The rarefaction of bank branches in our territory has taken on a dramatic significance, as already anticipated by the latest Bank of Italy report: 55 bank branches definitively closed in 5 years, equal to 24.9% of the total, a loss of 133 jobs of work equal to 12.4% which went from 1,074 to 941, a credit granting rate far lower than that relating to the collection of savings which determines a disproportionate negative delta resulting in poor credit granting is the balance of the so-called process of banking desertification in the past five years and also confirmed by a report from the Studies & Research Office of Fisac Cgil. Unfortunately, the contraction has also been confirmed for the beginning of 2024.
In terms of size, 54% of the branches closed on a national basis belong to larger banks, the shares attributable to cooperative credit banks and cooperative banks are equal to 20% and 3% respectively.
As regards employment, the tendency towards the concentration of employees in the areas where the general managements of the larger groups are located is further accentuated. Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, places where five of the six largest banking groups have their headquarters, are the top three regions by number of employees.
This is the symptom of a problem to be found in the ever decreasing attention of banks to our territory.
Where banks close, the consequence is increasing damage to the development of small and medium-sized businesses and an impoverishment of private customers who see the possibility of recourse to credit diminish.
We read some interesting trend lines in this data which confirm what we have been maintaining for a long time: technological innovation, digitalisation, artificial intelligence must be based on work. Presence in the area, proximity to customers, specific and non-standardized skills are irreplaceable points. This is also demonstrated by the strategies of some American banking giants, who resettle in the territories to support the economy. The national contract gives us a unique tool to accompany the banking sector into the future, in the awareness that its strength lies in work and physical protection of the territory. It’s time to act so that the future is based on work.
