“The operating model of cooperative banks – according to the Chairman of Assopopolari Corrado Sforza Fogliani – is characterized by traditional forms of intermediation, mainly oriented towards financing retail customers, exercised with low levels of financial leverage. These connotations remain unchanged over time, even following crises such as the one we are still facing".
In fact, the data show that cooperative banks maintain a privileged relationship with SMEs, to which they allocate more than two-thirds of their total loans to non-financial companies, against a figure for the other banks in the System equal to 48%. This is their specialization and their strong point, as can also be seen from the trend in new loans to SMEs which in 2015 did not differ substantially from what was recorded in the years preceding the crisis.
A characteristic that distinguishes them from other banks as demonstrated, more generally, by the data on the weight of loans to customers on total assets, which for the banks of the category exceeds 70%, against an average system value 10 points lower percentages, or the analogous indicator relating to deposits (57% against 51%).
Although this commitment is carried out in a regulatory context that penalizes local banks, the Popolari show important capitalization values that are well above what can be found for the other banks in the system, with the CET1 ratio equal to 16,6% (11,9, 17,3% the system figure) and a total capital ratio of 14,6% (XNUMX%).
