Response to the Bank of Italy’s consultation on the Supervisory Provisions for the Cooperative Banking Group

Euricse decided to respond to the Bank of Italy’s consultation as a research center that has devoted particular resources and attention to issues related to cooperative credit over the years.

Precisely on the basis of the knowledge it has accumulated, the paper highlights how the supervisory provisions proposed by the Bank of Italy do not seem to take into account the role, specificities and importance of cooperative credit in Italy, focusing too much on certain critical issues that are undoubtedly there but that in our opinion do not justify the type of intervention outlined by the Bank of Italy.

In particular, the provisions would lead to a loss of the autonomy and cooperative identity of these banks, undermining the important role they have always played in supporting local development and leading to an overall drying up of the credit supply, to the detriment especially of families and small businesses.