Asociació Comunidades is a non-profit organisation, which began in Spain to help local communities set up community banks (CAFs, ‘self-managed financial communities’) for groups with limited financial means and access to financial services, especially Spain’s ever-growing immigrant population. Asociació guides a CAF with the set-up process through knowledge transfers, provides all necessary training during a CAF’s formative stage, and attends monthly meetings until a CAF is self-managing. A CAF is essentially a fund set up by its members, generally ranging in size between 10 and 30 members, with each member buying shares of the CAF. Members are both owners and customers. 

A CAF provides its members with a social network, the chance to learn about potential employment opportunities through this network, along with more traditional financial services, namely access to credit to buy anything from a new washing machine to their children’s textbooks, and insurance. By providing fast and simple access to credit, a CAF helps to encourage savings and furthers its members’ financial education. 

Benefits are distributed to the members depending on the number of shares a member owns. While each CAF sets its own rules of operations and coordinates its own activities, Asociació Comunidades conducts regulatory audits of the CAFs. A CAF helps communities meet indispensable economic needs and provides essential financial services that are otherwise unattainable to its members. Asociació Comunidades’ methodology has become recognised as a best practice in the region of Catalonia.