Artigiancassa is reborn with the agreement between Agart and Mediocredito Centrale

Artigiancassa, the lending institution for artisans and SMEs, is reborn. Its return to the field comes under the mantle of the State, thanks to an agreement with Mediocredito Centrale, the public bank controlled by Invitalia and therefore by the Treasury.

The operation took the form of the joint acquisition of the intermediary Bga Spa, carried out by Mediocredito for an 80% share and for the other 20% by Agart, the company owned by the artisan central offices that remains the owner of the Artigiancassa brand. Agart encompasses the entire world of Italian craftsmanship, being owned by Confartigianato, Cna, Casartigiani and Fedart Fidi, the federation of Confidi.

The go-ahead, announced by Mediocredito Centrale, aims to 'respond to the credit and financial needs of artisans and, more generally, of small economic operators, also by collecting and enhancing the legacy of the historic Artigiancassa brand,' as stated in the note issued late Monday afternoon. The target audience is represented by 1.27 million craft enterprises, 21.3% of Italian companies, totalling 2.64 million employees.

But as well as economic, the sense of the intervention is political. And it rests on the explicit objective of reconstituting a strong point of reference for the variegated world of small loans to artisan activities, often considered on the margins of the big banks' attention span: a dynamic, this one, indicated by the demise of the old 'banking' Artigiancassa, born out of the privatisations of the early 1990s and gradually ending up far from the focus of a credit sector gradually concentrated on more profitable lines of business.

'With this operation, the State is back on the side of the artisans,' points out Giorgio Salvitti, the FdI senator (at Palazzo Madama he sits on the Finance and Environment committees) who played a directing role in the operation, 'who have helped Italy grow since the 1950s and play a fundamental role in supporting widespread and parcelled-out wealth.