2' min read
2' min read
With little more than two thousand inhabitants, Castiglione Messer Raimondo, in the upper Teramo area, is the headquarters, uninterruptedly since 2016, of the largest cooperative credit bank in Abruzzo and Molise in terms of deposits and loans, which in 2023 reached approximately 932 million and 500 million respectively. "We are a community bank, with a strong identity rooted in the territory, and we provide our customers with answers that are not exclusively economic: we support members and citizens in the territories of competence by bestowing economic subsidies and supporting social initiatives," explains President Alfredo Savini. He also boasts a solid record: he has been at the helm of the bank for 24 years.
The Bcc di Castiglione e Pianella was founded in the mid-1950s, just when those inland areas of the Apennines were beginning to depopulate and the inhabitants were slipping towards the coast. Yet, 92 farmers and small artisans living in five municipalities in the area decided to found a bank, a symbol of resilience and social redemption. 'There is a non-economic fact that explains our rootedness in the territory,' points out General Manager Simone Di Giampaolo: 'those five municipalities have never lacked the support of our Bcc. Suffice it to say that in 2020, in the two darkest months of the pandemic, 4,200 requests for loans and mortgage moratoria were processed'. An amount of paperwork that the Bcc's 132 employees routinely handle in a year.
Over the years, the bank has grown with the acquisition in 1996 of Bcc di Pianella, and by incorporating Banca di Teramo in 2016. Today, with 19 branches and 62 municipalities served in 3 provinces (Teramo, Pescara, Chieti), a catchment area of 690,000 inhabitants, a membership of more than 5,000 members and 36,000 customers, it continues to confirm its position in class A thanks to excellent balance sheet numbers, also confirmed by the last half-yearly report, with a Total Capital Ratio of 27.66%, shareholders' equity of 71 million and Texas Ratio of 17.9%, Roe of 19%, cost income Ratio of 53%, and a net profit of Euro 6.5 million. "Particularly satisfying," Di Giampaolo emphasised, "are the results of the bank's core business, with a 3% increase in total deposits compared to last December. President Savini outlines the near future: "Attention to sustainability, financial education and ethical finance, providing support to families and small businesses, and supporting the new generations through innovative digital services".
