Mutual Growth Study Tour 2025: Lessons for a thriving mutual sector

30 September 2025

The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) 2025 Mutual Growth Study Tour took Australian sector leaders to the UK and Europe from 31 August to 6 September 2025. Across London, Paris, Frankfurt and Rome, the tour examined how mutuals and co-operatives are innovating for growth, navigating regulation and staying true to member benefit. 

The mission: Building knowledge and partnerships  

The highlight of our mutual growth tour in the UK and Europe was a dinner at Westminster Parliament generously hosted by the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals. At dinner, we were joined by mutual industry leaders and Members of the House of Commons and Lords, celebrating the exchange between the UK and Australian co-operative and mutual movements. 

The study tour was designed to foster knowledge exchange and build international partnerships that strengthen Australia’s co-operative and mutual sector. By engaging directly with senior executives, policymakers and sector organisations, the tour aimed to uncover practical strategies for resilience, modernisation and competitiveness. 

The objectives were threefold: 

• Identify transferable strategies to tackle shared challenges such as capital access, digital transformation and member engagement. 
• Inspire innovation and collaboration to drive sustainable growth. 
• Build enduring international relationships between Australian and global mutual organisations. 

Sectors in focus 

The tour highlighted the diversity of the mutual sector across finance, insurance, retail and social co-operatives. In banking, federated models in Germany and Italy illustrated how networks can preserve local identity while safeguarding resilience. In the UK, large-scale mutuals like Nationwide and Royal London demonstrated that size and innovation can coexist with member ownership. France showed how statutory reinvestment rules keep co-operatives anchored in their communities, while Italy’s constitutional recognition of co-operatives underscored the sector’s social role. 

Key lessons 

Several unifying themes emerged across jurisdictions: 

• scale underpins resilience 
• capital innovation preserves independence 
• member value must be tangible 
• local presence remains vital 
• modernisation is essential 
• legal and structural safeguards provide durability 
• purpose is the anchor 

Conclusion 

The 2025 Mutual Growth Study Tour confirmed that co-operatives and mutuals, while diverse in form, share enduring values and innovative responses to modern pressures. For Australia, the lessons point to the importance of scale, innovation in capital and a renewed articulation of member value and purpose. Above all, they demonstrate that mutuality is not a constraint on growth – it is a model for resilience and long-term trust. 

This latest tour builds on a strong tradition of BCCM-led international learning opportunities. It follows the European Co-operative Housing Study Tour in April 2024 and earlier tours in 2018 that examined UK mutuals and social care co-operatives along the Australian East Coast. Together, these experiences mark the evolution of an ongoing BCCM program that connects Australian mutual leaders with global counterparts, ensuring our sector benefits from international perspectives, insights and networks. 

Browse the 2025 European Mutual Growth Tour photo gallery on Flickr.