Banking desertification affects 665,000 people in Piedmont

An analysis by the Confederazione Nazionale dell'Artigianato reveals significant banking desertification in the Piedmont region of Italy. Approximately 665,000 residents in Piedmont live in municipalities without a physical bank branch, a situation that also affects 48,300 local businesses.

Piedmont ranks fourth in Italy for the percentage of municipalities lacking bank branches, with 65.8% of its towns affected. The province of Turin has been identified as having the highest level of banking desertification in the country, with 19,706 businesses operating in areas without branches. In Cuneo, a branch is available in only 104 of its 247 municipalities, while in Asti, service is present in only 47 out of 117 towns.

Nationally, Italy has seen a 36.7% decrease in bank branches over the last decade, dropping from over 30,000 to just over 19,000. This has resulted in 3,456 municipalities being without banking services, impacting nearly 4.8 million citizens.