Purpose – Most research into the relationship between social capital and cooperatives takes social capital as the independent variable and the cooperative as the dependent variable, but as yet the authors know little about causality in the other direction. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the cooperative structure helps to maintain organizational social capital. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 46 participants from local banks (chairpersons, directors, managers, team leaders and human resources managers). Findings – Although the cooperative structure formally remained in place, integration into financial markets and digitalization effectively disembedded the organization from its original social context. The cooperative model can only remain distinctive, in terms of how it relates to its clients, under certain institutional conditions. Practical implications – The findings suggest that scaling, in response to changes in the institutional environment, was an important factor in changing the nature of the organization. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the understanding of the social dynamics of cooperatives in the field of financial services.