Although the bankruptcy of a dozen credit institutions has caused a cost of over 60 billion euros to be borne by savers, competing banks and the public budget, the CGIA Studies Office denounces that our credit system continues to reward those who, in large part, it has caused this disruption: that is, large industrial families, corporate groups and large companies.

The latest data available from the Bank of Italy (referring to 30 September 2017) say that the share of loans obtained by the first 10 percent of the entrusted (that is to say the best clientele that certainly is not made up of artisans, small retailers, VAT numbers or small business owners) is equal to 79,8 per cent of the total. By contrast, the remaining 90 percent of customers get slightly more than the 20 percent of jobs.

Basically, of the 1.500 billion that Italian credit institutions had disbursed to households, businesses and non-financial companies at the end of last September, 1.200 were lent to a small number of subjects which, it is appropriate to say, presents a very high negotiating power.

"There would be nothing strange if this first 10 percent of borrowers were solvent - declares the coordinator of the CGIA Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - a bank, in fact, must help those in need of financial resources but, at the same time, it is also in the financial conditions to return the obtained results within the agreed time. In Italy, however, things continue to go differently. In fact, if we analyze the percentage incidence on the total of bank bad loans attributable to this very restricted club of borrowers, the share amounts to 81 percent of the total. In other words, large companies continue to receive almost all bank loans, even though they have alarming levels of default. " (see Graph 1).

Although down, at the 30 September of last year the gross bank overdrafts in Italy amounted to 170,2 billion: 16,5 billion less than the same period of 2016.

“This high number of impaired loans - declares the Secretary of the CGIA Renato Mason - has caused a sharp contraction in loans to the real economy. Not being able to recover a large part of the loans disbursed, the banks have decided not to risk anymore and have gradually closed the credit taps. Only in the last year has there been a slight trend reversal. Between November 2017 and the same month of 2016, the amount of loans to businesses increased by an average of 0,3 percent, even if very different results were recorded between the various size classes of companies. In the medium-large, for example, growth was 0,6 percent, while in the small and micro, on the other hand, the contraction was 1 percent, despite the general demand for credit recorded in recent months has tended to be growth".

At a regional level it is interesting to note that in the South the top 10 per cent of borrowers obtain less credit than the respective bands present in the rest of Italy, but generate a share of non-performing loans almost in line with the national average. In the North, on the other hand, large companies obtain very high credit percentages, with levels of reliability which, however, are aligned around the national average. In other words, we can say that the large groups in the North are more "virtuous" than those present in the South (see Tab. 1).

And equally paradoxical is the situation that is maturing in these hours in the Veneto. The regional finance company, Veneto Sviluppo, has decided to save a thousand companies (with revenues between 10 and 100 million euros) that have problem loans with the former popular companies (Veneto Banca and Popolare di Vicenza), through the establishment of a a special fund to support these companies in difficulty. A worthy action which, however, as the President of Confartigianato rightly pointed out, will not involve tens of thousands of small Veneto businesses that do not fall within this income bracket, with the danger that many artisans and small traders penalized by the failure of the two banks Veneto remain without credit.

Returning to the elaboration made by the Office of the CGIA, the data at the provincial level, finally, show that the first 10 percent of the entrusted has the 87,8 percent of the suffering in La Spezia: national record compared to an average Italy equal to 81 percent. Scrolling through the ranking we find second place with the 86,4 percent Verbania-Cusio-Ossola, the third with the 86,2 percent Bolzano, the fourth with the 85,9 percent Rome and the fifth with the 85,8 percent Parma. At the end of the national ranking are positioned with the 69,9 percent Sondrio, with the 69,7 percent Agrigento and with the 68,7 percent Lodi (see Tab. 2).

CGIA: banks continue to favor large companies even if they are not reliable