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History
There are 88 1 Foundations of banking origin. Differing in size and local activity they engage solely in socially-oriented and economic development undertakings. They were created, almost by chance, twenty years ago from the banking reforms better known as the Amato Law (law no. 218 dated 30 July 1990 passed with the relevant implementation decrees) prompted by the 1st and 2nd European Directives on credit, concerning freedom of establishment and banking de-specialisation. These reforms provoked a profound and radical transformation of the original Pledge Banks and the Savings banks - banking institutions having strongly philantropic leanings - that were born in the early part of the 19th century with some, like the Bank of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, four centuries earlier.
The Amato reforms produced a separation of credit business from philanthropic activities. All banking business was spun off and passed to the Savings Banks and to the Pledge Banks, already established as profit-making societies involved with private commerce and controlled by the Civil Code and banking standards as applied to ordinary banks. The activities concerned with social, cultural, civil and economic development remained with the newly-created Foundations.
Initially the Foundations of banking origin were destined, almost exclusively, to be trustees for the capital from the privatized banks and were required to maintain majority ownership of the joint-stock Savings Banks. This was the case until 1994 when law no. 474/94 came into operation and the requirement was eliminated. In 1998, with law no. 461/98 (a.k.a. the "Ciampi" law) and the subsequent application, decree, no. 153/99, the Foundations were required to relinquish any control remaining in their respective banks - an obligation still in force today except for Foundations which have net assets with a book value under €200 million in 2002 or are located in special statute regions (art. 4 Law Decree no.143/2003, signed into Law no.212/2003, which replaced paragraph 3 bis, art. 25, Law Decree no.153/1999).
Both the role of the Foundations of banking origin and their identity as private, non-profit members of the third sector were, however, fully and definitively clarified by the Constitutional Court in September 2003 in one fundamental sentence (la.no.300) which defined them as "private, legal entities having statutory and management autonomy" and as being "among the members of an organisation of a free society".
The Foundations of banking origin have no management roles in the banks of which they are shareholders (they allocate little more than a third of their total capital to banking activities). They are actually institutional investors who obtain from their capital investments the funds necessary to carry out their philanthropic activities
which are fulfilled through about a billion and a half of donations annually. These donations benefit a variety of sectors among which the principals are
art, cultural activities and heritage; research; education, learning and training; voluntary activities, philanthropy and charity; local development; social assistance; public health; environmental protection and quality; sport and recreation.
Within these areas the Foundations act either directly or through projects, both public and private, carried out by third parties as long as they are non-profit - they are unable to benefit profit-making organizations or individuals.
The Foundations play an active role in Italy's social and economic life, both as philanthropic institutions and as important institutional investors. Italy has obtained considerable benefits since the Foundations were established, including among others:
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the restructuring of the banking system, especially through significant integration processes;
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the availability of resources to carry out, autonomously and in a subsidiary manner, socially-oriented and economic-development projects, in accordance with plans proposed by the Foundations, the non-profit sector and local authorities. In this way, the gap has narrowed between Italy and the Anglo-Saxon world, with respect to the presence of private initiatives and institutions in such areas as scientific research, landscape and art preservation and social development;
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partnership opportunities with local and national entities (such as Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Spa).
All this is due to certain characteristics shared by the Foundations - their ability to operate autonomously; their sense of responsibility and their commitment to the subsidiary principle. Even though these traits are common to all, each Foundation is a totally independent organisation having not only its own internal statute and by-laws but also its own criteria for electing its governing bodies. The individual statutory objectives themselves are dependent on the diverse local cultures and needs.
When we look at the history of the original Savings banks we see that some had institutional origins (founded by local community entities) while others had associative origins (born as anonymous societies with capital contributed by private citizens). Therefore, we now have institutional Foundations and associated Foundations. The only difference between the two is that the last mentioned still hold assemblies of the original associates.
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Originally there were 89 Foundations. Of these 82 originated from Savings Banks, 6 from Public Law Credit Institutions and 1 from a Monte di Credito. Following a merger between two of them in 2004, they became 88.
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Last updated on 9 february 2012 