With IM•PATTO, the Cassa Centrale Group is making a clear choice: to translate the solidity of the cooperative model into concrete, measurable actions that remain consistent over time.
The 2026-2028 Strategic Plan defines a development trajectory that supports the Group's evolution, strengthening its service model and commercial oversight in support of households and businesses. Technology and artificial intelligence will support the transformation, enhancing its ability to respond effectively to customers' needs and guiding actions towards the creation of sustainable value, with a focus on people and territories.
Plan targets and initiatives updated:
- Growth of the Group to better serve customers and Members
- Constant growth in loans to the territory with a 2028 target of €57 billion (+7.6% compared to 2025);
- €30 billion in new loans to customers in the three-year period 2026-2028 to support members and customers;
- Total funding from customers to grow beyond €148 billion at the end of 2028 (+14%) with a strong boost from the indirect component, reaching €68 billion (+25%);
- Constant attention to asset quality
- Net Core NPL ratio of 0.9% at the end of 2028 with total non-performing loan coverage of 71%;
- Position of excellence in terms of solvency and capitalisation
- Stable net profit of around €1 billion, allowing for the generation of new assets of €3 billion over the plan period;
- Growth in revenues from services with the commission margin expected at €1 billion at the end of 2028;
- CET1 ratio (Common Equity Tier 1) further strengthened up to 35.4% over the plan period, reaching the top of the range compared with its peers in Italy and Europe;
- Significant investments in Digitalisation & ICT
- €300 million in digital and technological investments in the three-year period 2026-2028, to support the implementation of the transformation process and the evolution of the Group's processes and service models.
Trento, 31.03.2026 – The Board of Directors of Cassa Centrale Banca has approved and presented to the top management of the Affiliated Banks and Subsidiaries the 2026-2028 Group Strategic Plan, which defines the development priorities for the next three-year period and strengthens the Group's commitment to sustainable growth.
Through the Plan, the Group is outlining a medium-term growth path aimed at bolstering a distinctive service model for members and customers that combines capital strength with the ability to generate value. The Plan ensures continuity with the strengthening process initiated at the Group's very inception, supporting its evolution in a rapidly changing economic, financial and technological context.
IM•PATTO is the key to understanding the entire Plan: a renewed agreement with the Affiliated Banks, members, customers and territories and, at the same time, the desire to generate a conscious, measurable and lasting impact not only in economic and financial terms but also as regards social and sustainability for the territories. These are not just targets, but responsibilities; not just a vision, but the ability to translate the strategy into concrete results.
The Plan is not just a collection of initiatives, but an integrated framework: commercial growth is supported by operational efficiency, technological innovation amplifies its impact, people make its execution possible and mutuality and sustainability directs the results towards the benefit of the territories.
"IM•PATTO expresses the way in which our Group intends to face the future: through responsible choices, in awareness of the effects they will generate over time,” explains Giorgio Fracalossi, Chairman of Cassa Centrale Banca “As a Cooperative Group, we continue to believe in growth that creates widespread value, strengthening bonds with communities and taking future generations into account”.
"The 2026-2028 Strategic Plan clearly defines the Group's priorities and guides growth consistent with the values of cooperation, capable of generating economic and social value in the territories in which we have a historical presence," according to Sandro Bolognesi, CEO of Cassa Centrale Banca. “Investments in innovation, people and processes strengthen our mutualist model, allowing us to improve service quality and provide concrete support to families, businesses and local communities on their development paths. IM•PATTO embodies a responsible, measurable and medium-term strategy, designed to generate positive and lasting impacts for the benefit of the Members and the territories”.
Forecasts of the global and Italian macroeconomic context
The Plan is being developed in a context of profound economic, technological and demographic changes, which are redefining relationship models, customer expectations and the role of banks in the territories. Against this background, the Group has identified a growth path based on service quality, innovation and attention to people.
In an extremely uncertain and volatile geopolitical scenario, the assumptions underlying the Plan estimate average GDP growth of 0.6% for the 2026-2028 period in the Italian context, to which the Group is most exposed. During the same period, the inflation rate is estimated to grow at levels within 2.1%.
The strategic pillars of the Plan
For the three-year period 2026-2028, the Strategic Plan identifies the priority pillars that will guide the Group's actions and translate them into concrete results: Business Growth and Development, Operational Efficiency, Technology and Artificial Intelligence, People and Mutuality.
Business Growth and Development
- Commercial effectiveness: strengthening of the Group's commercial capacity, freeing up time for customer relations and improving service quality. The Plan envisages the evolution of distribution models, the digitalisation of sales processes and the full use of technological investments, with the aim of structurally increasing the productivity and skills of the network and the value generated for customers and territories;
- Bancassurance and Wealth Management: growth in commercial productivity by strengthening the protection and investment solutions proposition within the customer relationship, integrating the advisory approach and leveraging the evolution of service models and channel integration, to provide an increasingly effective response to the financial needs of the customers;
- Business development: support for the growth of local businesses, in particular SME and corporates, through the strengthening of the service model, the expansion of the range of products and services and the integration of the factoring offer, accompanying companies in their development and transformation and ensuring careful monitoring of credit quality.
Operational Efficiency
- To support the growth of the Group, there is confirmation of the constant focus on operational efficiency and simplification of processes, so as to reduce organisational complexity and free up resources to be allocated to customer relations and business development in the territories.
Technology and Artificial Intelligence
- Continuation of the technological transformation process to support the integration of the operating processes and the evolution of the Group's service models, strengthening the ability of the Affiliated Banks to respond more effectively to customer needs and to operate with greater efficiency;
- Continuous drive to digital transformation with artificial intelligence – including GenAI and Agentic AI – as distinctive and strategic leverage, guided by a conscious, sustainable and governed approach, to improve service quality, support greater decision-making processes and strengthen the Group's operational resilience, in compliance with safety, reliability and regulatory compliance controls;
- Confirmation of a significant commitment in the digital and technological field in the three-year period 2026-2028, with total ICT investments of €300 million, supporting the enforcement of the transformation path and the evolution of the Group's processes and service models.
People
- Putting people at the heart of the business, alongside leadership and an organisational culture, as key factors of the Plan. The Group's growth depends on the development of skills and the enhancement of responsibilities, promoting a unique and modern culture, based on collaboration, transparency and the ability to deal with change.
Mutuality
- Enhancement of mutuality as an element of the Group model's identity, supplementing and characterising the entire strategic plan. The Plan introduces a structured approach to the governance of mutuality, aimed at coordinating initiatives, measuring their impacts and making the value generated for territories and communities more evident.
Main quantities and Plan Targets
Gross credit exposure to customers is constantly growing with the Group target of €57 billion by 2028 (+7.6% compared to the final value of 2025) with the forecast of €30 billion in new disbursements over the period of the plan.
The incidence of impaired credit is confirmed to be very low over the plan period, with a net Core NPL ratio of 0.9% in 2028, while maintaining a total coverage ratio for non-performing loans at 71%, among the highest in the market.
Total funding from customers increased to over €148 billion at the end of 2028, driven by the indirect component according to the strategic guidelines set out in the Plan. Indirect funding will reach a total of €68.4 billion by the end of 2028 (+25.5% compared to the final 2025 levels); the main drivers are linked to a strong expansion in volumes within the BancAssurance sector (+36%) and asset management (+35%). The ratio between loans to customers and direct funding will remain conservative at around 68% at the end of the Plan, confirming a situation of abundant structural liquidity.
At the income level, against a prudent evolution in the interest margin which, in light of the market context characterised by strong uncertainty, factors in a constant commercial spread over the plan period, the growing contribution of the margin and commission income, linked to the strengthening of the offer of products and services, up to €1 billion at the end of 2028, with an average annual growth of 4.1% compared to 2025 values.
As a result of the aforementioned trends, the Net interest and other banking income will settle at higher levels than the current ones, reaching €3.5 billion (€3.2 billion in 2025), with an operating result of €1.45 billion at the end of the Plan, which factors in the IT investment plan (€300 million in the three-year period 2025-2028), the strengthening of the Group's workforce and prudent estimates of the expected inflation component.
The main KPIs of the Plan until 2028 are as follows:
Capital adequacy, risk management and liquidity:
CET 1 ratio: 35.4%;
Loans/Funding: 68%;
Net core NPE ratio: 0.9%;
NPL coverage ratio: 71%.
Profitability and operational efficiency:
ROE: 8.4%;
ROA: 1.1%;
Primary cost income: 58%
The 2026-2028 Strategic Plan is the result of a structured process with the constant involvement of the Board of Directors and the active participation of the Affiliated Banks, in line with the Group's organisational model.
With IM•PATTO, Cassa Centrale Banca defines a development path that translates the Group model into concrete strategic choices, aimed at supporting its solvency, the growth of the territories and the creation of value over time for shareholders, members customers and communities.