Closed counters, here is the proposed law by Cnel on municipal treasuries

Finally came the Cnel bill against banking desertification. More than a year after the working group was set up (9 April 2024), a possible solution to stem the disengagement of banks from some of Italy's most disadvantaged territories has been presented to the House and Senate.

The proposal intends to amend Article 9 of Law 158 of 2017, a measure launched at the time to support small municipalities: the aim is to remove the direct assignment of municipal treasuries to Poste Italiane in municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants. The objective, reads the report accompanying the Cnel proposal, is 'to ensure that all economic operators authorised to perform treasury functions for public administrations have an equal opportunity to participate in tender procedures'. Compared to what happens today, other entities will also be able to take part in the tender for the management of municipal treasuries and, the report further specifies, 'the direct and exclusive assignment to the company Poste Italiane Spa would therefore be applied only exceptionally and residually in the event that the outcome of the tender is negative'.

Those who had expected a more structured solution were somewhat disappointed. However, Paolo Pirani, a Cnel councillor and coordinator of the working table on banking desertification, is very positive: 'It increases the opportunities for other entities to participate in tenders for municipal treasuries. When the proposal becomes law, the tender obligation will be triggered: if it is unsuccessful, the Post Office will step in. The same Abi, the Italian banking association, had asked for tenders to be held again in small municipalities'.

However, there are those who are not at all convinced by this solution, rejecting the Cnel's legislative initiative without appeal. "I am absolutely against this bill. I find it absurd': speaking is Marco Bussone, president of the National Union of Municipalities, Communities and Mountain Authorities (Uncem), which represents territories in Italy with more than 10 million inhabitants. "Law 158 of 2017 aimed precisely at stopping certain phenomena such as banking desertification," Bussone recalls. In particular, Article 9 also allowed the Post Office not to close some branches in inland areas as they were starting to do a decade ago'. He added: 'The direct assignment of the treasuries of small municipalities to Poste Italiane was decided precisely because the tenders were going nowhere. Thanks to that possibility, Poste Italiane no longer closed its branches, becoming in some countries the last bastion against banking desertification. The Cnel proposal therefore seems to me to be a step backwards'.

It has to be said that the Post Office in small municipalities can also count on the Polis project, developed with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, which aims precisely to promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of Italy, particularly in small towns and inland areas. Thus, in addition to traditional services, post offices also support a full range of other offers, even in the energy sector.