Unimpresa denounces credit crunch, collapse of long-term financing and investment freeze risk
The picture of credit in Italy
According to an analysis by the Unimpresa Research Center, between December 2022 and June 2025, bank loans to businesses and households fell from €1,327.6 to €1,274.1 billion, a contraction of 4.03%, equal to over €53 billion.
The decline mainly affected the business sector, which lost almost €48 billion in two and a half years, and household personal loans, which fell by more than €25 billion.
Businesses penalized: long-term investments on hold
Companies saw their financing drop from €647 to €599.2 billion (–7.40%).
The most serious figure is the collapse of loans over 5 years, down from €347.1 to €287 billion (–17.32%), signaling a halt in long-term productive investments.
By contrast, medium-term loans grew (+8.90%) as well as short-term loans (+3.96%), showing that businesses now prefer flexible solutions less exposed to interest rate risks.
Households: more consumer credit, fewer personal loans
Overall household credit fell from €680.6 to €675 billion (–0.83%).
Within this figure, however, trends differ significantly:
- Consumer credit: +€13.9 billion (+12.13%), boosted by digital installment plans.
- Home mortgages: +€5.8 billion (+1.36%).
- Personal loans: –€25.4 billion (–18.29%).
Households are cutting back on non-earmarked debt, while keeping active the use of credit for purchases and housing.
Banks: record profits but shrinking credit
Unimpresa’s vice president, Giuseppe Spadafora, highlights the paradox:
“From 2022 to 2024, banks achieved over €112 billion in net profits, thanks to the ECB’s rate hikes. But while financial institutions pocketed extraordinary gains, businesses saw credit shrink and households faced increasingly strict conditions.”
The political issue: public guarantees at risk
Spadafora warns: “Cutting tools such as the Central Guarantee Fund would be a very serious mistake. Instead, we need to strengthen public guarantees to make it easier for banks to finance households and businesses.”
According to Unimpresa, depriving the productive system of oxygen just as it is trying to recover would be an act of institutional short-sightedness.
A more selective and polarized credit system
Credit is not in crisis, but it shows signs of structural fatigue:
- businesses lack long-term financing, essential for growth;
- for households, only targeted credit remains active.
The future will depend on two key factors: the choices of the ECB and the role of the State in supporting the credit market.
