About The Banker Ladies Council
The Banker Ladies Council (BLC) is made up of a group of Black women educating and advocating for the role that Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) play among diasporic communities as a pathway to financial independence. Established in 2020, the Council is focused on advocating for financial systems for Black women who organize cooperative banks in the community.
Their goal is to educate members of the public on their rights as cooperators; leading capacity-building training of informal institutions and advocacy for the Rotating Savings and Credit Associations in the Canadian financial sector. The Council also advances cooperative economics and works to end the erasure and harms encountered by ROSCA users across the country.
The Council believes in advocating for financial systems for Black women who organize cooperative banks in the community.
The Banker Ladies Council founding members.
The Banker Ladies Council is embarking on building a ROSCA system in Canada by developing The ROSCA Network. It will be a co-operative that offers education, training and advocacy services to its ROSCA practitioners across the country. The ROSCA Network will give legitimacy to women who have been using this type of informal banking as a form of savings.
The objective is to recognize and legitimize the role ROSCAs play in the economy. Money saved using this type of system has been used to stimulate the economy through the purchase of homes, starting businesses & funding education. There are many ROSCA groups in Toronto (and Canada broadly) among the Black population as well as so many other racialized groups, including men using ROSCAs.
The ROSCA Network will support and protect the rights of ROSCA users in Canada. They will work to address challenges faced by ROSCA users, raise awareness about this form of saving money & enable users to connect with other ROSCA users across the country.
This ground-breaking initiative will focus on raising the profile of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations in Ontario! Read more about the collaboration here.
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