Social Finance Working Paper #76: Rokin Banks - 70 years of efforts to build an inclusive society in Japan through enhancing workers’ access to finance

This working paper documents the experience of Japanese union-led cooperative financial institutions and trade unions in enhancing workers’ access to finance. The working paper highlights 70 years of experience of Rokin Banks in providing access to finance for workers, and in particular low income workers. The paper reviews the factors that contributed to the success and longevity of the model as well as the strategies that Rokin Banks chose to address the challenges of a changing labour movement, a changing world of work, and a highly competitive financial sector. This working paper was produced in close collaboration with the National Association of Labour Banks in Japan and the ILO Office for Japan.