Caja Laboral Popular Cooperativa de Crédito or Caja Laboral (Workers' Credit Union) was a Spanish

credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...

established in 1959 as part of the

Mondragon Corporation The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and cooperative federation, federation of worker cooperatives based in the Euskal Herria, Basque region of Spain. It was founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956 by Father José María Arizmendiarrie ...

and headquartered in

Mondragón Mondragón (in Basque: Arrasate) officially known as Arrasate/Mondragón, is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque Country, Spain. Its population in 2015 was 21,933. Toponymy The current official name of the municipality is Arrasa ...

, in the Basque Country of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The major financial provider behind the Basque cooperative movement, Caja Laboral covered the financial segment of Mondragon and provided banking and financial services to its customers through a network of over 370 branch offices in the Basque Country and beyond. With over 1800 employees (who were actually the partners-owners of the bank following the cooperative philosophy of shared ownership and stewardship), Caja Laboral generated annual revenue in excess of €330 million. Together with its sister social assurance company Lagun Aro, Caja Laboral spearheaded the Financial Group of the

, which according to company sources 'operates autonomously within the framework of a sole joint strategy'. It was the first Spanish financial institution to open its branches in the late afternoons/early evenings. Caja Laboral was mostly unaffected by the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, though they did have €162 million in bonds from

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

. Effective with the 2009–10

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

season, Caja Laboral became the new sponsors of

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

and

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

club

Saski Baskonia Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D commonly known as Saski Baskonia () and also simply as Baskonia, is a professional basketball team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLea ...

. In 2012, Caja Laboral merged with Ipar Kutxa to form the credit union Laboral Kutxa.

References

External links

Caja Laboral website

Mondragon Cooperative Corporation website

References

External links

Further reading