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3. our main personal Swedish bank is JAK Bank (no interest model)

https://monneta.org/en/the-jak-bank-model/

The JAK Bank Model



Model of a sustainable money system beyond the growth imperative? The Swedish JAK Bank has been offering interest-free savings, loans and banking services since 1965, with the aim of enabling an interest-free economy. More than 38,000 members of the cooperative bank save with interest-free savings accounts and can thus borrow money from the general fund for the cost of the administration fees only.

The principle is simple: when savers forego income from interest, they also do not need to pay interest when they take a loan. Savings and loans are directly connected in the JAK system through this principle and the bank also encourages its members to have an active dialogue about this.

The exponential effects of compound interest that are seen by many monetary critics as one of the most significant systemic causes of the redistribution of wealth and of the pressure for economic growth are circumvented by the JAK bank in a unique way. Their secret recipe: in place of interest there is the principle of complementary ‘savings points’, one of the JAK bank’s ingenious and highly developed processes of liquidity and time planning.


The savings and loans model of the JAK Members’ Bank: savings, loans, amortizing – all without interest.

The first concrete steps towards creating the JAK bank model were taken in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The bank finally established itself in 1970 and has continued to this day. In the meantime, it has been imitated in Finland, Italy and Spain. Also in Germany, where the roots of this idea can be traced back to the Ausgleichskassen (equalizing funds) during the Weimar Republic, there are new initiatives in Stuttgart and Freiburg. However, the JAK bank model is hardly known outside Sweden. Because the giving and taking of interest is forbidden in Islam, the JAK model in Sweden is apparently used by believing Muslims, who see that it offers them the opportunity to take part in the modern money system in a way that is compatible with their beliefs.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAK_Members_Bank

The JAK Members Bank, or JAK Medlemsbank, is a cooperative, member-owned financial institution based in Skövde, Sweden, and based on a concept that arose in Denmark in 1931. JAK is an acronym for Jord Arbete Kapital in Swedish or Land Labour Capital, the factors of production in classical economics. A membership of approximately 39,000 (as of December 2015) dictates the Bank's policies and direction. The Board of Directors is elected annually by members, who are each allowed only one share in the bank. JAK Members Bank does not offer any interest on saved money. All of the bank's activities occur outside of the capital market as its loans are financed solely by member savings. Administrative and developmental costs are paid for by membership and loans.

JAK banking employs the "Saving Points" system: members accumulate Saving Points during saving periods and use them when applying for a loan. The concept is that one is allowed to take out a loan for oneself to the same extent as one allows other people to be granted loans, saving into one's account. For this reason (applying for a loan), earned Saving Points must be equal to spent Saving Points to ensure sustainability. If a member is borrowing more saving points than they currently possess, they are obliged to continue accumulating "aftersavings" during the repayment period. Aftersavings are a fixed quota of money that a member must save after one's loan was made, so they can continue to earn Saving Points. This way, at the end of the repayment period, Saving Points earned will be equal to Saving Points spent, and at that time they will be able to have back all their aftersavings. JAK also offers a couple of loans where you do not need any saving points.

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