About the IMMR & Our Manifesto

The IMMR is an international coalition of nonprofit organisations from across the world, campaigning for a monetary system that serves society. We maintain a very clear and specific aim, namely to change the way money is created and allocated, but we are not dogmatic about the way our proposal is implemented as the details will vary from country to country. To serve this goal, the IMMR supports and connects various national member organisations to share ideas, discuss research and exchange best practices. United in a global movement for monetary reform we look forward to the day when money systems are pillars of a just society in service of sustainability, stability and prosperity.

The Problem

Over the last decades, the global monetary and financial systems changed considerably due to new technology, changing regulation, and globalisation. Currently, what we use as money is created by private banks whenever they extend credit. Only a small fraction of the money supply (notes and coins) is issued by states and central banks. The result is a system which does not work in the public interest and causes the following problems:

• Inequality and the concentration of wealth: Money creation by banks grows the value of financial assets and debt much more than GDP. The result is an unequal distribution of income and wealth in favour of the wealthy and that financial income grows at the expense of earned income.
• Financial instability: Money creation by banks is pro-cyclical – too much in a boom and too little in a recession, enhancing pronounced boom-bust cycles. Also, the banking system is inherently unstable due to the problem of bank runs and requires extensive bailouts and guarantees in a crises to prevent a general meltdown of the economy.
• High levels of debt: Because most money is issued as bank credit, the money supply burdens society with debt.
• Unsustainability: The bank money system hinders sustainable development and exploits society and the planet.
• Unfairness and privileged banks: The power to create money gives banks an unfair advantage over all other institutions and/or actors in the economy. How much money is created and where new money is allocated is primarily determined by private banks on the basis of maximizing their own profits rather than the needs of the economy.

Our Proposal

We propose a transition towards a sovereign money system in which:

• All official money – be it cash, money-on-account or new forms of digital currency – is created by a monetary state authority, according to the needs of the economy in a transparent and accountable process.
• Money is created free of debt, and is directly spent into the economy via the state by way of government expenditure or directly distributed to the citizens as an equal dividend.
• Private banks can not create official money as credit. They only act as payment service providers and/or financial intermediaries by lending and investing existing official money, which they obtain from savers and investors.

While this is our long-term vision, we are supportive of ideas, strategies and monetary proposals to move towards this goal.

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We are proud member of Finance Watch