This paper sets out to assess the evolution of two comparable sectors: third sector banks on the one hand, and health insurance and provident societies on the other hand. While the former embarked on consolidation and partial privatization—at the expense of mutualization—as early as the 1980s, the latter are currently undergoing a similar but more cautious evolution. The present paper starts with a comparative analysis of the two sectors and goes on to show that the hybridization processes witnessed in banking are not paralleled in the area of supplementary health insurance. Hybridization processes certainly run counter to the mutualized activities of third sector banks. However, mutual insurance and provident societies are more faithful to their founding principles.
- mutual and cooperative banks
- concentration
- bank hybridization
- provident societies