The Castagneto Carducci Cooperative Credit Bank continues decisively on its path of convinced and collaborative participation in setting up a cooperative group promoted by Cassa Centrale Banca. Moreover, in the recent meeting organized by Cassa Centrale on 27 September in Milan, the top management of the parent company confirmed that the work to create the banking group is proceeding expeditiously, in perfect timing with respect to the roadmap which envisages the departure of the group in July 2018, a date which should now be respected.
During the conference, the interventions of the representatives of the Bank of Italy were much appreciated, including Ciro Vacca (head of the Banking Supervision Service 1, which has as its reference the significant banks that will be supervised by the ECB). The interventions of the Supervisory Authority definitively reduced the hopes of the few nostalgic for the "single group", too often supported by those who know little about the world of Cooperative Credit or by those who instead think more of their seat than of the good of credit cooperation. National from which it clearly emerged how it has by now metabolized the fact that there will be two cooperative banking groups (three if we consider the provincial one of Bolzano): therefore Cassa Centrale - as reaffirmed in the speeches by President Fracalossi and Director Sartori - is preparing to become the parent company of a pool of 110 banks, which when fully operational will become the eighth Italian banking group with assets that have now exceeded one billion euros, of which 700 million in free capital.
Another highly appreciated passage of the Milan Meeting was that of illustrating some aggregate balance sheet indicators of the banks that joined the Cassa Centrale group: the BCC of Castagneto comes out of this analysis very well, in some cases presenting very better than the group average, such as for example the incidence of non-performing loans on total loans (10,9% against the group average of 19,1%) or the cost/income ratio (64% against the average 71%).
On the other hand, the CET1 ratio is lower than the average (13% against the average 17% of the group) even if on this subject it should be specified that the level of the CET1 ratio - which represents the indicator now universally used to measure the level of capitalization of banks - it should actually be read in conjunction with that of the growth of loans and assets in general: in recent years our bank has had a very high growth in loans to customers; in any case, capital remains higher than the average levels of the banking system and is perfectly capable of supporting the bank's growth in the years to come.
Finally, the excellent positioning of the Castagneto Bcc is demonstrated by the final results of the risk-based analysis, i.e. the model developed by Cassa Centrale which divides the banks into 4 classes based on their riskiness: the data shown at the Milan Meeting show how the BCC di Castagneto is placed in band 1 - the best - in which only 23 banks are positioned out of the 110 that will make up the group; this is an aspect of absolute importance, because positioning in the best bands is equivalent to greater autonomy that will be granted to the bank following the group's departure: in fact, one of the cornerstones of the cooperative credit reform is represented precisely by the concept that the autonomy of each individual CCB must be inversely proportional to its own risk.
These comforting results of the Bank were also confirmed by the financial statements as at 30 June, closed with respectable data: in the last year, loans to customers grew in one year by a good 87 million and direct deposits by 100 million, impaired loans as already mentioned, they amount to just over 10% and with an overall coverage rate of over 43%; the interim net profit stands at 2,1 million euro, testifying to the consolidated ability of the Bank to produce income.
Finally, I would like to remind you that the Bcc of Castagneto is expected in the next few months by a series of very important events, all linked to the reform of the Cooperative Credit Banks: during the autumn a branch will be opened in Pisa, the first stage of the expansion towards the north west of Tuscany, an area not controlled by other CCBs of the Trentino group of Cassa Centrale Banca to which the CCB of Castagneto has decided to join.
Subsequently, in February 2018, the change of information system is expected, with the abandonment of the one provided by Cabel Industry in favor of that of Phoenix, a system that will be adopted by all the banks of the nascent group, allowing them to be uniform from this point of view. The transfer of the information system will be preceded by specific and accurate training provided to all bank employees, in order to minimize the impacts deriving from the aforementioned transfer. Finally, the Asset Quality Review is scheduled for spring 2018, i.e. a rigorous and in-depth analysis that will be conducted by the European Central Bank on the quality of the assets of the group banks; this activity will probably end shortly before the departure of the banking group, scheduled for July 2018, as mentioned.
These are delicate and important passages, but which the Bcc of Castagneto is approaching with the awareness that the reform of the Cooperative Credit Banks can really transform itself from a possible threat (due to the loss of autonomy in favor of the parent company) into a great opportunities, thanks to the support that the group will be able to guarantee in terms of assets, strategic consultancy and the services offered, thus allowing virtuous banks such as Bcc di Castagneto to continue along their growth path with new and greater prospects than in the past.
The author is the Director General of the Bcc of Castagneto Carducci.
