Banking desertification hits Liguria. Only one local institution remains
In 1990, the region was home to 12 banks. Then the big mergers and Carige's troubles radically changed the landscape
4' min read
4' min read
Banking desertification is severely affecting the Ligurian territory, historically important for the credit sector, given that the first Italian bank, the Casa delle compere e dei banchi di San Giorgio, later Banco di S. Giorgio, was founded in 1407 (followed, in 1483, by the institution of the Monte di pietà) precisely in Genoa, the capital that was for centuries a nerve centre of European financial activities.
But even in more recent times, Liguria was the birthplace of prestigious institutions: in 1846, the Banca di Genova was created by Bartolomeo Parodi and Carlo Bombrini, which, by merging with the Banca di Torino, would give rise to the Banca Nazionale degli Stati Sardi; and this to the Banca d'Italia. In the same year, King Carlo Alberto signed the decree authorising the Monte di pietà to set up a savings bank, into which the Monte itself would be merged in 1929: thus Carige was born.
In 1870, in the province of Genoa, a group of mayors, led by Nicola Giuseppe Dallorso, founded the Banco di sconto del circondario di Chiavari, which later became Banco di Chiavari e della Riviera Ligure in 1921. A few years earlier, in 1855, the Genoa Stock Exchange had been founded, active until 1997.
In 1888 Luigi Passadore founded the Banca Passadore & C in Genoa, with a capital partner, which began operating by managing remittances from emigrants in the Americas to their relatives and, to this day, remains a private and independent institution.
In short, Liguria's importance in the Italian banking system has always been recognised by the world of finance. But since 1990, when the concentration of the Italian credit system began, the region, and in particular the capital, began to lose ground, until they reached today's desertification, reported, data in hand, by Fisac CGIL. In 1990, explains Davide Riccardi, head of the trade union's study centre, who compiled a study processing Bankitalia data, there were 1,152 banks in Italy, 231 of which in the northwest and 12 in Liguria; by 2010, the numbers had already dropped considerably: 760 nationally, 215 in the northwest and 6 in Liguria. Finally, in 2023, the 428 Italian banks correspond to 156 institutions in the Northwest and only one (Passadore) in Liguria.
