews with cooperative leaders from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths during the course of their work with cooperatives. For this issue ILO interviewed Mr Toshihiro Akahori, Deputy General Manager, Planning and International Department of National Association of Labour Banks (NALB) in Japan. Prior to joining NALB in 2015, he worked at Shizuoka Rokin Labour Bank in Shizuoka Prefecture from 1997 to 2015.

  4. News

    ILO COOP NewsUpdate, Issue No. 4

    11 October 2016

  5. Social finance

    Giving banks a good name

    19 September 2012

    Is it possible for banks to devote themselves to the financial welfare of workers and still survive financial crises? The ILO looks at the Rokin Bank, a union-led cooperative in Japan.

  6. Publication

    Social Finance Working Paper #55: ROKIN Bank

    13 October 2011

    The story of workers’ organizations that successfully promote financial inclusion