The latest chapter of the Italian banking risk confirms an established trend: the strengthening of integration among the main national hubs and the progressive concentration of the sector around a few large operators. This is a process ongoing for decades: from over a thousand institutions present at the beginning of the 1990s, the number has dropped to just over 400 today. By the end of 2025, the top five Italian banking groups already controlled 68% of the system’s assets, with inevitable repercussions on the asset management sector. A similar dynamic, perhaps even more marked, characterizes supplementary pensions: according to the latest Covip Annual Report, at the end of 2025 there were 273 supplementary pension schemes operating in Italy, compared to 739 in 1999. In just over twenty-five years, the number has more than halved, also due to reorganization and concentration operations in the financial sector.
THE ADVANTAGES OF CONCENTRATION AND THE RISKS FOR COMPETITION
For savers, the presence of a few large solid groups presents some undeniable advantages. More capitalized banks are generally better able to absorb economic shocks, invest in technological innovation and cybersecurity, and sustain competition at the European level. From this perspective, greater size can represent a guarantee of stability for those who entrust them with their savings. Alongside the benefits, however, some critical issues emerge. A more concentrated market tends to reduce competitive pressure among operators, limiting both the opportunities for customers to change intermediaries and the incentives for banks to improve their offerings. This issue is particularly relevant in Italian asset management, where the trust relationship and personal connection with the advisor often encourage customers to remain with the same operator. According to a survey by Altroconsumo [1], 50% of respondents have used the same bank for over twenty years and 73% for more than ten years.
On the investment front, there is greater mobility, but even in this case alternatives are often evaluated within a system characterized by the same mechanisms of concentration and loyalty. That this is more inertia than a conscious choice seems to be suggested also by the costs borne by customers. According to the Bank of Italy, in 2024 those who had an account with the same bank for over ten years paid on average 122 euros per year, more than double the 59 euros paid by those who had opened the account less than twelve months earlier. After all, this is not only an Italian concern: the low mobility of savers among intermediaries and the high distribution costs are among the structural problems that the European Commission has focused on in the Retail Investment Strategy. The regulatory package approved in December 2025 moves exactly in this direction: it imposes transparency and comparability on costs.
THE COST ISSUE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF VALUE FOR MONEY
Another characteristic element of the Italian system is the integrated model, in which the same group controls the bank, the management company, and the distribution network. A structure that generates potential conflicts of interest and that, at least so far, does not seem to have produced tangible benefits in terms of efficiency for the end customer. It is no coincidence that the costs of mutual funds in Italy remain among the highest in Europe. An equity fund has average annual fees exceeding 2%, also due to the weight of distribution: according to a Consob analysis, about 70% of management fees are absorbed by the distribution network. In this regard, the RIS – although not ending inducements – introduces a substantial novelty compared to MiFID II: the principle of Value for Money, which not only obliges producers and distributors to compare their products with a comparable reference group, but also to formally demonstrate that the costs are justified. No longer just transparency, but active proof of proportionality.
MERGERS, BRANCHES, AND SERVICE QUALITY
In theory, the economies of scale generated by mergers should allow for better and less expensive services. However, the experience of recent years shows that the advantages derived from synergies often tend to remain with shareholders, without reflecting in a reduction of fees for customers. The banking risk, moreover, has not stopped the progressive reduction of physical presence on the territory. In 2025 alone, another 516 branches were closed and today 44% of Italian municipalities lack a bank branch, leaving about five million people without a local presence. The reduction of branches does not necessarily represent a problem, provided that digital channels are able to effectively fill the gap left by physical presence. However, the transformation towards truly hybrid service models, capable of integrating technology and human advice, still appears incomplete.
MORE CHOICE AND TRANSPARENCY FOR SAVERS
For savers, the principle remains the same: pay attention to the services received, compare costs and conditions, demand transparency and quality, avoiding a passive attitude. In an increasingly concentrated market, exercising one’s power of choice becomes even more important, and this is exactly what the European Savings and Investments Union aims for: creating conditions so that choice is easier to exercise, with saving and investment tools more comparable with each other, portable between different providers, and accessible even beyond national borders. A first concrete step are the Savings and Investment Accounts, standardized accounts that the European Commission has recommended member states introduce, although for now this remains more a direction traced than a goal achieved.
[1] Survey conducted in December 2024 on about 27,500 respondents
