The financial statements for the one hundred and thirty-first financial year ended 31.12.2014 of the Bcc di Cambiano, which has its headquarters in Castelfiorentino and is the oldest cooperative credit bank in Italy, will be submitted for approval to the Shareholders' Meeting on Saturday 23 May next.
Founded in 1884, according to the current survey by Mediobanca, Banca di Cambiano is the first cooperative credit bank in Tuscany by tangible assets and the fourth overall in Italy, with the fundamental difference that the first three developed through mergers, while the Banca di Cambiano grew and consolidated more and more exclusively with its own resources and along internal lines.
The new branches opened in a few months in Pistoia, Figline Valdarno, San Giovanni Valdarno and Florence, in the prestigious Villa Fagan, bear witness to the exponential growth of the Bank over the last fifteen years; a harmonious and constant growth: in 2000 it had 18 branches and in 2015 it will reach 39 with Greve, Quarrata and Sesto Fiorentino, in contrast with the regional figure which has seen a reduction in branches in the last five years: from 2.557 in 2009 to 2.297 in 2014, with a decrease of over 10% in Tuscany. Attached is a table with data also at the provincial level.
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 130 years and close to their needs available to families and businesses.
"Although in an objectively difficult general context, introduced the chairman Paolo Regini, also during this year our Bank has continued to grow and strengthen, giving serenity and confidence to customers, shareholders and employees, as demonstrated in clearly from the numbers, with a profitability that has been confirmed as extremely positive”.
“Within the banking sector, weighed down by the recession and weighed down by often conflicting managerial and prudential needs, with heavy impacts and corporate crises that also affect many banking companies, continued the general manager Francesco Bosio, the Bank has continued to pursue a policy of sound and prudent management, protecting savings and promoting credit intermediation without losing sight of the founding values enshrined in the by-laws.
The Bank has in fact expanded funding and loans to households and businesses, continued Bosio, with full awareness of the greater degree of risk that the general economic context has entailed and still entails, but in any case safeguarding credit quality, in full continuity with what has been done in recent years and creating special products, declined for various types, to support the real estate market which was partially reactivated in 2014.
Furthermore, we are proud to state that, in a delicate situation to say the least, the Bank has never interrupted the mutuality policy that has always distinguished it, keeping the shareholders at the center of corporate life and supporting the local communities of reference. A commitment that we have also made in the cultural sphere, allocating important contributions, convinced of the winning combination of economy and culture, where culture is the quality of people's lives”, underlined the general manager Bosio.
The data that will be presented on Saturday to the assembly of more than three thousand shareholders of the bank for the approval of the financial statements, speak for themselves: the total collection has reached the figure of 2.367 million euros, with a growth of 4,87% compared to the previous year, while at a national level the recorded figure is instead -1,1%; economic investments amount to 1.909 million euros, with a growth of 3,29%, while at national level it is -1,40% and at regional level -3,50%. The net profit for the year stands at 4,9 million euro, after substantial prudential provisions made against the loan portfolio.
"The positive results and growth of the Bank - added Regini - are based on the quality of the people, as well as on being a model of local bank that combines independence with efficiency, local roots, culture and solidarity , in the awareness of being part of a system of "social utility". This year's technological investments have further affirmed their purpose as a facilitating element, confirming the branch as a place for meeting and relating with the customer, who can however then easily, in complete safety and comfort, operate and relate with the Bank in online mode.
At the conclusion of the press conference on the eve of the shareholders' meeting, general manager Bosio answered questions on the highly topical issue of the reform of the mutual banks. “We are witnessing major changes in the banking system, which in addition to the regulatory avalanche that pours relentlessly into the sector, have seen the involvement of cooperative banks which will rightly have to configure themselves as joint stock companies, given the size they have reached and above all the stock market listings that have existed for some time their actions. Initiatives for system reform projects of the mutual banks are also underway. In any case, our Bank will not be included in the groupings that seem to be taking shape. The choice of more than 35 years ago to detach itself from the federal and central structures, not considered oriented towards safeguarding the cooperative system, are, in the face of many existing situations in the BCC system, a reconfirmation of the validity of the choice made at the time. We just have to wait for developments”.
Attachments: Banca di Cambiano – Press conference slide.pdf
