MANY BANKS are closing branches but those who want to remain close to the customer are opening new ones and in the last 5 years they have provided 13.5 billion euros in total loans, divided into 7.2 billion to businesses and institutions and 6.3 billion euros to families (+48.1%). This is the case of the cooperative credit banks in Emilia-Romagna who presented their data at the conference organized in Cesenatico in recent weeks by the Bcc Emilia-Romagna regional federation: “In total, in June 2024, we recorded 346 branches, an increase of + 3.1% in the last five years compared to a 19% contraction in the presence of other banks”, explains the president of the regional Federation, Mauro Fabbretti (in the photo on the right). These are the numbers from which to start to draw a picture of the presence and role of the mutual banks in Emilia-Romagna. “A control – explains Fabbretti – which sees the mutual banks operating in 162 municipalities (46.2% with less than 5,000 inhabitants), in 13 of which as the only banking presence (there were just 5 in 2019): a ‘specific weight’ of credit cooperation which stands at 18.7% of the total branches in the area, with a percentage that rises to 21% in the municipalities of the internal areas and to 23.6% in the peripheral ones”.
And it is precisely the rural or marginalized areas where the impact of the presence of the BCC becomes stronger: the maintenance of physical access points in these areas, in fact, has contributed to the development of the settlement areas, also increasing employment both directly (thanks to the 2,900 employees of the regional mutual banks, growing by 10% in the five-year period, with a female component of 46%), and indirectly, through the virtuous spin-off of business financing. Naturally, the presence of BCC branches is also a driving force in the development of local communities and businesses through the credit instrument: “In Emilia-Romagna the financial support of the BCCs in the last five years has been extremely significant – continues Fabbretti –: 13, 5 billion euros in total loans (+20% in the last five years), divided into 7.2 billion euros in loans to businesses and institutions (+2.4%) and 6.3 billion euros in loans to families (+48 ,1%)”. The market shares of credit cooperation are also growing and, to date, are particularly high in some sectors: 19.2% in the agricultural sector (+2.2% in the last five years), 23.9% in tourism (+0 .5% with the share rising to 36.7% for companies with fewer than 20 employees, a characteristic size of the companies that make up the regional economic fabric), 15.9% for the construction sector (+4.7%) and 23.2% for crafts and small manufacturing. Members are also increasing, exceeding 148,000 (+11.9% on a five-year basis) and deposits reaching 16.9 billion euros from 2019 to 2023, (+33.8%). A figure that becomes even more relevant to the extent that it directly impacts the regional economy: 80% of the savings collected, in fact, became credit for the real economy of Emilia-Romagna (with at least 95% of the credit provided in the same territory that generated the savings). But not only that: the profits produced by the mutual banks have confirmed the generative function of cooperative credit with positive repercussions on their territories: from 2019 to 2023, 27.7 million euros were in fact disbursed in the form of donations and sponsorships for initiatives relating to culture, health, sport and the promotion of the territory, to which must be added the over 5.5 million euros donated in 2023 alone for the flooded areas and communities.
“Between the Parent Company and the mutual banks in the area there is and must be a great synergy also on a strategic level because it is our banks that are at the forefront in the area, understanding the needs and critical issues and pointing out the areas in which it is It is necessary to intervene and develop projects – explains Giorgio Fracalossi (on the left, above), president of the Cassa Centrale Banking Group – and this also means when and where to decide to open new branches, there will be 25 of the BCCs of Emilia-Romagna belonging to the Cassa Banking Group Central in the next three years, or whether to maintain the existing ones. In this case the evaluation cannot be exclusively of an economic nature but the value of the relationship and proximity that characterizes cooperative credit comes into play: how much does our branch impact on the territory? value does it generate in that area? How much does it support the communities that populate the places where the branch operates? These are the questions we must ask ourselves, Bcc and Parent Company together. It is a new model in Europe but it is our essence.”
For its part, the Bcc Iccrea Group, with its 235 branches operating in Emilia Romagna, is alongside the communities that live and work in the region, with the commitment to reach a quota of financing for the territory, by 2026, equal to 9, 5 billion and direct collections of over 11 billion. “Our mutual banks – adds Giuseppe Maino (left, below), president of the Bcc Iccrea Group – are also at the forefront for ESG financing: as a Group we have issued 21,165 environmental financing for a total of 748 million euros and , of these, 8.23%, equal to 61.5 million, is the contribution that comes from the 4 mutual banks based in this region. Numbers that demonstrate the strength and ability of the Group’s mutual banks to be close to the economy real and to support the needs of families and SMEs, with modern solutions in step with the times”.
