In 2017, credit from cooperative banks to non-profit companies and the third sector amounted to 2,7 billion of Euro. These resources are added to what local banks allocate daily to charity and to support the weakest categories or in the health sector. A positive datum – in contrast with the national trend which records a 3,4% decrease in credit to the third sector – which also extends to the growth in the market share of loans from Credito Popolare to this reality, with an increase, again in last year, by one percentage point, thus reaching 30%.
For General Secretary of Assopopolari, Giuseppe De Lucia Lumeno “The data show how the collaboration between cooperative banks and the third sector – around 300 companies, almost one million employees and over 4,7 million volunteers – is increasingly close. Cooperative banks, thanks to their vocation, made up of proximity and ties with the community, continue to be a natural and concrete point of reference for these organisations. Thousands of initiatives in support of the common good represent an expression of civil society to be valued in order to face the challenges of an increasingly widespread precariousness and a social fabric that is increasingly closed in on itself".
