congreso internacional de historia · congreso internacional de historia de las cajas de ahorros...

CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE HISTORIA

DE LAS CAJAS DE AHORROS

Murcia, 16, 17 y 18 de octubre de 2008

3ª SESIÓN:

EN EUROPA 3ª SESIÓN: LAS CAJAS DE AHORROS EN EUROPA

The Casse di Risparmio: Italian case study, 1822-1990

by Giuliano Muzzioli Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Giuliano Muzzioli Professor of Economic History [email protected] Economic Faculty Via Berengario, 51 - 41100 Modena, Italy (0039) 335-5357761

They say money doesn’t make you happy, but if I have to cry

I prefer doing it on the back seat of a Rolls Royce

than on the seat of a subway car.

Marilyn Monroe

Each time you save five shillings

mailto:[email protected]

CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE HISTORIA DE LAS CAJAS DE AHORROS The Casse di Risparmio: Italian case study, 1822-1990

[email protected] 1

you deprive a man of a day’s work.

John Maynard Keynes

The Casse di Risparmio: an Italian case study, 1882 - 1990

The epochal changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution as from the XVIII century

manifested later and more slowly in Italy than in many other European countries. This was the

result of the particular process of national unification that was substantially effected in 1861 but

completed thereafter in stages over the subsequent years: the Veneto was acquired from Austria

in 1866 (with a public debt of a good 91 million lire); Rome and the Lazio region (in the

Pontifical State) followed at ten years‟ distance. Turin was designated the first capital of the new

State, then Florence (1864) and finally Rome (1870). But other fundamental characteristics of

the history of contemporary Italy must be taken into consideration:

- the great difference between a more dynamic North and a poor, backward South (between

1861 and the early 1960s, 25 million southerners moved up to the North);

- the scant availability of raw materials;

- the governing classes who acceded to management of the State had little propensity to reform,

and this determined a fragile hegemony over the citizens and favoured the formation of

rebellious movements that were difficult to control;

- Italy was the first country to install a Fascist dictatorship lasting twenty years (1922-1943);

- for several decades, the population (26 million in 1861, nearly 60 million today) recorded a

rate of illiteracy appreciably higher than the European average1;

- a massive emigration by young elements: from 1861 to 1961 more than 27 million left Italy;

the trend was reversed only with the “economic miracle” from 1956 to 1963.

The birth of the Casse di Risparmio

The Casse di Risparmio (hereafter CdR) were set up by initiative of the public and local

authorities, of beneficent and moral bodies, and of private citizens, with the aim of promoting

and valorizing savings and their investment at low risk, especially in the less economically

advanced areas.

In Italy, the savings banks sprang up later than in Germany, the UK, France, Switzerland,

Austria and other countries. Although “the date of foundation of the oldest savings bank remains

uncertain”2, Germany is credited with the primogeniture: after the Ducal savings bank in

Brunswick (1765), the Hamburg savings bank (1778) is accorded the head place in the


[email protected] 2

genealogy. In Britain, they were initially created as a free institution (law of 1817); Switzerland

began in 1787 with the Berne bank; France started with the Paris bank in 1818. Even David

Ricardo, son of a Jewish banker, apparently opened a savings bank at his villa3.

In the Italian peninsula (still divided into various states) the CdR first appeared in Lombardy-

Veneto in 1822, when the Austrian government decided to incentivize economic and social

development. In Lombardy, the first Cassa opened on 1 July 1823; in Piedmont, the Turin Cassa

was set up in 1827 on the initiative of the municipality4. From these beginnings the life of the

CdR gradually extended, as we shall see, up to the fundamental “Amato” Law, no. 218, 1990,

which overhauled the public banks and the CdR into joint stock companies.

The CdR that arose in Italy were formed on three models:

(a) as autonomous institute, managed by a firm of private citizens who had underwritten the

corporate capital;

(b) as derivation from or aggregation to the pledge banks (Monti di Pietà) or charitable

institutions granted administration of the Casse;

(c) as initiative of the local municipality, which could manage them directly or have them

managed by an appropriate Commission or by a pledge bank5.

They were characterized by prudent, not random administration; the savings were initially

invested in public debt equities, which thereafter, owing to loss of trust by citizens, in mortgages

and loans to charitable bodies. In this respect, we find different behaviours according to the

different geographical areas: e.g. the CdR of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, especially the

smaller ones, displayed a more entrepreneurial character from the outset, leading them to prefer

exchange operations, as against their Tuscan counterparts, which were more inclined to invest in

public equities, while those in the North were more apt to invest in mortgages and loans to

municipalities.

With regard to organization, at the start the Casse exhibited the typical features of charity and

assistance bodies6. The administrators, generally of noble extraction, gave their services free of

charge, with the sole aim – they said – of improving the conditions of the poorer strata of the

population. There were also CdR set up as joint stock companies, whose statutes provided for

transfer of part of the profits to their members and administrators.

Up to the unification of Italy (1861) the number of CdR grew appreciably, but only in North-

Central Italy. With the unification, the network of the Casse slowly extended also to the South,

where the first was set up in Palermo in 1861. The majority of those created in the South in the

two decades after unification (20 out of 36) stemmed from initiatives by charity bodies, deriving

from the transformation of the Monti frumentari7.


[email protected] 3

Collaboration among the CdR arose with regard to the attitude to be taken towards the

government‟s fiscal policy, and in particular with respect to the mortmain8 and personal

property taxes, which the Casse were obliged to pay. Up to 1860, each Cassa performed its

activity independently of the others, increasing its deposits and their employments and its

corporate wealth. The first Governments of united Italy sought to reduce the heavy public deficit

from the yield of taxation of the Casse. No bank appeared resigned to paying the large amounts

of tax requested; all of them embarked on interminable lawsuits to lower the taxation or avoid it

altogether. It was not until 25 April 1867 that the Court of Final Appeal of Turin put an end to

the lawsuits by accepting the demands of the Casse. This increased cooperation among the CdR,

leading them to favour the idea of creating an independent association.

Another form of collaboration came about as a result of the institution of credito fondiario

(Land loans)9. The Casse had the idea of relieving agriculture from interest-bearing loans by

ensuring funding at reasonable conditions. Initially, the Government opened relations with

French financiers, but the French banks insisted on having the monopoly in the sector; the

proposal was rejected with the support of the Milanese economist Carlo Cattaneo, who argued

that the establishment of land loans would be developed by entrusting it to the CdR, a stance

that was accepted by the parliamentary commission.

Shortly after the political unification of the country, the Cooperative banks moved into the

market of small and medium savers, on the initiative of Luigi Luzzatti (1841-1927). The first

Banca Popolare was set up at Lodi in 1864 on the principle that “credit for labour is the work of

saving of labour”. By 1883 there were 225 cooperative banks in 56 of Italy‟s 69 provinces.

Another insidious “competitor” of the CdR arose as the result of the passing of the law of 27

May 1875 no. 2779, which allowed the post office savings banks to collect people‟s savings:

total post office savings books jumped from a few thousands to 6 million by 1912.

Cooperative banks, Post Office Banks and the difficulties of the CdR

The law of 1875 extended the activity of the State as collector and investor of private

savings, making available to the DD. and PP. (deposits and loans) Cassa10

, instituted in 1863, a

vast and increasing network of branches or Post Office Savings Banks. The DD. And PP. Cassa

extended and consolidated its role of borough and provincial bank and became the largest State

bank, as can be seen by comparison with the leading private bank at the time, the Banca

Nazionale del Regno d‟Italia11

. Both the cooperative banks and the CdR were worried by the

competition it provided in the savings market. The measure was criticized in both Parliament

and press, because, it was said, it was vitiated by “administrative socialism”, it was “economic


[email protected] 4

skulduggery”, conceived with the aim of handing “the banking industry over to the State” and

aimed at “detaching the less prosperous classes from the ancestral local CdR and binding them

to the government by greater attractions offered”12

. In order to appease the banks, it was decided

that the amount deposited by savers at the post offices could not exceed one thousand lire in a

year and the total of interest-yielding deposits be limited to two thousand lire.

In a climate of severe crisis and three months after the post office banks had commenced

activity, the right-wing Government was replaced by one defined as left-wing (March 1876)

which was committed to stimulating Communes, Provinces and Consortia to undertake public

works and build schools, extending the amortization of mortgages from 25 to 30 years. In 1878,

in order to address the growing demand for mortgages by local bodies, the restrictions on

deposits for each depositor were removed, thus allowing the free flow of Italians‟ savings into

the post office banks.

Luigi Luzzatti undertook to defend the Cooperative banks (people‟s banks) and the CdR. He

stressed the increasing intervention of the State in banking activities; he thought it unjust to

detach the people “from their historic free Casse di Risparmio”13

; he opposed raising the

restrictions on deposits fixed by the law of 1875, and he looked askance at the more

advantageous interest rates offered by the post office administration with respect to those

provided by the CdR. Luzzatti invited the directors of the CdR to meet – as had happened in

Britain, Germany and Austria Hungary – in order to agree “on the most suitable criteria for

setting fair and common rates of interest”, and to propose that the CdR and the cooperative

banks give rewards, assistance and subsidies to primary school teachers, thus laying “solid and

lasting bases for a great public service entitled: saving in the schools”.

A ministerial project for reform of the Casse di Risparmio

The crisis of the mid-1880s (heavy budget shortfall, introduction of a large customs tariff,

interruption of trading relations with France, slump in exports) hit the banking sector, which was

already wilting under the scandal of the Banca Romana. The latter issued 40 million Italian lire

in false banknotes, duplicating the serial numbers. The bank went into liquidation and the Banca

Nazionale del Regno d‟Italia was set up (January 1894).

In 1881-1883, the CdR held the largest number of savings books (952 thousand) and

absorbed 50% of the national saving; their investments exceeded 40% of the total. By 1886,

their coffers contained 1,033 billion lire out of a total 1,662 billion.

The rise of the CdR caught the attention of politicians and Government, who thought it

indispensable to alter the law then in force (this was law no. 1312 of 31 December 1851), which


[email protected] 5

allowed the CdR ample latitude in their operations and “an ambiguity in their shape, which

oscillated between that of welfare institutions and that of banks”14

. The minister of Agriculture,

Industry and Trade, Domenico Berti (1820-1897) presented a bill (30 November 1881) whose

aim was: 1) to transform the CdR into independent institutions, detached from their founding

bodies; 2) to classify the Casse as welfare rather than lending institutions, since their object was

to perform “socially useful work”. Berti aimed to promote social legislation, with a part of the

cost to be borne by the Casse: each year the Casse were to earmark two-tenths of their profit to

be destined to “a welfare institution to all effects”, i.e. to a national bank for workers in

retirement. Berti‟s plan underwent extensive alteration by the parliamentary commission and

ultimately did not pass.

After an round of tortuous meetings, the Casse resolved to promote the First national

congress of the Casse di Risparmio (Florence 1886), which concluded with the appointment of a

Permanent Commission of the CdR charged with pursuing the following aims:

1) the newly-created Casse would take on legal staff by royal decree on the advice of the

Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade (excepting authorization by the founding bodies);

2) in the Casse set up as joint stock companies, the shares would be personally owned and not

exchangeable;

3) proposals for altering the statutes were to be reserved exclusively to the Casse;

4) the Casse would be authorized to issue old-age pension books;

5) through the current account (with the other Casse and the post office banks), it would be

possible to transfer deposit credits from one place to another, without charge;

6) the Casse would not be subject to mortmain tax;

7) they would continue to be exempt from the regulations regarding stamp duty, registers and

the tax on personal property for those not distributing dividends, premiums or compensation to

the founders, partners and administrators;

8) the Casse would be under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade

as regards observance of the laws and regulations15

.

The proposed law initially embraced these suggestions, but was subsequently overturned: the

minister himself, Bernardino Grimaldi (1837-1897), modified 19 of its 33 articles, and the

parliamentary Commission removed some of the articles and corrected 28 of them; the Senate

suppressed one article and altered 2016

. When the bill passed (law no. 5546, 15 October 1888) it

was seen as the first organic law on the CdR. As well as disciplining various aspects of

organization and controls, it had the aim of removing the activity of the Casse from the direct

influence of private interests. It was subdivided into three groups of norms:


[email protected] 6

- to guarantee organizational independence, by awarding the exclusive title of Cassa di

Risparmio to the legal subject;

- to define the operative characters of the institutes, with attention to the “corporate worth” of

each (obligation to constitute a fund of initial minimum endowment and payment of 9/10 of the

profits until the patrimony-deposit ratio had reached the value of 1/10);

- to discipline the system of internal and external controls and sanctions17

.

1912: the Association of Italian Casse di Risparmio (ACRI) is born

The Permanent Commission set up by the Florence Congress in 1886 played a valuable role,

but the economic crisis that began in 1887 helped to dampen enthusiasm. Not until the end of

the century did the need to constitute a real association return as subject of debate, but even then

no concrete decision was taken18

. In the meantime, the CdR benefited from the improvement in

the economy, increasing their deposits and investments. By 31 December 1911, 23 CdR held

deposits exceeding 20 million lire.

Casse with deposits exceeding 20 milion lire at 31-12-1911

Cassa Total deposits Cassa Total deposits

Province Lombarde 812,096,795 Banco di Sicilia 27,880,271

Torino 154,597,043 Voghera 27,494,067

Banco di Napoli 145,282,257 Siena 27,453,190

Firenze 122,033,817 Modena 27,123,860

Roma 117,772,943 Asti 26,904,681

Verona 112,500,398 Parma 25,637,756

Bologna 62,385,046 Vercelli 24,727,105

Lucca 57,880,049 Pisa 21,630,173

Palermo 54,325,335 Alessandria 21,497,368

Genova 47,434,111 Udine 20,905,752

Padova 38,063,688 Cosenza 20,485,316

Venezia 31,038,501 SOURCE: Annuario statistico italiano, serie II, vol. II, , p. 239.

The very powerful Cassa of Milan had the hard task of keeping the Permanent Commission

active, and the results were very disappointing. In consequence, the Cassa of Bologna was called

upon to hold a Congress in Turin, coinciding with the Exhibition of Industry and Labour of 1

September 1911. The topics for discussion concerned: 1) the mortmain tax; 2) the personal

property tax; 3) stamp duty; 4) loans to charity bodies with guarantee of delegation and fiscal

treatment of same; 5) personal property tax in relation to loans by the CdR to commercial firms19

.

The Turin Congress of 1911 took place in an Italian banking perspective that had changed

profoundly from that of 1888. Since 1894, currency issue was the responsibility of three banks


[email protected] 7

(Bank of Italy, Banco di Napoli and Banco di Sicilia)20

. Four commercial banks had been set up

and/or had proved their worth as from the turn of the century, with inter alia hefty intervention

from the German financial world21

: Banca Commerciale, Credito Italiano, Banco di Roma and

Società Bancaria Italiana (thereafter re-named Banca Italiana di Sconto22

).

A number of small banks created by the Catholic movement sprang up in the main cities. Thus

the competition with the CdR no longer came exclusively from the Cooperative banks and the

post office banks; indeed, as from 1887, Leo Wollenborg (1859-1932), an Italian of German-

Jewish origin, had been active in the creation and diffusion of the Casse Rurali in the Veneto. And

since 1892 the clergy had been setting up the Casse Rurali Cattoliche, outperforming

Wollenborg‟s activity23

. By now the savings deposits collected by the CdR were exceeded by

those of the Cooperative banks, the Casse Rurali (Catholic and other), the ordinary credit banks

and the pledge banks.

At the Congress, the need to occupy a stronger position in an increasingly competitive context

led the Casse to propose setting up an Association of the Casse di Risparmio, ACRI, “able to speak

for all to put up very effective resistance”. In view of the uninterest shown towards the president of

the powerful and influential Cassa di Risparmio delle Province Lombarde (CARIPLO)24

, senator

G. Speroni (who did not even attend the Congress), all tasks of organization were delegated to the

Cassa of Bologna. Around this time, there emerged the figure of the parliamentary deputy marquis

Cesare Ferrero Di Cambiano25

, who was president of the Cassa of Turin and had become

representative and spokesman for the interests of the Italian CdR. The findings of the Turin

Congress were forwarded to the minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, Francesco Saverio

Nitti, summarized in 5 requests:

1) legislation to safeguard deposits in banks and welfare institutions not subject to the law of 1888;

2) the CdR to be exempt from mortmain tax;

3) personal property tax only in category B for the incomes of the CdR;

4) loans by CdR to Communes and Provinces to be subject to a single tax;

5) tax deduction on mortgages granted by the Casse to commercial firms.

The CdR belonging to ACRI numbered 137 out of 184 (July 1912, when ACRI was officially

constituted); information was communicated to them through an association periodical. Provision

was made for the ownership funds of the previous Permanent Commission to be withdrawn by the

Cassa of Milan. The action undertaken by Di Cambiano on the Committee was in plain contrast to

the stagnation under the previous chairmanship, and helped to encourage the hopes of the ACRI.

Casse di Risparmio from 1830 to 1926


[email protected] 8

Anni

Independent

CdR

Filiation of

loan banks

Total

1830 9 – 9

1840 25 1 26

1850 60 – 60

1860 91 – 91

1870 136 7 143

1880 183 11 194

1890 195 15 210

1914 190 18 208

1926 183 18 201

Source: BALLARDINI, A., (1955), Le Casse di Risparmio, Bologna, Cappelli.

State intervention concerning the Casse di Risparmio

The outbreak of World War I froze international relations. Banking operations between Italy

and the main European centres were paralyzed and panic spread among savers inclined to

withdraw their deposits. On 1 August 1914, the Executive Committee of ACRI decided that each

Cassa would pay according to its possibilities, but three days later the Government decreed that the

banks, excepting those issuing currency, plus the equity banks, mutual banks, cooperative banks

and the Casse Rurali, must restrict reimbursement for each single deposit to 5%, with a maximum

ceiling of 50 lire. By the same token, the currency-issuing banks were allowed to increase the

maximum normal amount in circulation by 1/326

. When Italy entered the war on 24 May 1915 –

one year after Sarajevo – the Casse and Italy itself had to face new, more complex problems such

as the risk of damage to mortgaged urban property and how to treat employees conscripted for

service.

The budget deficit swelled as the international situation worsened and greater military

expenditure became necessary; the Government issued Treasury Bonds and the ACRI declared

itself willing to “involve its member Casse”27

. The Director General of the Bank of Italy, Bonaldo

Stringher (1854-1930) invited the ACRI in February 1913 to join the consortium for issuing 400

million lire in Treasury Bonds.

During the war years, more than one Cassa showed diffidence towards the ACRI. The

Association was unable to meet the requests of a number of Casse, especially as regards tax

reductions. ACRI‟s development was marked by two problems: 1) the lack of legal staff and 2) the

delay in setting up a Central Institute of the Casse. It was therefore proposed to create, within

ACRI, a para-banking body that would operate in the lending field. The plan for a statute

(approved in October 1917 and deliberated in May 1918) provided for a “National Loan Bank of

the Casse di Risparmio” (ICCRI), set up in December 1919. But the Ministry delayed its approval.

Everything was greatly complicated by the economic crisis, new elections and changes of


[email protected] 9

government – further compounded by proposals to reform the system of the CdR with a bill

presented to Parliament in February 192128

, which aimed at radical alteration of the 1888 law and

was bent on making the Casse dependent on the political class. The Casse stoutly protested at this.

ACRI resolutely opposed the appointment by the Ministry of 2/3 of the available posts in their

governing bodies. This strong opposition led the Minister (20 June 1921) to present a new bill in

Parliament requiring the appointment, not merely 1/3 but in toto, of the boards of directors by the

shareholders. On 11 June 1921, the government led by Giovanni Giolitti (1842-1928) resigned.

The new Minister set aside the plan for reform of the Casse, but approved the statute of the ICCRI

(the para-bank body of the Casse) and authorized its setting up. On 18 December 1921, the

representatives of the 94 Casse attending elected the nine members of the board of the new bank,

which was active as from the beginning of 1922, the year in which, in October, the Fascist (former

socialist) Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) embarked on his two long decades of government.

Modification of the 1888 law

In line with the particular conception of the economy of the new regime, the Casse could no

longer maintain their original freedom and independence. Between 1925 and 1928, the Fascist

Government, with the aim of controlling the flow of credit to agriculture, set up a centralized

national body for agrarian loans; this reduced the presence of the Casse with a project aiming to

fuse, at provincial and regional level, those holding deposits below 10 million lire: the Casse due to

be affected numbered 106 out of 182. ACRI‟s opposition succeeded in lowering the limit for

survival of the smaller Casse from 10 to 5 million29

. On 10 December 1926, the cabinet approved a

draft of the measure and authorized its passage into decree law (10 February 1927). By early 1928,

92 Casse had disappeared by merger.

The crisis of 1929 weakened the currency in Italy as elsewhere and brought serious trouble to

the banks, causing a series of failures which were addressed by setting up IRI (Istituto per la

Ricostruzione Industriale)30

. In 1937 ACRI presented what was to be its last report to the assembly

of associates, since in the following year it was obliged to accept its transformation into Federation

of the CdR; therefore no report was published, thus avoiding any analysis or assessment on the

economic situation not fully controlled by the Fascist dictatorship.

A decree by the head of the Government (23 June 1934) created the Corporation for welfare and

loans, thus depriving the Casse of certain elements of their identity since they were placed in an

appropriate section along with the banks subject to public law.

From 1927 to 1945 the number of banks and branches was reduced; in the decade 1926-‟36

1,907 of them exited from the market and 4,111 branches closed. This downsizing of the territorial


[email protected] 10

network concerned banks mainly made up of small-medium firms, with the exception of the Casse

and the public law banks. As from 1926, the opening of new branches of the CdR had to be

authorized by the Ministry of the Economy, which blocked the setting up of new branches in

communes having branches of other banks. The Government obliged the smaller Casse to merge

with that of the provincial capital. In 1939, the process became increasingly concentrated: the

Casse dwindled from 201 to 78; mergers within the category totalled 106 out of 124.

Movements of the Casse di Risparmio by region (1927-1945)

Regions Banks at

1.1.1927

Set up Mergers Mergers with

other banks

Banks at

31.12.1945

Piemonte 17 – 6 – 11

Lombardia 2 – – – 2

Veneto 14 – 10 – 4

Trentino A.A. 10 – 8 – 2

Friuli V.G. 9 – 5 – 4

Liguria 3 – – – 3

Emilia Romagna

North Italy

34

89

–

–

18

47

–

–

16

42

Toscana 12 – 2 1 9

Umbria 9 – 2 – 7

Marche 48 – 39 – 9

Abruzzo 11 – 7 – 4

Molise 1 – – 1 –

Lazio 13 1 9 – 5

Central Italy 94 1 59 2 34

Campania 4 – – 4 –

Basilicata 3 – – 3 –

Calabria 1 – – – 1

Puglia 7 – – 7 –

Sicilia 3 – – 2 1

South Italy and Islands 18 – – 16 2

Source: BALLARDINI, A., cit. p. 314.

The historic reform of the banking system in 1936

The thoroughgoing banking reform of 193631

met with a good deal of opposition from the banks

themselves, including the CdR, since they were subjected to sweeping changes aimed at “reducing

and specializing them”. The currency-issuing bank, which up to that time had not played the role of

“bank of the banks”32

, proposed to abandon “the direct supply of credit” and confine itself “to

supervising and directing the money market”. The Casse were forced by the reform to move either

into the category of banks or into that of institutes, thus overturning their original organization.

Shortly before that, with a decree by Mussolini (7 February 1936) a Corporative Technical

Committee was set up “for study of the problems concerning the functional and territorial

distribution of credit”, of which De Capitani, president of ACRI, was summoned to be part.

The 1936 reform revolutionized the national credit system, unifying the function of control over



all the savings banks and disciplining the functional and territorial distribution of the banks. An

Inspectorate was set up to safeguard savings and the exercise of loans (IDREC), chaired by

Mussolini. The banking system was centralized; the collection of savings and their investment

came under state supervision. The central bank was configured as an institute under public law and

its position was strengthened by making its governor president of IMI, which, as independent

sector, included the Consortium for Subsidies on Industrial Values (CSVI) and the section of

industrial financing, hitherto performed by IRI.

The banking law of 1936 contained the principle of intervening in the credit sector and a

clearcut separation between banks with deposits restricted and certificated for a maximum duration

of 18 months, and Special Credit Institutes with deposits beyond 18 months. The banks were

arranged in five categories:

- banks of national interest (Banca Commerciale Italiana, Credito Italiano, Banco di Roma);

- banks subject to public law;

- cooperative banks, CdR and pledge banks;

- agricultural and artisan banks;

- ordinary lending banks.

The greater part of the banking market was under the control of public entities, an aspect that

differentiated Italy from the other European countries. In case of failure, the traditional procedure

used in private banks was not applied; recourse was had, instead, to receivership or compulsory

administrative liquidation. Control of the whole banking sector was entrusted to the Bank of Italy,

which also oversaw the entry of new banks into the market.

The Casse did not welcome the new banking law, even if their role in the organization of the

Bank of Italy appeared initially to have grown owing to the shares they held (134 thousand on the

eve of the reform). De Capitani advised them to change them into the new shares to be issued by

the Bank of Italy, and to extend the stock they possessed; he hoped that at least six out of the twelve

members of the board would be members of the Casse33

but, as it turned out, not a single

representative of the Casse was taken onto the supreme council of the Bank (25 June 1936). Indeed,

the statute of the Bank of Italy ruled that it was incompatible for the directors of the CdR, the

Banks and Institutes under public law to sit on the supreme council of the Bank of Italy.

A few months later, membership of the Fascist trade union, which was in effect obligatory,

became compulsory for the Casse too: the Committee of Ministers deliberated to remove the

previous veto for the CdR and their employees to join union associations. On 11 December 1937,

the Corporative Committee approved the statute of the Fascist National Federation of the CdR and

proceeded to wind up the ACRI (28 July 1938).



The outbreak of World War II made it very difficult to withdraw savings deposited at the

banking institutes. The year 1940 began with an increase in the amounts of the family welfare

cheques, making them the responsibility of the CdR and first-category pledge banks. The

Federation reported a situation in which they would see their accounts fall owing to this increase,

and suggested redressing the situation in three ways:

- by raising the interest rates on the finances granted;

- by restoring the rates contracted on the mortgages granted to communes prior to 1 January 1935;

- by remunerating the services on behalf of the charity bodies.

In reply to this, the Casse were asked to reduce their general expenditure, to contain expenditure

on personnel and to proceed towards further concentration34

. The bill on “New arrangements for

merger, also by takeover, of CdR and pledge banks” had been presented to the Camera dei Fasci e

delle Corporazioni by Mussolini himself on 10 November 1939. It stated the obligation to merge

for all the Casse holding deposits of less than 5 million lire. This led to the law of 14 December

1939. The number of Casse fell from 91 (december 1937) to 80 (December 1941) as per the last

figure published in the “Bollettino dell‟Ispettorato”.

The Casse di Risparmio and agriculture

The Governement repeatedly called attention to the agricultural policy, a field in which the CdR

had been very active. With regard to loans to farmers, the individual had given way to the

collective level (stockpiling, agrarian consortia, consortia of small farmers, etc.). For the Casse,

loans to the individual farmer had become an accessory operation in credit to agriculture. The

collective bodies needed massive capital availability that the smaller Casse were not able to

supply35

. The critical state of some Casse stemmed from the worsening economic situation of the

country and from the reduction in activity to which they were compelled in sectors that had always

been mainly reserved to them, such as, indeed, loans to farmers. All the laws on the matter, as from

the oldest (1869), acknowledged that the Casse had special requisites for performing this

function36

. But when stockpiling was made compulsory (1935) for certain products, together with

collective sale by the stockpiling, funded by the institutions authorized to grant loans at low rates,

things changed profoundly. The presence of other banks sparked fierce competition to the

disadvantage of the Casse, to the point where De Capitani, meeting with Mussolini (March 1940)

requested, unsuccessfully, that finance to agriculture be confined exclusively to the Casse. The

situation of the latter was aggravated by pressure from the Government itself on them to contribute

to prizes for the most deserving farmers in incentivating production of food crops37

.

The troubles of the Casse also stemmed from the poor distribution of their branches, which were



absent in many places, whereas there might be more than one of them operating in the same

locality. The problem was at the centre of attention of the Corporation for Welfare and Credit in

mid-1938; it was decided to “deflate the branches” and to set criteria for the distribution of the new

branches. Already in the second half of 1938, branches were transferred from one bank to another,

in the attempt to eliminate from the smaller localities the unprofitable branches of the banks of

national character and to assign the branches they had been obliged to leave to the CdR and the

cooperative banks, compensating them with authorization to create new ones in some important

places or to set up city branches in the large centres.

Amount of deposits of banks

1938 -1944 (percentages)

Category of bank 1938 1944

Banks under public law 18 23

Banks of national interest 25 30

Ordinary lending banks 16 18

Cooperative banks 9 11

Casse di risparmio 32 19

Total

100 100

Source: Banca d‟Italia, “Bollettino”, various years.

The lavish investments made in Treasury Bonds helped to reduce the incomes of the Casse: the

majority of the bonds issued between 1940 and 1942 had ended up in the coffers of the Casse

instead of private ones. Of the nine-year bonds at 5% issued in February 1940, the Casse had

underwritten over 1,800 million lire worth, and more than 2 billion lire worth of the nine-year 5%

issue of 1941 – the latter amounting to nearly one-ninth of the total purchased38

. The Federation as

part of the Consortium for the issue and support for placing the bonds in question, exhorted the

Casse “to reward the new war loan with the largest possible contribution of underwritings of their

own and of their clientele, for the best outcome of this important operation”39

. On 26 May 1943, by

royal decree no. 398, a new series of five-year Treasury Bonds was issued.

The public debt had swollen40

.

Composition of investments of the Casse di Risparmio 1938 -1945 (bn lire)

Items 1938

a.v. %

1940

a.v. %

1942

a.v. %

1943

a.v. %

1944

a.v. %

1945

a.v. %

Portfolio 1.5 14.6 1.7 16.5 2.3 24.7 2.9 30.2 4.1 35.9 8.1 42.0

Assets 0.2 1.9 0.2 1.9 0.3 3.2 0.1 1.0 … … 0.1 0.5

Expected assets 2.5 24.3 2.1 20.4 0.4 4.3 0.5 5.3 0.4 3.6 0.9 4.6

Current accounts 0.5 4.8 0.6 5.8 1.4 15.1 1.5 15.6 2.5 21.9 5.5 28.5

Mortgages 5.6 54.4 5.7 55.4 4.9 52.7 4.6 47.9 4.4 38.6 4.7 24.4



Total 10.3 100.0 10.3 100.0 9.3 100.0 9.6 100.0 11.4 100.0 19.3 100.0 Source: Associazione fra le Casse di Risparmio Italiane, Annuario 1948-1949.

The Roman offices of the Federazione Fascista delle Casse were left completely paralyzed by

the fall of Fascism (25 July 1943), the advance of the Allied armies in Sicily, the events of 8

September 1943 and the long winter, with the Allies barred from entering Rome until early June

1944.

The reconstruction of ACRI in republican Italy

On 4 June 1944 when the Allies entered Rome, the Casse were without a body to head them, nor

was there any other to interpret their needs. The vacuum was soon filled41

. On 15 June 1944 the

American allies, in the Rome government, issued a decree for freely constituting associations to

protect labour relations or for other legal purposes. The directors of the Casse promptly

reconstituted the ACRI, which had been closed down in 1938 and, as said, replaced by the

Federazione Fascista delle Casse. Having launched the democratic reform of the organization of

the Casse and the Association, the provisional managing committee addressed the role of the Casse

in the reconstruction process, upon which the country embarked, although still in a state of war.

The Casse were prepared with the ICCRI to finance, through the agrarian Consortia, the

importation of livestock and the purchase of equipment and seeds; to be active in granting loans for

the construction or conversion of rural buildings; to respond to Italy‟s huge demand for housing by

buying up the bonds of their Istituti di credito fondiario (land loan institutes) and supporting the

completion of the programme for reclaiming land with the bonds of the Consortium for loans for

land improvement, to which the Casse themselves had made a considerable contribution.

The Casse held that such works would get under way with contribution from the State.

Initiatives in the field of production were lacking and savings were frequently oriented towards

investment in State bonds rather than productive activities. The Casse had plenty of liquidity,

indeed they registered a growing influx of deposits, but they found difficulty in investing them

profitably and had to face a continual increase in expenditure on staff, caused by the rising

inflation. The Government, for its part, lowered the discount and interest rates on Treasury Bonds

(September 1944), thus enabling the Casse to reduce their liability rates (16 October 1944). A loan

in five-year Treasury Bonds at 5% was launched, with the ACRI as part of the issuing consortium

and undertaking to subscribe an amount of 500 million lire „a fermo‟ (at fixed rate), to be

distributed among the various Casse42

.

This was the cue for the Casse throughout Italy to unite in a single association. On 21 February



the text of the statute of the new ACRI was drawn up and the assembly of the associated bodies

was summoned to approve it and appoint the new heads. With some small alterations, the statute

was passed and the 17 members of the board were elected; the board, in turn, elected the president

and vice-presidents43

, confirming Amedeo Calvano as general manager on 28 March 1946.

Immediately after the war, there were 78 Casse in operation with a network of 1,733 branches,

collecting 20% of the deposits administered by the banking system. While the Casse had a more

extensive territorial network than the other banks, their amount of deposits was smaller. This

discrepancy was due to their branches being localized in places not of primary importance and to

their clientele consisting mainly of small savers. Concentration of the structure and its lending

activity can be seen in the northern regions, where 42 banks operated through 1,004 branches,

handling 75% of the overall deposits in the category. Central Italy featured 34 Casse with 588

branches and deposits totaling 19%; these operated in circumscribed areas with fewer possibilities

to expand their activity, unlike in the North where they enjoyed a radius of action on a provincial or

regional scale. In the South, on the contrary, we find only two banks, with a network of 141

branches. In order for the network of Casse to extend and take root, various initiatives were tried

“including a short film entitled Pappo, Peppo and Pippo on pay day, which took inspiration from

the imposing number of publicity leaflets distributed when the Casse were launched in the first half

of the nineteenth century”44

.

The Casse were hard hit by the dwindling of their deposits as compared to the amount of income

registered by the Italian banking system overall – for this period, in the face of the scant availability

of capital, witnessed a growing demand for goods and services, i.e. the need to activate plenty of

investment. The problem looms large in the writings and speeches of prof. Giordano Dell‟Amore

(1902-1981)45

, who headed the ACRI for a quarter-century (1952-1976). It is interesting to see how

his authoritative personality and undoubted competence fastened on the technical and political

aspects of the events in banking and how, at the same time, he clung to a vision of a society in rapid

transformation from a mainly agricultural economy to an preminently industrial one. The old

society with its values and customs was fast dissolving, and yet, on various occasions, Dell‟Amore

addressed aspects of custom and culture asserting, for example: “the women left home for work

[instead of] morally cementing all domestic life in common”; “the spreading phenomenon of

purchase by instalment”; criticizing consumerism in general and the lottery in particular because “it

contributes to the growing laxity of customs”. Dell‟Amore felt that there ought to be increased

“investments to the countryside in order to arrest the ongoing depopulation […] so as to oppose the

evil power of attraction of the largest cities”.46

The CdR were gathered into seven regional and interregional Federations, set up as independent



bodies, with the task of protecting savings, defining the operational areas of the individual banks,

coordinating and assisting them.

Branches and deposits of the CdR by geographical area (1945)

Geographical area Banks Branches Deposits

millions lire %

North Italy 42 1,004 60,623 74.6

Central Italy 34 588 15,528 19.1

South Italy 2 141 5,116 6.3

Total 78 1,733 81,267 100.0

Source: Banca d‟Italia, Relazione per l’anno 1945.

Immediately after the war, despite the tendency of the savings banks to assimilate their specific

functions, they continued to base their intermediation on the collection of family savings and

mainly on the investment of their resources in equities, rather than the granting of loans, thus

conforming to their traditional definition of “institutes with the purpose of collecting deposits as

savings and placing them appropriately”. Owing precisely to this character of theirs, the Casse were

accused of removing funds from the circuits of intermediation that could thus not be employed to

address the needs of the local economy. It became therefore evident that the Casse must extend

their intermediation at local level and develop their function in such a way as to provide more

support for firms, a broader supply of banking services, development of short-term investment and

more medium-long term funding for non-traditional sectors. The greater or lesser propensity of

these banks to integrate their traditional activity with that of ordinary banking depended largely on

their localization, their size and the desire to innovate on the part of their administrators.

The period 1945-1957 saw the emergence of 126 new banks, while some that had already closed

or were in process of liquidation tried to reconstitute themselves; despite which, the total number of

banks had dwindled with respect to previous years. From 1958 to 1964, the number of banks

increased. A reverse trend can be seen as from 1965 and for the entire decade following, during

which a large number of banks disappeared (219 fewer). The process of concentration in banking

speeded up. In particular, in 1969 the public authorities embarked on a further consolidation of the

banking structure, which had become unstable through the fierce competition to attract deposits.

The evolution of the CdR between 1945 and 1975 did not follow the trend in the banking

system. As against the nationwide tendency, the number of Casse increased, though not by much,

from 78 to 80 units. The stability in the degree of concentration of the Casse suggested that the

structure remained fragmented, characterized as it was by a small number of big banks, on the one

hand, doing a large amount of the business, and a vast group of medium-small banks, on the other



hand, with a tiny share of the business. The distinctive elements of this structure were therefore the

high degree of concentration as against the fragmentation.

The evolution of their distribution over the territory was marked by the directives regulating the

grant of authorization to open branches. Three distinct stages may be identified: 1945-‟55, 1956-

‟62, 1962-‟65.

When in 1945 the authorization for branches was eased, there was a flood of requests for

permission. The banks took different attitudes: the CdR opposed the insistence of certain banks on

upholding monopoly positions in important cities. The Bank of Italy authorized the opening of 874

branches, whose number rose from 6,889 to 7,964 between 1945 and 1955, while the places where

banking could be conducted went from 3,715 to 4,126; one out of three branches opened in a place

previously without a bank.

In the case of the Casse, there was a great expansion in the outlying branches: over a ten-year

period, these increased by 458 units (from 1,733 to 2,191), i.e. from 25% to 28% of the overall

banking network. Their aim was to acquire branches not only in places of leading importance but

also in peripheral locations unprovided with banking facilities – this in an attempt to face pressure

of competition within and outside the banking system. The situation endured up to 1956, when the

criteria for authorization were reviewed as a result of imbalances persisting in the territorial

distribution of the system as a whole.

From 1956 to 1962, the supervisory authority granted 1,868 permissions, which translated into a

net increase of 1,874 branches and 929 new places with banking facilities. The CdR gained the

largest share of branches; by the end of 1962 these accounted for 28% of the banking network

overall, retaining their leading position among the various categories of bank. In this way they were

able to exploit new opportunities in collecting deposits and a considerable increase in their share of

these.

As from 1963 the supervisory authority ceased to focus on the matter of territorial distribution,

confining its attention to assessment of particular situations that demanded urgent intervention, as

in the case of places without banking facilities or places needing reinforcement of the local banking

structures. In the context of these directives, between 1965 and 1974 authorization was made for a

further 1,569 new branches.

Between 1945 and 1975, the number of banks, all told, fell by 380 units, whereas the network of

branches rose to almost double: from 6,848 to 11,617. The CdR ultimately accounted for 30.7% of

the entire Italian banking system, thanks to the opening of 545 new branches, distributed in such a

way as to leave the territorial distribution unchanged. At the same time, the Cooperative banks

increased while the banks under public law, the ordinary lending banks and those of national



interest fell in number.

Three conclusions can be drawn regarding the territorial distribution in the period 1945-75:

- the CdR were advantaged by the expansion in the banking system, acquiring 1,615 new units,

equal to 34% of the total increase and raising their share of of branches from 25% to 30% of the

national network;

- the largest number of new branches went to the banks in the northern regions, even though the

proportionately greater share involved the southern areas with 299 additional units. While the

weight of the territorial network in Northern and Central Italy diminished, it rose in the South;

- the CdR increased their degree of homogeneity thanks to their more widespread and more

uniform presence throughout the territory.

The international role

The Italian CdR take some pride in recalling that the International Savings Banks Institute was

set up in Milan in 1924, on the occasion of the First International Congress on Savings promoted

by The Casse di Risparmio delle Province Lombarde (CARIPLO), the biggest savings bank

existing in Europe. Among the declared aims was the need to favour a course of action

“advantageous and indispensable for the better mutual acquaintance of all Savings Banks and for

the increased development and co-ordination of their services”. This was approved at Milan on 28

June 1925. On 31 October of every year a World Thrift Day was proclaimed, with the engagement

to promote an international congress every three years. The twenty-one congresses thus promoted

have been held 61 times in Europe, once in the USA, once in Latin America (Colombia) and three

times in Asia (Singapore and Japan).

Up to World War II the headquarters of the International Savings Banks Institute remained in

Milan; in 1948 it was moved, first to Amsterdam, then in 1969 to Geneva, where it remained until

1994, at which time it was dissolved. In the latter year, 1994, the World Savings Banks Institute

(WSBI) was set up in Brussels. The European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) was founded in 1963

as Savings Banks Group of the European Economic Community (the association changed its name

to European Savings Banks Group in 1988)47

.

In the early 1960s, Giordano Dell‟Amore, in his capacity of vice-president of the International

Association, objected that the International Committee for publicizing saving had no representative

from the Italian banks. Not only that – prof. Dell‟Amore felt the need to set up a Central European

Institute of the CdR. His idea was bolstered by the part directly played by Italy in the process of

constructing a community Europe. Nor is it without significance that the historic “Treaty of Rome”

instituting the European Economic Community (EEC) was signed in Italy (March 1957), as well as



the creation of the European Atomic Energy Authority (Euratom). The main objectives of the

Common Market centred on “four liberties”, including the free circulation of capital (the other

three concerning persons, services and goods).

Through its president as spokesman, ACRI undertook to intensify and extend the initiative

internationally. Effective was his intervention at Brussels in 1969 on the need to harmonize the

relations among the savings banks in Europe. In January of the same year he had spoken eloquently

on topics of internationalization at the meeting at Addis Ababa held under the aegis of the UN.

“The initiatives for setting up savings banks in Ethiopia and Somalia were well advanced;

negotiations at various levels had been undertaken for similar action in Zambia and Sudan. With

regard to the latter, on 16 September 1970 the formal decision had been reached to constitute a

„pilot‟ savings bank at Wad Mehani, in the agricultural region of El Gezira, to the point where the

Casse were required to make personnel available to send to Africa: 20 Casse acceded to the request,

naming 361 employees, of whom no more than eight would be selected. However, there was still

some argument within the savings bank group of the EEC, where the proposal made by

Dell‟Amore long ago to set up a Central Bank of the European Savings Banks failed to find

consensus, above all with the German associates, the latter pressing for immediate creation of a

international investment fund managed by the EEC savings banks. The other proposal, though

having no immediate outcome, had for some time been supported by ACRI, namely to create a

European monetary authority, for coordinate management of European liquidity – otherwise, the

free circulation of capital risked running adrift on the lingering imbalances and disparities between

the different national systems, thus impeding any concrete action to address the particular

situation”48

.

The contrasts with the representatives of the German savings banks (who, as we said, opposed

the creation of a central bank of the Savings Banks) became such as to lead Dell‟Amore to resign

from his post of president of the International Institute. But two years later less difficulty was

encountered in creating a credit card common to all the Casse and joining a widespread, valid

international system. In this connection, the choice fell on Eurocard, administered in Italy by

Mediobanca and highly in favour of the link with Italy49

. In 1989 an agreement was made between

ACRI and the French Centre Nationale des Caisses d’Épargne et de Prévoyance (CENCEP) for a

working collaboration aiming to intensify the role of the Italian savings banks abroad.

Automation, staff training and marketing

In the postwar period three distinct stages in the life of the Casse can be identified:

- a general trend towards increasing current accounts and deposits (with 38% of the total they stood



in the top place) mainly owing to the small and medium Casse who made themselves more

attractive to depositors;

- an extension of complementary and collateral services to intermediation pure and simple,

encouraged by a lower tax burden with respect to the other banks;

- an importance owing to deposits by public bodies, especially smaller local ones.

Free and restricted deposits in the Casse di Risparmio

1949 -1973 (billion lire)

Years Free deposits

Tied deposits Total

a.v. % a.v. %

1949 366 88 49 128 415

1950 404 85 69 15 473

1951 451 83 91 17 543

1952 531 81 123 19 654

1953 606 79 165 21 771

1954 606 66 318 34 925

1955 672 60 439 40 1,112

1956 732 56 570 44 1,302

1957 803 53 711 47 1,514

1958 906 50 898 50 1,804

1959 1,067 50 1,017 50 2,139

1960 1,219 49 1,262 51 2,481

1961 1,608 55 1,330 45 2,938

1962 1,742 50 1,745 50 3,487

1963 2,045 51 1,971 49 4,016

1964 2,232 50 2,208 50 4,440

1965 2,619 50 2,654 50 5,274

1966 3,081 49 3,160 51 6,242

1967 3,547 49 3,661 51 7,208

1968 4,182 50 4,157 50 8,339

1969 4,776 51 4,622 49 9,399

1970 6,113 57 4,585 43 10,698

1971 7,355 58 5,352 42 12,708

1972 9,501 61 6,179 39 15,680

1973 11,945 63 7,062 37 19,008


Significant progress was made in the medium-large banks in the 1960s, especially as regards

organization. Owing to the appreciable rises in staff costs, the individual banks embarked on

processes of automation that enabled them to increase the resources administered and slim down

their employees. In 1966, a “type-Statute” was issued, to which, despite its having no force as a

norm, the Casse conformed fairly closely, with some exceptions (CARIPLO, CdR of Turin and

CdR of Biella). This “code” brought uniformity and gave the supervisory authority tighter control

of the set up of the category, constituting, along with the banking law of 1936 and its T.U. (single

text), the legislative framework of reference for the activity of the Casse.

In 1971, the Institute for Automation of the Italian CdR (I.P.A.C.R.I) was created, with the task



of designing data systems, rationalizing those already in being and providing for all other matters

regarding the organization and automation of the savings banks. A total of 77 Casse were involved

in this project. It was understood how crucial was the issue of automation in the life of the banks.

“Nor did the importance escape notice of combining the delocation of debit and credit flows with

the introduction of the most advanced information technologies, able to influence the speed of

rotation and hence the very amount of the positive results in the balance. In addition, this reliance

on telematic “networks” rapidly raised the problem of the optimal relation – in the sense of feasible

economies of scale –between territorial and physical locations of the banks‟ branches and their

replacement with automated linkages and branches. For that matter, the banking disintermediation

that accompanied the galloping inflation, having already affected the large depositors who were

more sensitive to the pressure of the rates, was by now about to hit the small savers as well, those

who relied more directly on the system of the Casse. In other words, at the same time as they were

creating a direct channel between centres where saving was made and the public sector, a large part

of the task that the Casse had always performed found itself „edged out‟ – and this with additional

problems of competition that demanded a prompt solution of the problem of structural renewal that

would enable the banks to address the empty spaces generated in the competition”51

.

The results, however, proved not very satisfactory. The possibilities inherent in the brand-new

solutions provided by the information revolution were only partly exploited by the system of the

CdR. The main reason for this can be retraced to the fact that many CdR managers justified their

prudence on the ground that the majority of their clients were adult, often elderly persons with

small deposits. A clientele that would never make use of the personal computer or demand

particular typologies of management other than the simple deposit with appropriate book. But, as

was to be confirmed, the changes went ahead very rapidly and headlong, leaving many savings

banks lagging behind with lost ground and missed opportunities.

The network for transmission of data over distance (the STACRI system), administered directly

by the Casse, was felt to be satisfactory even while it suggested how long was the path to be

travelled and what potentials might be exploited; this also because the Bank of Italy was intending

to set up a single national network for the entire banking system, especially with regard to the

controls the supervisory authority wished to activate, availing itself, indeed, of the advantages

offered by the circulation of data within a single network.

There was also the awareness that intensifying and improving the undoubtedly crucial

automation process was not sufficient. What was needed was a more effective rationalization of the

working procedures and the adoption of management models appropriate to the sweeping

economic and social changes ongoing. Great hopes were placed in the “setting up of a Centre for



Training the Staff of the Italian CdR (FOPECRI), to be decentralized near Siena, and this was

approved at the session of 3 February 1976. This initiative had long been awaited, and all the banks

of the association expected a rapid upgrade in their staff at medium-level in response to the ongoing

changes […] specifically, three kinds of training courses were envisaged, for equities, for foreign

service and for staff training, with a volume of applications for these such that only a third of the

applicants could be accepted at the premises of the Centre”52

.

Overall, the employees of the CdR numbered almost 80,000, with a significant increase in the

female element that can be ascribed to the fact that, roughly from the mid-1980s on, the new

recruits featured a slight majority of women.

Employees in the Casse di Risparmio in 1980 - 1987 - 1992

wo

me

n

me

n

tota

l

wo

me

n

me

n

tota

l

wo

me

n

me

n

tota

l

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

1980 1987 1992

Source: ACRI, Dati statistici del personale, various years, our data processing.

Along with automation, training and management models, the Casse were also concerned with

their image. It was felt to be indispensable to adopt marketing instruments and publicity initiatives

in line with the new times and the different clientele. And it was seen as important that “the bank‟s

decision should be made not so much in consideration of the necessities or convenience of a

banking rapport, but rather because that bank is always held capable of solving all the problems;

and this is indeed the task of public relations”53

. As well as intensifying the traditional advertising

initiatives such as the “Casa serena” gift diaries, the art volumes and the distribution of teaching

material in schools, the banks undertook initiatives in support of issues like the environment and



ecology and contributed to youth athletic meetings, plus substantial assistance to the earthquake

victims in Friuli (North Italy) in the winter of 1979-‟80 with non-repayable loans or loans at zero

interest.

The banking policy of the Casse

The expansion of the Casse can be mainly ascribed to two circumstances: the extension of their

territorial network and the changes made in 1953-‟54 in the structure of the interest rates. Between

1945 and 1948 the total accounts at the Casse increased as they offered higher interest on deposits

than the other banks, thus causing an overall growth of 3% in the amount of deposits in the banking

system as a whole. But as from 1955 the rate of increase of the deposits levelled out among all the

various categories of bank, giving the banking system a greater homogeneity.

Branches of the banking system and of the Casse by region, 1945 -1975

Region 1945

Banking system CdR

1975

Banking system CdR

Piemonte-Val d‟Aosta 689 281 1,084 470

Lombardia 1,248 177 2,103 352

Trentino A.A. 257 35 460 81

Veneto 716 194 914 298

Friuli V.G. 163 39 328 65

Liguria 224 59 432 152

Emilia Romagna 679 219 1,152 467

North Italy 3,976 1,004 6,473 1,185

Toscana 744 258 1,022 383

Umbria 146 59 203 97

Marche 250 141 360 215

Lazio 458 82 794 197

Abruzzo e Molise 156 48 277 131

Central Italy 1,754 588 2,656 1,023

Campania 262 – 488 15

Puglia 198 – 482 72

Basilicata 50 – 115 25

Calabria 158 51 224 103

Sicilia 423 90 1,045 225

Sardegna 68 – 134 –

South Italy 1,159 141 2,488 440

Total 6,889 1,733 11,617 3,348


By the end of 1976 the Casse figured as the category having the largest relative share of funds

deposited (28%).

Percentage rates of increase of bank deposits (1945-1976)

Year Banks under

public law

Banks of

national interest

Ordinary

lending banks

Cooperative

banks

CdR Total

for banks

1945 48 48 90 71 76 63

1946 69 77 80 69 60 72

1947 58 27 46 46 56 45

1948 48 49 45 48 60 50



1949 34 22 29 26 28 28

1950 16 16 15 11 14 15

1951 21 26 21 16 15 20

1952 23 25 27 24 20 24

1953 15 18 17 19 18 17

1954 17 8 12 15 20 14

1955 14 10 17 16 20 15

1956 12 7 13 17 17 13

1957 10 8 11 15 16 12

1958 12 14 18 17 19 16

1959 16 12 19 18 18 17

1960 16 15 16 13 16 15

1961 17 14 18 19 18 17

1962 19 21 16 21 19 19

1963 15 8 12 13 15 13

1964 9 8 7 8 10 9

1965 17 18 18 16 19 18

1966 13 12 16 16 18 15

1967 14 13 15 15 15 14

1968 11 13 14 13 16 14

1969 11 10 12 12 13 12

1970 16 23 15 16 14 16

1971 15 16 20 18 19 18

1972 16 18 18 19 19 18

1973 17 18 23 20 21 20

1974 16 14 17 22 17 17

1975 24 16 29 33 24 25

1976 22 18 25 26 20 22


After the war, the Casse altered the nature of their lending activity, turning mainly to

investments and assuming the typical characteristics of banks. Between 1951 and 1958 they tended

to reduce their capital employment and investments in equities (respectively from 53% to 49% and

from 29% to 23% of assets), whereas their interbank deposits grew to 26% of the assets. During

this period there was a slowdown in the direct employment of resources, regarding both equities

and financing, e.g. loans. A fall in the share of employment can be found between 1959 and 1973

but, as against the previous period, a considerable increase in portfolio equities appears, along with

a notable decrease in interbank deposits. Despite these conflicting trends, the asset structure of the

Casse approached that of the other categories of bank, though with certain differences remaining,

such as the larger amount of equities and the smaller share of employments54

. Lending showed two

main characteristics: the high number of loans of small import, which testifies to the considerable

fragmentation of the employment of deposits, and the presence of diversified policies regarding

both the technical forms and the deadlines, and the sectors of the activities financed.

The CdR represented the leading source of medium to long-term lending, as well as being the

most important lender to families and the public sector, having maintained a “specialization” in the

provision of determinate types of financing.



Employment of deposits in the banking system and the Casse di risparmio

1950-1973 (bn lire)

1950 1973

Banking

system

CdR

Banking

system

CdR

absolute

values

% absolute

values

%

Portfolio 583 104 18 7,292 1,390 19

Assets 47 – – 415 – –

Expected assets 59 7 12 336 48 14

Current accounts in credit 687 70 10 25,169 2,883 11

Pledge loans 5 4 76 61 48 78

Loans against salary 21 17 80 347 277 80

Unsecured loans 52 42 81 4,730 2,893 61

Mortgages 34 30 90 2,123 1,619 76

Total 1,487 274 18 40,474 9,158 23


The proportion of long-term financing in the total employments was higher than that of the other

banks (37% versus 12%) and gradually rose to 44% in the period 1950-‟66. Moreover, these loans

involved almost the entire market: in 1973 they accounted for 76% of the total medium/long-term

credit.

Employment of deposits in the banking system and the Casse di risparmio by expiry 1950-1973

(percentages)

Year Banking system

Casse di risparmio Employment at

medium/long term

Short

term

Medium/long

term

Total Short term Medium/long

term

Total CdR Other banks Total

1950 95 5 100 77 23 100 83 17 100

1952 95 5 100 73 27 100 85 15 100

1954 94 6 100 72 28 100 83 17 100

1956 90 10 100 62 38 100 74 26 100

1958 90 10 100 62 38 100 76 24 100

1960 90 10 100 63 37 100 72 28 100

1962 91 9 100 65 35 100 73 27 100

1964 89 11 100 59 41 100 77 23 100

1966 88 12 100 56 44 100 76 24 100

1968 88 12 100 59 41 100 76 24 100

1970 88 12 100 59 41 100 76 24 100

1971 88 12 100 58 42 100 75 25 100

1972 88 12 100 59 41 100 73 27 100

1973 88 12 100 64 36 100 68 32 100


As regards the distribution of the employments by sectors and branches of economic activity,

the 1973 data show that the intermediation was oriented above all to the traditional sectors:

employment of deposits in favour of private subjects and public bodies counted respectively for

5.5% and 1.6% of the total, while that destined to firms of the various categories diminished.



Moreover, the division of finances among the different sectors of the economy was subject to

extensive modifications. The most important of these was the sharp drop in loans to the agricultural

sector, which shrank from 40% to 12% of the total. This change could be ascribed to general

circumstances: firstly, the process of transformation of the local economies caused by the gradual

fall in agriculture‟s share of the national income and the resulting growth of industry and trade. In

consequence, there was an expansion of loans to industrial and trading activities (+ 11%), and to

public works and services (+ 9%); this undoubtedly marks the most important innovative element

in the employment of deposits, even if it only partly counterbalanced the reduction in loans to

agriculture in the Casse (- 27%)55

.

Employment of deposits by the Casse di Risparmio by branch of economic activity


Branch of economic activity 1945 1950 1970 1972

a.v. % a.v. % a.v. % a.v. %

Private 2.5 13 52 18 1,142 20 1,411 18

Public bodies 4.6 24 38 13 1,311 22 1,940 25

Public services 2.3 12 55 18 1,077 18 1,587 21

Agriculture 7.9 39 92 31 834 14 955 12

Industry and trade 2.5 12 60 20 1,448 26 1,820 24

Total 19.8 100 297 100 5,812 100 7,713 100,0


Employment of deposits by the Casse di Risparmio by branch of economic activity


Branch of economic activity 1973 1974 1975

absolute value % absolute

value

% absolute

value

%

Public administration 2,023 21 2,126 18 2,634 21

Non-financial firms 5,842 61 7,540 66 8,021 64

Non-profit institutions 1,717 18 1,823 16 1,928 15

Total 9,582 100 11,490 100 12,583 100


Public equities represented the traditional investment of the CdR, notwithstanding all the

criticism made, as from 1924, of their tendency to employ an excessive amount of their deposits in

this form, at the expense of loans to producer firms56

. The equity portfolio of the Casse reached

62% of the total of deposits in 1945, as against a mean value of 30% in the other banks. As a result

of the return of demands for loans by the economy, occurring in the subsequent years, the

investments in equities accounted for a decreasing share of the intermediation as a whole (from

62% to 28% of deposits). By the end of 1972, the Casse still registered a ratio of equities to

deposits clearly greater than that of the other banks. As from 1973 the trend reversed, above all

owing to the deliberation of the CICR (Interministerial Committee for Credit and Savings) which



set a portfolio restriction: the equity portfolio of the Casse rose by 5,506 billion lire as against an

increase in deposits by 12,708 billion. In consequence, the demand for free investments suffered a

drastic reduction, entirely offset by the increase in the demand for debenture bonds.

Between 1962 and 1968, the composition of the overall portfolio of the CdR recorded two

significant changes: the gradual diminution of the Long-term Treasury Bonds and of the other

public equities, and the increased investment in the “other debenture bonds” (especially those of

IRI, ENI and ENEL), rising from 14% to 40.8% of the portfolio total57

. By 1973 end, the portfolio

equities of the Casse were made up of 10% of public equities, 58% of debenture bonds of the

special credit banks and 31% of other “other debentures”.

Composition of the equity portfolio of the Casse di risparmio, 1950 -1973 (percentages)

Category of equities

1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1971 1972 1973

BOT 16 12 5 0.5 0.2 16 14 8 3 1 0 … … 1

BTP 26 26 30 35 31 19 14 10 9 7 6 5 4 3

Other public equities 17 21 22 4 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 6 7

ICS debenture bonds 40 41 42 60 64 61 57 55 51 50 52 54 54 58

Other debentures 1 1 0.6 0.5 0.8 1 14 25 37 41 40 39 35 31

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100


The 1990 reform of the Casse di Risparmio

The decade 1973-83 saw the introduction of three measures in the banking system:

- restriction on the portfolio (a portion of the deposits to be devoted to purchase of debentures of the

Special Credit Banks (ICS);

- ceiling on loans (limits to the granting of loans);

- compulsory reserve (obligation to maintain a part of the deposits at the Bank of Italy, at a rate of

interest much lower than the market rates.

For the CdR this was a troubled period (especially from 1977) owing to the political and

banking vicissitudes connected with the serious legal plight of the ICCRI (Institute of he Italian

Casse di Risparmio), which was accused by the judiciary of fraudulent management (heavy bad

debts in the balance). “At first, all were asked to behave so as not to exacerbate the troubles of the

Institute and hence not to withdraw the deposits of the individual Casse entrusted to the ICCRI,

unless for specific purpose. Already in February 1978 the ACRI, in a special meeting of the Board,

had to take account of the decision that had arrived to wind up the board of Italcasse and instate

controlled administration. In this way, the Bank of Italy frankly overrode the explicitly contrary

stance taken by ACRI, even though its director, De Mattia, was summoned to be part of of the

group of administrators, and even though a similar, very delicate decision had been made following

an in-depth inspection at the ICCRI […]. This revealed the presence of an organization within the



Institute with many shortcomings and such as to have facilitated the anomalies discovered in its

previous management […]. One year later on 4 March 1980, the members of the board and the

syndicates of ICCRI were arrested […]. The same session also approved a document containing

measures that were felt to be capable of restoring the ICCRI to health”58

.

As from the 1980s, the banking systems of the European countries have undergone significant

changes that can be ascribed to three main factors59

:

- the launch of a deregulation process (elimination of restrictions on the amount and allocation of

loans, attenuation of the imposition of debenture reserves and liberalization to open branches, also

by foreign banks);

- the ongoing ageing of the population has led the banks to vigorous entry into new markets, such

as life insurance;

- the information revolution and globalization have encouraged attempts towards increased size and

economies of scale, implemented by conspicuous investment in equipment and specialized staff

introducing more sophisticated and more efficient services60

.

As a result of the pressure exerted by the I and II European Directives in the matter of lending,

allowing banks freedom of set up and to despecialize, the process of transformation and

modernization of the Italian banking system was greatly speeded up by the passage of law no. 218

of 30 July 1990, known as the “Amato” law, with regard to the tax incentives for banks to be turned

into stock companies (S.p.A.), and the T.U. of 1993 (norms concerning lending and financing). To

this was added the 1993 Directive on the “Universal Bank”, according to which all services can be

provided within one and the same operative unit, thus laying the ground for rationalizing the

European banking market and for extending competition.

In consequence, the CdR and the banks under public law controlled by Foundations were

involved in a hefty process of privatization. The latter banks were compelled to forgo their

interbank interests. The impediments subsisting to merger and takeover operations among the

banks belonging in the various categories were removed, and the categories were reduced in

number to three:

- banks set up as S.p.A. (among which the CdR and the cooperative banks);

- cooperative banks not constituted as S.p.A.;

- cooperative loan banks.

A profound change was under way in the banking system “which was driven by impulses

(flexibility, competition, privatization, disintermediation, managerial issues, automation,

productivism) that could not always go hand-in-hand with the more traditional values […] to say

nothing of a clientele that was being spurred to base its decisions on valorizing efficiency, lower



costs, access, greater security in the exchange of information and the performance of operations

with the utmost technical facility”61

.

Plainly, the public banks urgently needed some reform – the CdR first and foremost – that

would conduce to thoroughgoing recapitalization, to a new articulation of the organs and

distribution of powers, and to an expansion of operative ability and larger size.

In 1981, the debate on a possible reform of the CdR turned on three main points:

- how to overcome the operative limitations that had been imposed to protect the original function

of the charity body, and how to acquire full entrepreneurial capacity in banking;

- the relations with the local territorial bodies

- modification of the procedure of coopting life partners in the association Casse.

The transformation of the Casse into capital enterprises would make them not merely more agile

and more competitive, but also entrepreneurial structures with a different attitude at the level of

principles and exercise of power in management. In the former, power was legitimized by

ownership of capital, in the latter by having specific corporate requisites.

The entrepreneurial and statutory autonomy thus acquired by the Casse began to produce its

effects. The first two Casse to deliberate the new statutes (Ministerial Decrees of 10 August and 20

August 1982) were those of Modena (foundation Casse) and Bologna (association Casse). After the

initially negative reaction of the CdR to the advent of the new corporate model outlined, attention

was given to the “institutional framework” in search of solutions that would be compatible with the

different organization existing between foundation Cassa and association Cassa.

The Supervisory Authority intervened in three directions:

- restrictions still persisting in the statutes of the public banks were to be eliminated;

- new distribution of powers based on dialogue between a supervisory authority and an active

administrative body aimed at replacing a large part of the external protection by the Bank of Italy

with controls within the enterprise itself;

- own capital could be increased by drawing on the financial market, also for the public banks.

The Casse di Risparmio Foundations

In the 1990s, then, the Casse underwent sweeping changes that radically transformed their set-

up, from both the juridical-institutional point of view and the structural-operative one. Certain

historic features of these banks disappeared, e.g. their non-profit character, their vocation to collect

minute deposits in various forms, the presence on their boards of figures having important

economic and social interests within the local communities, the honorific nature of the posts, the

presence of an independent patrimony belonging exclusively to the Casse and restricted by the



purpose of the bank and the destination of its profits to charitable works63

.

The latter were disconnected from the lending activity; the Casse accordingly provided a new

body in law (Cassa di Risparmio S.p.A.) qualifying itself as conferring body, subsequently titled

Foundation, its objectives being of public interest and social usefulness. The CdR, on their part,

became private commercial enterprises, disciplined by the Civil Code and the banking norms,

analogous o the other banks operating in the credit sector.

As said above, the process of reform got under way with law no. 218 of 30 July 1990 (the

Amato law) and with the subsequent Legislative Decree no. 356 of 20 November 1990. The new

norms aimed to regulate the separation between “public conferring body” – i.e. the old Cassa

organized as association or foundation – and the new stock company created by the total or partial

provision of the banking firm (belonging to the old Cassa). In this way, the public bank of yore was

replaced by two distinct entities: the banking Foundation, or “conferring body”, which was the

major shareholder in the stock company and pursued objectives of social interest (scientific

research, education, culture, health, etc.) devolving its profits to these sectors without acting as a

banking firm, and the Bank S.p.A. “conferred”, which owned the banking firm.

As from that moment, all the banking enterprises have been subject exclusively to the discipline

of the Civil Code. The “conferred” enterprises, too, became private stock companies, toperform as

banking enterprises. The upshot of this legislation was the recognition of the nature of private

bodies as equally conferring bodies and conferred stock companies.

In this way, a long and eventful chapter of history, from the first Casse that sprang up in the

1820s to the steps taken in the 1990s, came definitively to an end – a story of extraordinary interest,

rich in implications, with the Casse playing a leading role in the economic and social emergence of

modern Italy and its people. As from the 1990s, the Italy‟s banking landscape, and much else, has

radically and swiftly changed. The world itself has undergone (is still undergoing) sudden,

unforeseen transformations often generated in the financial core of the USA, such as the sadly

famous crash of the American Savings and Loans. Between 1986 and 1995 nearly one half of the

3,234 savings banks in the US were forced to close due to bankruptcy. In 1989 Congress set up an

appropriate federal agency, the Resolution Trust Corporation, to shoulder the losses, reimburse

depositors, absorb the equity portfolios of the failed banks and investigate responsibility for the

disaster. “As bankruptcy receiver, the Federal government found itself temporary owner of an

extraordinary variety of things furnished by clients as collateral against loans: pictures by Picasso

and Andy Warhol, a whiskey distillery dating back to colonial times, 800 phials of frozen sperm

from a Brahma stud bull, all fetched up at the Resolution Trust Corporation”64

.



The Italian CdR depicted in this brief, provisional account are no longer. For them and for the

little that remains of their tradition a new adventure has begun65

.

Giuliano Muzzioli

Modena, Italy, 2 October 2008



1 Even today, compared with a European average of university graduates (aged between 25 and 64) equal to 24% of

the population, the Italian figure stands surprisingly at a mere 12%. 2 PRATO, G. (1927), Risparmio e credito in Piemonte nell’avvento dell’economia moderna, in La Cassa di Risparmio

di Torino nel suo primo centenario, 4 luglio 1827-4 luglio 1927, Tipografia eredi Botta, Torino. 3 PRATO, G., cit., p. 29

4 DE ROSA, L. (2002), Storia delle Casse di Risparmio e della loro associazione 1822-1950, Bari, Laterza, p. 10.

5 DE ROSA, L. cit. p. 7.

6 LA FRANCESCA S., (2004), Storia del sistema bancario italiano, Bologna, Il Mulino, pp. 60-61.

7 The Monti frumentari lent wheat and barley to the poorer farmers for sowing, at moderate interest. The associated

peasants worked without pay during the sowing and the harvest. The proceeds were distributed to peasants who

had none. 8 Mortmain: goods, generally belonging to an ecclesiastical body; they were not passed on as part of a legacy and

were therefore not subject to inheritance taxes, which were replaced by a mortmain tax. The latter was abolished

by law no. 608 of 31 July 1954. 9 Land loans were and are made to landowners able to offer part of their property as security. The landowner was

free to use the loan as he pleased, often to convert or amortize a mortgage debt. Since they were not covered by

any rules, these loans were seldom employed in the agricultural production process but, instead, frequently went

to buy shares or property or to satisfy demands that had nothing to do with agriculture. Agrarian loans, on the

contrary, were covered by specific regulations requiring the farmer to invest them in agriculture. 10

The Deposit and Loan Bank was set up at Turin in 1850, with a strictly banking function, collecting deposits

from private citizens to provide funding for public bodies. The first change in this bank came about with the

unification of Italy; in 1863 it began to incorporate the analogous savings banks in the other states as these

gradually merged with the Kingdom of Italy. DELLA TORRE, G., (2001), in DE CECCO M., and TONIOLO

G., La Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Laterza, Bari 11

In 1860 the currency-issuing banks were: Banca Nazionale Sarda, Banca di Parma, Banca delle Quattro

Legazioni, Banca Nazionale Toscana. The same year also saw the creation of the Banca Toscana di Credito,

authorized to issue banknotes. FRATIANNI, M. e SPINELLI, F. (1991), Storia Monetaria d’Italia, Milano,

Mondadori. 12

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 75 13

LUZZATTI, L., Lo Stato banchiere in Italia e le nostre Casse di Risparmio, in “La Nuova Antologia”, vol. XXI,

1880, pp. 110-154. 14

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 85 15

Atti del I Congresso Nazionale delle Casse di Risparmio, Firenze, 22-24 November, 1886. Reprint ed. ACRI,

Roma, 1960, pp. 117-118. 16

Atti Parlamentari, Senato, Legislatura XVI, seconda sessione, Documenti, n. 69, pp. 11-12. 17

CLARICH, M. (1984), Le Casse di Risparmio, Bologna, Il Mulino, pp.35-40. 18

La Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna nei suoi primi cento anni di vita, Bologna, 1937, cit., p. 157. 19

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 138. 20

La Bank of Italy was set up with law no. 449, 10 August 1893, by a merger of four banks: Banca Nazionale del

Regno d'Italia, Banca Nazionale Toscana, Banca Toscana di Credito and the liquidation of the Banca Romana.

POLSI, A., (2001), Stato e Banca Centrale in Italia, Laterza Bari; DE ROSA, L., (1989), Storia del Banco di

Napoli istituto di emissione, Banco di Napoli, Napoli. 21

HERTNER, P., (1984), Il capitale tedesco in Italia dall’Unità alla prima guerra mondiale,Il Mulino, Bologna. 22

CONFALONIERI, A., (1980), Banca e industria in Italia. L’esperienza della Banca Commerciale Italiana, Il

Mulino, Bologna; DE ROSA, L., (19824), Storia del Banco di Roma, Banco di Roma, Roma; FALCHERO, A.

M., (1990), La Banca Italiana di Sconto: 1914-1921, Angeli, Milano. 23

G. PRESTI, Dalle Casse Rurali ed Artigiane alle Banche di Credito Cooperativo, in Banca Borsa e Titoli di

credito, 1994. 24

Regarding Cariplo see, among many other contributions, COVA A. and GALLI A.M., (1991), La Cassa di

Risparmio delle province Lombarde dalla fondazione al 1940, 4 vols., Milano-Bari, Cariplo-Laterza. 25

In 1911 Cesare Ferrero Di Cambiano (born at Turin 1852) was aged 59 and had had a long career in

administration and politics. He sat on the board of the Cassa of Turin and had been its president since 1906. 26

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 169. 27

ACRI, Verbali, 18 Novembre 1912, p. 38. 28

Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei deputati, Legislatura XXV, sessione 1919-1921, Documenti, n. 1306. Reform of

the system of the CdR. 29

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 239.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/1850



30

A leading figure in the implementation of the “IRI project” (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) was Alberto

Beneduce (1877-1944). 31

Royal Decree Law 12 March 1936, no. 375, converted, with some modifications, into law by no. 141, 7 March

1938. 32

DINI, A. FEDERICI, L. L’ordinamento del credito nello Stato corporativo, in “Rivista bancaria”, 15 November

1934, pp. 719 et seq. 33

ACRI, Verbali, 13 marzo 1936, p. 183. 34

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 361 35

CALVANO, A., Potenziamento delle Casse di risparmio, “Rivista delle Casse di Risparmio, gennaio 1940, p. 4. 36

In this connection see MUZZIOLI, G., (1983), Banche e agricoltura. Il credito Il credito all'agricoltura italiana

dal 1861 al 1940, Bologna, Il Mulino. A brief summary in Spanish is in the review, year 2001, no. 21. 37

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 368. 38

ACRI, Verbali, 15 marzo 1941, p. 156. 39

ACRI, Verbali, 17 Settembre 1942, p. 92. 40

CONFALONIERI, A. and GATTI, E. (1986), La politica del debito pubblico in Italia, 1919-1943, Bari, Laterza,

vol. II, pp. 294-295. 41

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 389. 42

DE ROSA, L., cit., p. 393 43

Lawyer Gian Luigi Dones, director of the Cassa of Milan, was elected president. 44

VARNI, A., (2005), Storia dell’Associazione fra le Casse di Risparmio italiane, Bari, Laterza, p.32. 45

Giordano Dell‟Amore was economist, banker and Rector of the Luigi Bocconi University (Milan). President of

the Cariplo bank, the world‟s largest savings bank, he wielded great influence in the academic, banking and

political fields and wrote several books and articles. Elected senator for the Christian Democrat party in 1963, he

resigned for reasons of incompatibility with his presidency of Cariplo. For less than a month he was Minister of

Foreign Trade in Amintore Fanfani‟s short-lived first government (18-30 January 1954). The Cariplo

Foundation has dedicated a foundation and the Institute of Market Economics and Financial Intermediaries to

his name. At Milan, in 1967, he created the Centre for Financial Aid to African Countries (Finafrica). The

Foundation later extended its intervention to the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Central-Eastern Europe,

changing its name from Finafrica to that of its founder, Giordano Dell‟Amore. For some years he was president

of the International Savings Banks Institute. 46

VARNI, A., cit., pp. 23-24 and 59. 47

Regarding the ESBG, see the Archives of the International Savings Banks Institute, 1924-1994. 48

VARNI, A., cit., p. 99. 49

VARNI, A., cit., p. 123. 51

VARNI, A., cit., p.156-157. 52

VARNI, A., cit., p.132.133. 53

ACRI, Relazione del direttore per l’anno 1981, printer‟s proof, p. 37 54

Further considerations can be deduced from the following two tables.

Composition of financial assets of the Casse di risparmio (1945 -1973) Items 1945 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1973

Absolute values (billion lire)

Till 3 6 12 21 23 27 43 49 65 121 104 127 171 216 356 410

Deposits in bank 21 25 54 75 152 225 304 533 531 656 864 1,398 1,804 3,320 3,970 3,470 Employments 19 54 171 274 366 526 758 994 1,309 1,857 2,445 3,043 4,148 6,229 7,407 9,158

Foreign currency – – – – 0.1 0.1 2.1 7.3 20 39 46 74 105 151 118 210

Equities 48 70 12 152 195 261 358 461 853 1,199 1,510 2,498 3,226 4,669 6,124 8,107 Total 91 155 349 521 736 1,040 1,465 2,045 2,776 3,873 4,969 7,140 12,126 14,545 17,976 21,355

Percentage of composition Till 3.4 4.0 3.4 4.0 3.2 2.6 2.9 2.4 2.3 3.1 2.1 1.8 1.8 1.8 2.0 1.9

Deposits in bank 23 16 15 14 20 22 21 26 19 17 17 20 19 19 22 16

Employments 21 35 49 52 50 51 52 49 47 48 49 43 44 45 41 43 Foreign currency – – – – … … 0.1 0.3 0.7 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.9

Equities 53 45 32 29 26 25 24 23 31 31 30 35 34 33 34 38 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Banca d’Italia, “Bollettino”, various years.

55

ROSSIGNOLI, B. (1979), Le Casse di Risparmio e i Monti di credito su pegno, Milano, F. Angeli, p. 219. 56

DELL‟AMORE, G., Le Casse di Risparmio nell’evoluzione del sistema bancario, pp. 20-21. 57

ROSSIGNOLI, B., cit., pp.242-247. 58

VARNI, A., cit, p. 147 and 149.



59

Among the many contributions dealing with the sweeping changes in the European and international monetary

systems let me refer the reader only to VAN DER WEE, H., (1990), Histoire èconomique mondiale, Academia

Duculot, Louvaine-la-Neuve (Belgique), pp. 368-458 and the useful summary by ALLEN, L., (2001), The

global financial system, 1750-2000, Reaktion Books, London. 60

MAROTTA, G., (1999), La banca, Bologna, Il Mulino, pp.23-26. 61

VARNI, A., cit., p. 169. 63

CLARICH, M., cit., p.156. 64

RAMPINI, F., Crac. Quando il panico travolge le borse del mondo, “La Repubblica”, 23 September 2008. 65

The events of the period following the measures taken in the early 1990s have been well reconstructed in

BISONI C. e COSMA S., The reform of the italian savings bank system, Annual Conference of the European

Association of University Teachers in Banking and Finance, Málaga, 5-8 September 2001; a version in Spanish

Un análisis economico de las Cajas de ahorros italianas in "Perspectivas del sistema financiero", no. 73, 2001.

Translated from the Italian by Timothy Keates

[email protected] t

mailto:[email protected]

congreso internacional de historia · congreso internacional de historia de las cajas de ahorros...

Documents