This policy note has been written by the EMN Idea Lab for Self-Controlled Financing Systems for practitioners in the microfinance sector, policy makers and senior managers of financial institutions.

The policy note aims to inform them about an upcoming and under-represented phenomenon: a growing number of people seek to gain more control over using and dealing with their money, simultaneously distancing themselves from the formal financial system. They do so either in a more traditional way by forming cooperatives and mutual societies, or in a more modern way by using the internet to invest directly in new projects through crowdfunding mechanisms and peer-to-peer platforms.