Credito Emiliano
Native name
Credito Emiliano S.p.A.
FormerlyBanca Agricola Commerciale di Reggio Emilia
Company typelisted Società per Azioni
BIT: CE
ISINIT0003121677
Founded1910
Headquarters4 via Emilia San Pietro,
Reggio Emilia
,
Italy
ServicesRetail and corporate banking, insurance
Increase €166.166 million (2015)
Total assetsIncrease €37.455 billion (2015)
Total equityIncrease €2.4797 billion (2015)
Owner
  • Credito Emiliano Holding (75.57%%)
  • others/free-floats (24.43%)
ParentCredito Emiliano Holding
Divisions
  • Credem Banca
  • Credem Banca d'Impresa
  • Credem Private Banking
SubsidiariesBanca Euromobiliare
Capital ratio13.52% (CET1)
Websitecredem.it
Footnotes / references
in consolidated basis[1]

Credito Emiliano S.p.A. (Credem) is an Italian bank based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. It was founded in Italy 1910.[2] The company is a component of FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index.

The company has several internal divisions: Credem Banca (retail banking), Credem Banca d'Impresa (corporate banking) and Credem Private Banking.

Credem has been designated in 2015 as a Significant Institution under the criteria of European Banking Supervision, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.[3]

Credem has received widespread media attention due to the fact that they store wheels of parmesan cheese as collateral for loans.[4][5]

History

Founded in 1910 as Banca Agricola Commerciale di Reggio Emilia, the bank changed its name to Credito Emiliano in 1983. At that time the bank also acquired Banca Belinzaghi of Milan, starting its expansion.[6] In 1991 Istituto Bancario Siciliano was acquired, followed by Banca di Girgenti and Banca Industriale Agricola di Radicena.

In 1999, the bank was ranked 8th in terms of branches on Sicily island.[7]

Coverage and media

Inclusion in research

According to a research by Mediobanca, Credito Emiliano was ranked the 11th largest bank in Italy by total assets as of 31 December 2015, despite several banking group being included in the research.[8] If including central banks, postal savings and subsidiaries of foreign banking groups, the bank was ranked 10th, (9th among retail and commercial conglomerates if omitting investment banks and insurance-bank conglomerates of Italy such as Banca Mediolanum and Mediobanca).[8]

Wheels of parmesan cheese used as collateral by Credito Emiliano.
Wheels of parmesan cheese used as collateral by Credito Emiliano.

Parmesan cheese wheels as collateral

Credito Emiliano has received widespread publicity from major organizations like Forbes, due to the fact that they hold wheels of parmesan cheese as collateral for debt, as opposed to holding assets like gold.[9]

In fact, the bank itself is actually backed by the wheels of parmesan cheese, rather than bars of gold like conventional banks.[5] The reason behind this is that parmesan cheese not only holds its value, but it actually increases in value, because the more the cheese ages, the more delicious and valuable it becomes.[10] According to the case, "Eighteen-month cheese gives pasta zing. Thirty-six-month cheese makes angels sing".[9] The quote of course references to the fact that cheese becomes more delicious and valuable as it ages.

Shareholders

On 1 January 1993 Credito Emiliano Holding was formed as the holding company for the bank. Currently owned 75.57% stake, with the rest were floated in Borsa Italiana. The largest shareholders of Credem Holding were Cofimar S.r.l. and Max Mara Finance S.r.l., which in turn owned 29.44% and 8.30% stake of the bank respectively.[11]

Acquisitions

Between 1994 to 1998, the group acquired the following[12][13]

From 1999 to 2008 the group acquired the following[12][13]

Subsidiaries and joint ventures

Banks
Specialized banks
Insurance companies

References

  1. ^ "2015 Bilancio" (PDF) (in Italian). Credito Emiliano. 6 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  2. ^ srl, AXIS communications. "Credem Group". www.credemeuromobiliarepb.it. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  3. ^ "List of supervised entities" (PDF). European Central Bank. 1 January 2023.
  4. ^ Knowledge, HBS Working. "A Bank That Accepts Parmesan As Collateral: The Cheese Stands A Loan". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  5. ^ a b "This bank in Italy accepted cheese as collateral. Here's why". Big Think. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  6. ^ "Chi siamo" (in Italian). Credito Emiliano. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Analyst Presentation: Acquisition of Mediocredito Centrale Group" (PDF). Banca di Roma. December 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2003.
  8. ^ a b "LE PRINCIPALI BANCHE ITALIANE [2016]" (PDF) (in Italian). Mediobanca. October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b Knowledge, HBS Working. "A Bank That Accepts Parmesan As Collateral: The Cheese Stands A Loan". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  10. ^ Gene, Marks (April 17, 2017). "This bank will take cheese as collateral". The Washington Post.
  11. ^ "Estratto dei patti parasociali comunicati alla Consob ai sensi dell'art. 122 del d.lgs. 24.2.1998, n. 58" (PDF) (in Italian). Credito Emiliano. 31 December 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. ^ a b "ANTEPRIMA Srl - FUSIONE PER INCORPORAZIONE IN CREDITO EMILIANO SpA" (in Italian). Anteprima. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Storia del gruppo" (in Italian). Credito Emiliano. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
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