The first Brazilian credit cooperative was founded in 1902 at Nova Petropolis, Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil, and is still active. Since the 1960s, several laws, decrees, provisional measures, resolutions, and circulars have been issued by the Brazilian Federal Government to protect and regulate the cooperatives’ activities within the country. A comprehensive research on current Brazilian legislation regarding credit cooperatives is presented in this article. In 2019, if credit cooperatives were compared to commercial banks, they would represent the fifth largest bank operating in Brazil. Key findings pointed out an excessive number of provisional measures and sometimes confusing or redundant laws. This work compiled all the legal provisions about the cooperatives, currently in force in the country. Therefore, this work is an essential contribution to the field of study, since it provides to researchers, practitioners, managers, academics, cooperatives leaders, representatives, among others, a complete and systematic set of laws in force in Brazil, regarding credit cooperatives. Discussion and future research complete the present work.
Keywords: credit cooperatives; legislation; Brazil
