• 73 thousand companies at risk of closure, 20 thousand in the South due to the pandemic effect

  • Usury, extortion and pandemic.

    In 2020, 23.2 million euros to the victims

  • Censis-Accountants: 460 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises at risk of closure

  • Covid measures, CGIA: the support action for businesses in the field of credit has been exhausted

  • Fisco, Cgia: small businesses pay 21 billion more in taxes than web giants

  • Covid-19, CGIA: aid to businesses for 64.7 billion covers only 18.5% of losses

  • The alarm of the CGIA: "Recycling operations through SMEs on the rise: 105 thousand in 2019 alone"

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18 September 2021 There are just under 176,400 Italian companies that are in distress; among these, one out of three is located in the South. The CGIA affirms it, according to which Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin are the territorial realities most in difficulty. According to the CGIA study, these are non-financial companies and producer households that have been reported as insolvent by the financial intermediaries to the Central Credit Register of the Bank of Italy.



A "stamp" which, by law, does not allow these companies to access any loan provided by the legal financial channel. Therefore, not being able to benefit from liquidity, they risk, much more than the others, to close or slip into the arms of the usurers.



At the provincial level - the CGIA reports - the highest number of companies reported as insolvent is concentrated in large metropolitan areas. As of March 31, Rome was in first place with 13,310 companies: immediately after Milan with 9,931, Naples with 8,159, Turin with 6,297, Florence with 4,278 and Brescia with 3,444. The provinces least affected by this phenomenon, on the other hand, are those which, in principle, are the least populated: such as Belluno (with 360 companies reported to the Centrale Rischi), Isernia (333), Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (332) and Aosta (239).



The most at-risk area is the South

Analyzing the data by territorial division, it appears that the area most at "risk" is the South: here there are 57,992 companies in distress (equal to 32.9 per cent of the total), followed by the Center with 44,854 businesses (25.4 per percent of the total), the Northwest with 43,457 (24.6 percent of the total) and finally the Northeast with 30,070 (17 percent of the total). 



According to Cgia, although with only the complaints made to the judicial authorities it is not possible to accurately size the phenomenon of usury, after the strong contraction recorded between 2016 and 2018, subsequently the same began to grow again. Although the absolute number is much lower than the peaks recorded in the first part of the last decade, according to the Ministry of the Interior in 2020, annus horribilis due to the pandemic, the reports have risen to 222 (+16.2 percent compared to 2019).



September is the richest month in tax deadlines

Cgia reports that last year of all crimes against property, complaints for usury and fraud, especially IT, were the only ones to register a positive change. The CGIA then points out that this year the month of September is by far the richest in tax deadlines, also because the collection and notification of new tax bills by the Revenue Agency resumes.



By September 15 and 16, companies (subject to ISAs, or former sector studies) had to pay personal income tax, IRES, IRAP and VAT. Next Monday, on the other hand, will be the last day for the short-term repentance and on September 30th there is a deadline for the payment of the installments of the scrapping-ter and of the balance and excerpt due on July 31st 2020. "A real tour de force - he underlines - which could put the financial stability of many businesses that traditionally are short of liquidity in serious difficulty: especially in this delicate economic phase ".



Rise in business lending has run out

The CGIA then notes that the increase in loans to businesses has run out. After the collapse in bank lending to businesses which took place between November 2011 and February 2020 (-305.3 billion, equal to a contraction of 30 percent), it is interesting to check the trend recorded in the months following the advent of Covid. After the introduction of the measures developed by the Conte bis government (March 2020), the stock began to grow, reaching its maximum peak in November 2020, and then began a slow decline until last July when it was below 743. billion euros.



"In other words - claims the CGIA - we can affirm that, to date, the action to support businesses in the field of credit has ended". Compared to the Bank of Italy - the study continues - on the guaranteed loan front, the Task Force composed of MEF, MISE-Medio Credito Centrale, ABI and SACE updates its data on credit to SMEs more frequently. Through "Garanzia Italia", for example, up to 7 September the applications submitted by large companies amounted to 3,009 and the volumes of guaranteed loans put in place by SACE reached approximately € 28 billion. Still on the same date, thanks to the "Cura Italia" and the "Liquidity Decree", the Guarantee Fund for SMEs received 2,326,013 applications which "generated" 191,1 billion in loans. These latest figures also include mini loans up to 30 thousand euros which, on the other hand, recorded 1,167,705 applications, allowing for the disbursement of 22.7 billion in loans.



Appeal to the government: enhance resources available to the "Usury Prevention Fund"

To prevent the number of these troubled companies from increasing, the CGIA hopes that the Draghi government will increase the resources available to the "Usury Prevention Fund" and help banks to support businesses, especially small ones. Thanks to the activation of these two measures, the overall stock of distressed companies should not grow. In 22 years of life, the average amount of loans disbursed by this fund was approximately € 50,000 for SMEs and € 20,000 for citizens and families. The same feeds mainly on the administrative anti-money laundering and currency penalties. From 1998 to 2020, the State provided 670 million euros to Confidi and Foundations; these resources guaranteed loans for a total amount of approximately 2 billion euros.In 2020, the two disbursing bodies (Confidi and Foundations) were assigned a total of 32.7 million euros: of which 23 million to the former and 9.7 million euros to the latter ".



"Important figures that, however - says the CGIA - should be implemented: Covid, unfortunately, has pushed many companies to the brink of bankruptcy. Activities that if not helped risk slipping into insolvency or, at worst, into the tense network. by those who want to take possession of it by deception, thus fueling the criminal economy ".