The Bank of Piacenza was established in June 1936 with the specific purpose of supporting any worthwhile initiative, in the territories of settlement, worthy of support.

It has established and characterized itself over the years as a bank serving savers and economic operators, maintaining a relationship of mutual and solid trust with the people that has enabled it to achieve important (and unhoped-for) goals.
While maintaining its identity as a “local bank,” it has managed to become, step by step, a bank that has transcended the boundaries of its initial province of establishment: the Bank of Piacenza has branches in the city and branches both in the province and outside the province, hundreds of employees work with it, and it expresses an increasingly large amount of both deposits and loans.

What role does the local bank play in the area?

“It is a key role in a country like Italy, which is made up of a parceled entrepreneurial fabric consisting of many small and medium-sized enterprises: the local bank has the task of supporting the economy of the area with a very strong symbiosis between the real economy and the activities that the bank can carry out.

In recent years, new European regulations have introduced rules that do not simplify but rather complicate the provision of credit, forcing banking institutions to rely solely on numerical parameters and algorithms.

Here, then, emerges even more strongly the importance for the bank to maintain a strong relationship with the territory, a solid and continuous relationship.
I am not only referring to families, but also to SMEs, with the aim of making a contribution to their development processes and helping them to be competitive in the global context in which they move, thanks to tailor-made advice and financial support.

Consider that the Bank of Piacenza has 52 branches distributed-as well as in the province of Piacenza-to the provinces of Parma, Cremona, Lodi, Genoa, Pavia and Milan: it is a size that places us among the top 60 banks/banks out of more than 600, but which allows us to be close and attentive to our more than 15,000 members.” What values distinguish cooperative and community banks?“Two key words for us when we talk about values: cooperation and passion for the territory.

The Bank of Piacenza is a cooperative bank, so the rule of capital voting, a very important element of democracy, continues to apply with us.

Instead, when we talk about passion for the area, we are referring to people, companies-small, medium or large-but also to the ancient and contemporary artistic and cultural heritage: by enhancing it, we manage to create a virtuous circle of shared value that can also create an economic impact on the community.

The example of which we are particularly proud dates back to last year: our bank supported and promoted the recovery of the ancient artists’ walkway-the “Ascent to Pordenone”-which allowed thousands of people to admire up close the frescoes in the Dome of Santa Maria di Campagna created by the Mannerist master Giovanni Antonio de’ Sacchis known as Pordenone.
This activity also created an unhoped-for inducement in terms of tourism in the city, bringing as many as 110,000 people from the rest of Italy and abroad, and becoming the highlight event of the 2018 Piacenza cultural season.

But beyond such wide-ranging initiatives, consider that we support many associations at the cultural, social and sports levels, and we host at least a couple of events at our headquarters every week, ranging from those more strictly in the socio-cultural sphere to those organized in our spaces by corporate clients.” How can a land bank deal with the challenges of today’s financial world?

“With flexibility, breadth of customized service offerings and their high quality.
At the Bank of Piacenza we are committed with a sometimes maniacal dedication to the study and offering of services that are the result of our continuous search for the highest quality; our agile size allows us to choose the best organizations in the market with which to collaborate, both in our management systems and in the development of financial products that we seek personalized and in step with the times.

An example of this is the information system that we have entrusted, in consortium with other territorial banks, to CSE, of which we are members; as well as the asset management products: since we do not have our own to offer exclusively to customers, we can choose, depending on the need of the interlocutor, the most suitable one.

If he adds, finally, the understated style in which our customers recognize themselves and the streamlined and fast structure that characterizes us, here are found the final ingredients that make us a true partner and financial advisor for businesses and families.”