The 17 thousand richest families of Brescia (which hold a financial assets more than 500 thousand euros) can count on a total nest egg (excluding, therefore, real estate) of 25 billion euros. While the same category of families throughout the Liguria it reaches “just” 24 billion. It is just one of the surprises that emerge from a study carried out by Prometeia on behalf of the Italian private banking association (Aipb).
Another surprise, this time on a national level: one third of all households own about one quarter of all outstanding financial assets. And then: in Italy there are almost eight thousand households (7.896) that each have assets in securities, current accounts and shares of over ten million euros for a total of 134 billion. And as many as 164.781 are those who can boast a hoard between one and five million euros. Finally, there are 500 thousand families worth (from this point of view) over 606 thousand euros and they have assets of 897 billion euros in their hands. In other words: more than half of the GDP, the Gross domestic product. If then all Italian families are taken into consideration (not just those with financial assets exceeding 500 billion euros), i.e. 22 million households, the total is 3.500 billion euros. Which, as we have seen, a quarter are in the hands of 3% of the total.
But the differences that amaze, in reality, are the territorial ones. In addition to the comparison between the city of Brescia alone and the entire Ligurian region, we recall that only a Varese there are about 11 families with assets of 18 billion euros, i.e. what is in the hands of the same type of families but overall in three regions: Abruzzo, Molise and Calabria. As for the 4.900 richest families in the province of Lecco they hold a total of financial savings similar to that of the wealthiest households in the Sardinia.
Another interesting fact: in 2012, the GDP fell by 2,4% but the total assets of rich families increased by 2%, even if this increase is almost entirely due to the rise in income while collection fell (and it is the first once in the past four years). As for the type of investment made with this huge national financial mass, according to an Aipb survey, 30% ends up in managed deposits (of which 15% in government bonds), 21% in managed savings, 20% in insurance products and pension funds, 15% in bank bonds and 14% in cash.
Finally, it should be emphasized that the figures published by the Prometeia investigation do not take into account theevasion. Suffice it to recall that in 2008, the year following the last fiscal shield, the private sector lost over 30 billion euros.
