Uilca, the sharpest decline in branches in Molise and Abruzzo

Molise, Abruzzo and Marche achieve the sad record of banking desertification. This is what the banking union Uilca underlines according to which between 2018 and 2023 the three regions respectively saw the presence of bank branches in their territory reduce by 28.4%, 25.9% and 25%. Percentages higher than the national average: -20.7% (-5,248), from 25,409 to 20,161. The municipalities served by banks in Italy, in the same years, decreased by 13.4% (-717), from 5,368 to 4,651. Employees also suffered a decrease of 6% (-16,727), from 278,152 to 261,425. In 2023, there are 4,347,643 (equal to 7.4% of the entire population) people without access to a bank. Of these, 1,373,919 are over 60. “Unfortunately, banking desertification continues to show a negative trend. With our branch closure? No thanks campaign, over the past year, we have toured many territories and spoken to many people. The problem the closure of bank branches affects the entire population and has repercussions on the territories in economic, legal and social terms”, comments Uilca general secretary Fulvio Furlan. “This mobilization, together with the Annual Report on banking desertification that we presented last January, facilitated the establishment of a working group at the National Council of Economy and Labor, thanks to president Renato Brunetta who accepted our appeal” . In January Uilca presented the first report on the impact of banking desertification: nine out of ten people are dissatisfied with the closure of bank branches in their municipality and consider it useful to speak to a banking operator. For eight out of ten it would not be the same if the bank branch closed and was replaced by an ATM. For seven out of ten, bank proximity influences the propensity to invest in financial products.