It is not enough to be a local bank to be virtuous and the recent disasters of the Veneto banks and other local banks in Central Italy are there to remind us of this. Beyond the mythology of the seventies, fueled by the successful essay "Small is beautifull" by the German economist and philosopher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, called Frizt, and then declined in various versions also in Italy, small is not always beautiful but it is only so if a small bank or a small company considers its limited size as a starting point and not an arrival point. Only if the little one grows and innovates without losing the link with his territorial roots, the little one also becomes beautiful, otherwise he remains in the limbo of dwarfism with all its limits and fragility.
The Bcc of Castagneto, "mirror and engine of a territory that changes and grows"
Among the virtuous examples of an initially small bank, born 112 years ago in that earthly paradise that is the Upper Maremma and a stone's throw from the jewel of Bolgheri of Carducci's memory, but then incredibly grown especially in the last 15 years to become the local bank leader of the Tuscan Tyrrhenian coast, the Bcc of Castagneto Carducci deserves a prominent place. His is a compelling story that in 2010, on the occasion of his centenary, prompted the writer to conduct research in the field and to publish a book with the elegant publisher Leo S. Olschki which, not by chance, was entitled "A somewhat special bank”.
“Castagneto Carducci's CCB – we read in the presentation of that book – is an innovative bank that listens and makes the centrality of the person the lever to represent the different but modern face of credit and to become – with wise and prudent management but even with just pride in one's independence – the mirror and the driving force behind the development of a territory that changes and grows with its reference bank” .
Bcc di Castagneto, the 2021 budget results: more loans and zero non-performing loans
The results achieved by the Bcc of Castagneto, led by the General Manager Fabrizio Mannari (in the photo), in a year that is still fully pandemic like 2021, confirm the virtuosity of the bank. Not only for the operating profit which exceeds 4 million, but because all the economic and financial indicators are improving. The collection grows, both direct (+7,5%) and indirect (+38%), loans are up (+7,5%), capitalization is strengthened (over 17% of the CET1 ratio) and loan coverage grows to 93% bad loans which brings the bank closer to a situation of "zero bad loans", unthinkable only a few years ago. Without forgetting that, after the reform of the Bccs, Castagneto chose to join the Cassa Centrale Banca, which in turn has a CET1 ratio of over 21%, "one of the highest in the Italian banking system".
Bcc Castagneto will continue its expansion in Tuscany
Living on its laurels is not the job of Bcc di Castagneto, a local bank that has already grown a lot in recent years and wants to continue to do so. Today the bank has 170 employees distributed in 23 branches as well as in the headquarters. In February it inaugurated a new branch in San Giuliano Terme and in the next few days it will open a branch in Lucca thus bringing the provincial capitals of Tuscany to four (Livorno, Pisa, Grosseto and precisely Lucca) in which it is present, but its goal, despite the strict supervision of the ECB, is to further expand its territorial network, "in contrast with the national banking system", as a "clear signal of the solidity of the bank's fundamentals". In this sense it is thought to equip even the smallest centers in the region with virtual branches, equipped with intelligent machines, which allow the customer to carry out most of the banking operations even in areas where there is no branch.
DG Mannari: "The real challenge is to remain a local bank and this is what distinguishes us from the bigger banks"
“The real challenge – is Mannari's message – was and is to remain, even in a difficult context, a local bank, attentive and close to the territory, always present, even when, and it often happened, conditions were not optimal to grant credit lines". But a good local banker not only knows how to read financial statements but also knows how to read his customers' eyes and understands when he can bet on their reliability or not. “This is our role, the one that distinguishes us from other larger banks, this is what we want and what we know how to do”. There were many other local banks like this.
