This article presents the results of an empirical research investigating economic and financial information of the business segments Credit Cooperatives and Banks in Brazil’s financial industry, from 2014 to 2018, with the purpose of assessing which of the two segments has more productivity and performance and enables a contribution to the democratization of capitalism, based on specific indicators. Credit unions are anchors for social economy, they operate a hybrid business model that

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... ultaneously fulfills the requirements of the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. Banks are institutions characterized as belonging to the secondary sector of the economy. The research methodology is positivist and non-parametric, supported by linear equations for calculating the productivity and performance indicators. The sample is made up of the 50 largest credit unions and the 50 largest banks, classified according to the criterion of each institution’s asset value, which represents 28.5% and 89.2% of the aggregate asset of each segment, respectively. The results obtained present robust evidence that the business segment Banks operates at a higher level of productivity, and the business sector Credit Cooperatives operates at a higher level of performance and contributes to the democratization of capitalism. The contributions made by this paper are relevant to the literature, and can aid in future investigations, with applications in segments with more diversity.