Banca di Alba, growing number of branches for the Bcc with the most members in Italy

It has just left behind the best balance sheet ever and confirms, "in a stubbornly contrary direction" as Faber would say with respect to the general trend of the sector, the decision to increase its presence in the territory and increase the number of branches in its area of competence. In 2024, the Banca d'Alba - the BCC with the most members in Italy, 65,000, now in its 130-year history - saw volumes increase to 12.4 billion, with 177,000 customers and 80.5 million in net profit. Deposits, which reached EUR 9.3 billion, and loans, EUR 3.1 billion, recorded an increase in volumes of 6.2% compared to 2023. The bank, present in Piedmont and Liguria with 74 branches, will expand further over the next 12 months with new openings in Novara and Vercelli.

For General Manager Enzo Cazzullo, the central theme remains the territorial banking model and the desire to maintain a direct relationship with customers, individuals and businesses. "The decision to increase coverage in the territory does not look at the profit and loss account, but at the business model that we want to maintain, which of course is not the same for everyone in the banking sector. Of course, it is an onerous model because the main cost item comes from the management of real estate in which the branches are located and the staff that animates them". The bank's objective, he adds, 'is to give back to the territory what the territory gives us, thanks to its solidity from a socio-economic point of view'.

The bank's branches numbered 20 in 2012, a number that will rise to 56 in 2021. "As of today, as I speak, there are 74 branches. So that means that in the last 12 years, from 2012 to 2024, numerically the branches have grown by 32 per cent,' Cazzullo explains. The latest openings were in Genoa, in October 2021, and in Verbania in December 2023. Two provincial capitals, the first in the region, "where we want to offer families, small and medium-sized businesses in the area a way of banking that is increasingly in demand and increasingly disregarded by the banking system as a whole," the general manager goes on to explain. New openings will be on 14 July, with the opening of the Novara branch, and next year, in 2026, with Vercelli.

In a phase in which banks are consultants for the transformation of companies, Banca d'Alba responds on the one hand with the capacity for supervision expressed by the branches, and on the other hand with a network of consultants who collaborate with the commercial network, hence with the branches, both for credit-related issues and for corporate matters. "We offer companies qualified consultancy on various aspects, but our network of specialised collaborators actually assists the commercial network, not subtracts relationships from the branch," Cazzullo emphasises.

No conflict or competition, therefore, but teamwork that has helped business in the corporate sector to grow over the years. "In the two-year period 2023-2024 we disbursed almost EUR 600 million to businesses with a constant growth compared to previous years," explains the CEO, "in 2023 we disbursed 20% more than in 2022 and in 2024 we disbursed 30% more than in 2023. Nothing comparable, therefore, to a market trend.