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Italy is a country where there will be fewer and fewer physical bank branches. In 2023 alone, 823 were closed, with the result that 3,300 municipalities were left without and 4 million 373 thousand people cannot access banking services where they live. In one year there are 362 thousand more. A picture, the one that emerged from the Observatory on banking desertification, which is not the same in all regions: the black mark belongs to Marche, Abruzzo and Lombardy, where the decline is strongest. And it didn’t end here.
The prospect of 2024
The general secretary of the First CISL, Riccardo Colombani, says that “in 2024 the situation will worsen further”, with further closures and a new decline in the banking presence in the area. An issue that worries the union because millions of people are being deprived of access to an essential service. Those who pay the heaviest price are the frail, elderly first and foremost, as well as people with a low level of education, who have poor digital skills. The low level of use of internet banking compared to the EU average tells us one simple thing: the closures depend on the desire to cut costs, not on the spread of digital”.
It should be noted that the United States, where many phenomena destined to spread elsewhere always begin, are moving against the current. «Two giants such as JP Morgan and Bank of America are opening hundreds of branches and will continue to do so in the coming years – states Colombani -. It is a clear signal: the presence in the area is good for society and also for the banks’ balance sheets. It’s time for the problem to be addressed by politics and institutions in Italy: we are ready for discussion.” Let’s see the numbers.
The advance of desertification
In Italy, 826 branches were closed in 2023. At the end of 2022, 677 branches were closed (-3.9%). This means that in two years more than 1,500 branches have been closed. A quarter of the national territory, with a surface area that exceeds that of Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont, has been abandoned by the banks, estimates the First CISL Observatory. The number of people who do not have access to a branch in the municipality of residence is also increasing: there are 362 thousand more than a year ago. Six million people, however, live in municipalities where there is only one branch left and thus risk finding themselves soon cut off from banking services.
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The municipalities left without a branch
By processing the data made available as of 31 December 2023 by Bankitalia and Istat, the First Cisl Observatory calculated that 3,300 municipalities no longer have bank branches. In 2023, 134 municipalities remained without. Desertification is a phenomenon that is advancing ever more rapidly: between 2015 and 2023, 13% of Italian municipalities saw the last branch close. A percentage that could rise further because the municipalities with only one branch are 24% of the total.