Record accounts for Banca Prealpi SanBiagio

The best balance sheet ever, thanks to the boost provided by the ECB rates, approved to coincide with the 130th anniversary celebrations.

It was a May to remember for Banca Prealpi SanBiagio, the largest cooperative credit bank in the Cassa Centrale group and the second largest in the Triveneto region, only recently overtaken by the new Bcc Veneta, created at the beginning of the year from the merger between Bcc Verona and Vicenza and Bcc Patavina. The institute, with 67 branches in seven provinces of the Veneto region (Treviso, Venice, Padua, Belluno and Vicenza) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Pordenone and Udine), on Sunday 5 May brought together 'an average of 1,200 people, with peaks of 1,600, for 12 hours' for its annual shareholders' meeting, which also turned into a party for its 130th birthday, recounts president Carlo Antiga.

"For us, it was the best balance sheet of all time," he confirms, "and we had a meeting in which we were able to highlight the purpose for which the bank was created 130 years ago: solidarity and mutuality," as demonstrated by the EUR 5.5 million "allocated to liberal donations". The bank closed 2023 with a net profit of 59.85 million, up 42.3% compared to 2022. The total banking product, given by the sum of total deposits and loans to customers, came close to €8.4 billion (+6.4%), with total assets at €4.7 billion and shareholders' equity at €494.6 million, up 15.3%. Commercial activity showed total deposits of 6.06 billion lire, up 9%, with indirect deposits up 17.6%, driven by assets under management and, above all, administered assets. Direct deposits amounted to €3.74 billion (+4.3%), while loans to customers were worth €2.3 billion. Analysing the performance and risk indicators, loans to customers accounted for 49.5% of total assets and "confirm the bank's predominant activity in financing the territory, starting with households, artisans and SMEs". The flow of new impaired exposures was contained, allowing the ratio of gross impaired loans to fall to 2.76% of loans (from 3.56% in 2022). Moreover, NPLs are almost entirely written down, with 99% coverage. On the capital front, finally, the Cet 1 ratio stands at 31.24%, 'improving by 4 points' and 'well above requirements'. "At a time when rates, due to the ECB's monetary policy, were so high, it was inevitable to have balance sheets that were certainly very positive, and this is true for the entire banking sector," Antiga emphasises. Those of Banca Prealpi SanBiagio, in any case, "are balance sheets that have always been extremely prudent," the president claims. "We have thought about the future, with repositioning policies for the securities portfolio in order to shift the profitability of a portfolio that had low yields to the next few years. "This," he analyses, "has led us to capital losses which, however, will benefit us in the coming years. We have not pushed to the maximum, we have also thought about the future, guaranteeing us a very high prospective solidity'.

From the portfolio of government bonds, therefore, "the securities with the lowest yields", purchased in the era of zero rates, were taken out "and others with yields in line with those expressed by the market were inserted", explains General Manager Girolamo Da Dalto. As for business performance in the first part of 2024, Antiga explains that he did not detect "a huge difference from last year: we see signs of substantial stability, with no significant deterioration in the portfolio". Certainly, the president explains, 'there is a great expectation on everyone's part for the lowering of rates. This is now crucial because such high rates are blocking retail mortgages and corporate investments'. The flip side of the coin of an easing of monetary policy will be the loss of support for the interest margin, but Banca Prealpi SanBiagio expects to compensate for this dynamic with "greater volumes of commissions thanks also to the performance of managed savings," remarks Da Dalto. The institute also confirms its traditional strategy of being close to the territory, which also translates into a growth in the physical branch network, bucking the general trends in the sector. "We have already planned and are verifying situations for the opening of other branches because we believe that our model, that of the cooperative credit that sees the branch as an expression of mutuality, is still valid," Antiga points out, "also in the light of experiences made by some competitors much larger than us in a totally digital environment that have received negative approval from customers. "Our model is expressed through relationships and we see great appreciation," he concludes. We have also recently opened branches that are reaching break even very quickly. It is a model on a human scale, on a territorial scale'.