Alessandria: Cassa di Risparmio Foundation against banking desertification

The Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria Foundation calls together institutions and banks to "rebuild trust, proximity and presence in the area" and promotes an institutional table dedicated to banking desertification in the small municipalities of the province. The Foundation photographs its territory: "out of 187 municipalities in the province of Alessandria, only 37 have at least one bank branch. The absence of banking facilities in 150 municipalities represents not only a consequence of the digital evolution of the credit system but a concrete risk of financial exclusion, impoverishment of local services and weakening of the social and economic cohesion of the most fragile areas".

Under the direction of the Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria Foundation, banks, Municipalities, Province, Bank of Italy, Acri, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Ministry of Economy and Finance and territorial representations will be convened at the same table. The objective, explains a note, is to arrive at the definition of a provincial protocol to experiment with new models of banking proximity: light branches, mobile devices, periodic consultations, advanced ATMs and assisted digital points.

"When a bank branch closes in a small municipality, the distance between citizens and essential services increases, the bond of trust that holds a community together becomes more fragile - is the alarm raised by the president of the Foundation, Paolo Arrobbio - Innovation must not mean abandonment, and digitalisation cannot become solitude". Particular attention will be paid to the elderly, people with fewer digital skills, micro-enterprises, traders, artisans, farmers and third sector bodies.