The general meeting of the members of the Bcc di Cambiano, which was held in Castelfiorentino with 1283 out of 3213 members voting, unanimously approved the 2015 financial statements, which closed with a net profit of 5 million euros compared to 4,9 of the previous year and an overall result before taxes of 6,4 million compared to 8,3 million of the previous year.
Total deposits reached the figure of 2.526 million euros, with an increase of 6,25% compared to the previous year, while at national level it suffered a decrease of 0,55% (source ABI), while the Credit sector Cooperative saw a growth in customer funding of 0,3%; economic investments amounted to 1.987 million euro, with a growth of 4,03%, while at national level it is -0,20% (source ABI) and the group of mutual banks is 1,1%.
But the importance of the meeting, the first after the reform of the CCBs, was above all linked to the choices for the future and it was pronounced by voting for the "way out" from the future single group of CCBs with an act of direction, which will be resolved in extraordinary shareholders' meeting, and the transformation into a joint stock company. The vehicle of the transformation will be Banca Agci, a joint-stock company linked to the homonymous cooperative center and to the Cabel Group. Once submitted, by 14 June, and authorization from the Bank of Italy has been obtained, the deeds for the transformation will be prepared. The shareholders were underlined that Banca di Cambiano will not change its name (it will be Banca Cambiano 1884 Spa), where the name and year of establishment represent a brand, a brand that has had a reputation for reliability, solidity and transparency.
Founded in 1884, according to the recent survey by Mediobanca, Banca di Cambiano is the first cooperative credit bank in Tuscany in terms of tangible assets and the fourth overall in Italy, with the fundamental difference that the first three have developed through mergers, while Banca di Cambiano grew and consolidated more and more exclusively with its own resources and along internal lines.
The latest branches opened in Pistoia, Figline Valdarno, San Giovanni Valdarno and Florence, in Villa Fagan and, even more recently in Sesto Fiorentino and Greve, to be followed by Quarrata, bear witness to the exponential growth of the Cambiano Bcc over the last sixteen years. Harmonic and constant growth: in 2000 it had 18 branches and in 2015 it stood at 38, in contrast with the regional figure which saw a reduction in branches in the last five years: from 2.557 in 2009 to 2.297 in 2014, with a drop of over 10% in Tuscany. The new investments in the area are aimed at giving the local economy new tools and opportunities for growth, and making the services of a Bank that has been rooted in the area for 132 years and close to their needs available to families and businesses.
The context
The Chairman of the Bcc of Cambiano, Paolo Regini, introduced the meeting as follows: “2015 also ended, another year, the ninth, of an unprecedented crisis that is putting a strain on the Italian productive and financial fabric. A year in which further and more stringent European rules were also introduced which affected many sectors including the banking sector. By now accustomed to the regulatory avalanche that has been hitting banks for years, 2015 saw two extraordinary events: the default of four Italian banks and the introduction of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM), best known for the bail-in component. Two aspects that have profoundly influenced the perception of the National Banking System by the public and the fundamental relationship of trust with customers, above all because the tendency is to generalize.
Despite such a difficult year, our Bank was nonetheless able to confirm positive results, said the Chairman Paolo Regini, strengthened by the credibility and social legitimacy recognized by customers in the face of seriousness, transparency and maximum correctness found in its usual actions.
The economic result amounted to 5 million euro, despite the absorption of unforeseeable charges for 4.874.644,69 euro, as a contribution by the Bank to deal with the crisis of the now well-known Banca Etruria, Banca Marche, Cassa Risparmio Ferrara and Cassa Risparmio Chieti, as well as some BCCs such as, to mention only the most important, the Bcc Alta Padovana, the Bcc Romagna Cooperativa. The result achieved qualifies even more positively since, in addition to having borne the aforementioned burden, it was achieved in an extremely difficult economic and financial context, where companies operate amidst a thousand difficulties and aggravated risk which are reflected in the financial statements of the banks that they are an integral part of the system and share the resulting credit risk and this cannot be interpreted on an idiosyncratic basis, or in any case it cannot be so exclusively in the face of honest and correct management, very different from bad management.
If we want to look for positive aspects, it should be noted that in any case the crisis seems to be in a recessive phase even if, noting that the 0,8% GDP growth at the end of 2015 represents a small positive sign after many years of heavy negative signs and even if it does not allow us to imagine robust recoveries, it is in any case a significant figure to monitor and support. In fact, growth should be of a very different entity in order to have significantly concrete effects on the daily life of families and businesses. In fact, we can predict that 2016 will move along the lines of what was already observed in 2015, with a cycle in advanced economies driven by household consumption, but not yet sufficient to trigger an acceleration of investments at an international level in most economies.
In the meantime, a season of significant reforms is consolidating in our country, and we cannot fail to grasp it, which, together with favorable external factors such as the low oil price and the expansive monetary policy, could in any case form a solid basis for supporting the relaunch of the development. In the banking sector, the important reform that took place for cooperative banks and that of cooperative credit banks should be noted. In both cases it is an epochal turning point”.
THE BUDGET – The General Manager of the Bcc of Cambiano Francesco Bosio went into detail on the bank's financial statements, underlining "that despite the criticality described by the President, the 2015 financial year closed with a net profit of 5 million euros compared to 4,9 in the last year. The overall result before taxes therefore marked 6,4 million compared to 8,3 million in the previous year. Finally, after deducting income taxes of 1,5 million, the result was a net profit for the year of 4,9 million, compared to 4,8 million in the previous year, +2,08% is the change in percentage terms.
THE ACTIVITY' – The Bank's activity, Regini went on to say, continued in 2015 with the implementation of projects with a strong organizational impact, aimed at improving and rationalizing the effectiveness and operational efficiency of both business processes towards customers and internal support. Numerous project areas were involved, with the aim on the one hand of continuing to constantly improve the Bank's structure, on the other hand of keeping the corporate organizational structure constantly in line with the effective implementation of the new regulatory provisions.
THE INNOVATION – In the operational sphere, the Bank concentrates its innovation activity in the context of new products and distribution channels and in technological updating through the support of the Cabel companies.
As a significant fact, it should be noted that a collaboration agreement was signed on 22 March between our investee Cabel and Oracle, the world leader in IT applications. Oracle and Cabel will interact to "localize" the FLEXCUBE platform making it the most innovative and performing system for the Italian financial services market. The new solution will help banks improve the marketing process of new products and services by responding to specific regulatory innovations in the sector, especially national ones, and to product innovations on the local market".
THE CREDIT – "Always considering the current and prolonged phase of economic and financial difficulty, said Bosio, the Bank has maintained the line, of great strategic value and with full awareness, of disbursing credit to businesses and households in the area both to contribute to to support its development and to maintain the savings that have been generated in the area.
The credit allocation activity continued by strengthening the agreements with the main credit consortia of the Region and in this context the collaboration with the category associations in our area was further developed.
THE EIF FINANCING – Of particular importance is the agreement stipulated with the EIF (European Investment Fund) for coverage by them with a guarantee against loans destined for innovation. The selection carried out by the EIF for the choice of counterparties to be agreed upon represents a further aspect of significant value and recognition of the professionalism of our Bank also due to the fact that our Bank is among the few at national level admitted to an agreement by the EIF.
This is a loan assisted by the "InnovFin" community guarantee issued by the European Investment Fund, with the financial support of the European Union under the terms defined within the Horizon 2020 program and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The loan is intended for companies for which there are particular dimensional requirements and setting factors consistent with their orientation towards research, development and innovation. The operational possibilities deriving from the agreement in question are significant.
MUTUALITY AND SPONSORING – Numerous and significant interventions of a charitable, social and cultural nature were activated in the areas where the Bank is located, drawing on the funds allocated by the Shareholders' Meeting for charity and mutuality initiatives. There were also significant sponsorship or promotional support initiatives for activities aimed at enhancing, and at the same time communicating the bank's reputation and mission in the local area, the area where we are based with various sporting, cultural and recreational events. In this context, support was given to multiple projects linked to the youth world, in particular, in favor of the companies in our area most involved in organizing sports activities for children and teenagers, schools, for the purchase of equipment and the realization of educational projects, of the elderly, of health, of associations in general. Becoming a financial partner of Fiorentina Woman's ACF, for example, meant making visible our values aimed at youth sport and the culture of the female world, whose role in many sectors is not yet recognized. The interventions promoted by the main local bodies and associations were also supported, including many of the most significant events organized in the area. The total expense, borne by the Bank, for sponsorship, advertising or charity interventions incurred in 2015, amounts to 1.436.553,22 euros”, concluded Bosio.
THE BCC REFORM – “As we know, concluded Regini, in February of this year the Decree-law n. 18/2016, approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 23 March 2016 and then by the Senate. Compared to the original layout proposed by Federcasse, an association structure to which our Bank has not adhered since the end of the 70s of the last century, the process of conversion into law has introduced significant changes. In particular, the provision of a way out with respect to the original approach of Federcasse of mandatory inclusion in a single banking group of its own emanation or dissolution of the CCB has been included. The reform discipline in question tends to achieve a consolidation of the movement of the CCBs also, and above all, for a coordination device of the ECB.
The effort to bring the BCC movement, born and lived in an "atomistic" dimension, to a unitary structure by those same associative structures (and people) who have accompanied, if not facilitated, its journey up to the current situations is certainly titanic ”.
THE FUTURE – “Our Bank, concluded Bosio, consistently with the choice of secondment made, on the basis of the results achieved, the industrial investments made, the consolidated corporate culture, the strategies defined, we have positively evaluated the way out plan. According to the regulatory definitions, our Bank has the prescribed capital requirements, over 200 million based on the financial statements being approved, to choose between the transfer of the BCC banking branch to a joint stock company, even newly established on our initiative, of which the cooperative residual after the transfer becomes a shareholder for all purposes or, alternatively, to merge into a banking group issued by mutual banks, with consequent consequences of limitation on management autonomy, even if initially asserted graded in relation to company quality, all regulated by a contract of “cohesion” not yet disclosed. The decision to transfer the banking branch as mentioned, to be completed within 60 days of the entry into force of the Law, entails a charge quantified in 20% of the reference capital at the end of 2015.
For our part, we confirm the objective of pursuing the definitive placement of our Bank in a corporate and operational context consistent with the choice made over 35 years ago".
