V, the leading mutual insurer, has set up a joint-stock company, though not a publicly traded one.

ECONOMIST: Demutualisation in Germany

Minsheng had 374 outlets at the end of 2008, 300 fewer than China Merchants, the largest joint-stock bank.

ECONOMIST: China��s first privately owned bank readies for listing

LB, which is already a joint-stock company, but two groups of Sparkassen would still own most of the bank.

ECONOMIST: German public-sector banks: Slow progress | The

Local governments in Japan seem inclined towards the former notion, yet the act of joint-stock incorporation creates expectations of the second.

ECONOMIST: Japan

Another insurance mutual, Alte Leipziger, has organised a joint-stock holding company which, executives say, may eventually be listed on the stock exchange.

ECONOMIST: Demutualisation in Germany

Some companies have to seek new financing channels to get funded, said a manager in charge of credit with a Chinese joint-stock bank.

WSJ: Chinese Banks Cut Back on Wealth-Management Products

Germany introduced laws to make it easier to establish joint-stock companies, scrapping ancient regulations, because so many German companies were taking advantage of the single European market and incorporating in Britain.

ECONOMIST: A World Bank report makes surprisingly cheerful reading

He ended up at Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Company.

NEWYORKER: Green Giant

But if the exec had changed the titling of the stock after moving and before her husband's death--say, by putting the stock in a joint account with right of survivorship--she would have lost that valuable community property step-up.

FORBES: Investment Guide