Between 2012 and 2023, the Bank of Italy recorded a drop of 270 billion in credit to businesses. And the 2024 data - financial statements of the top five institutions - show an average -1.9%, equal to 22 billion: thus, the shortfall is close to 300 billion. A problem of "demand" has existed for years: when ECB rates rose again in 2022, many Italian households and businesses preferred to finance themselves with the more than 100 billion of forced liquidity accumulated in the accounts in 2020-21 due to Covid. But time passes, now Italian banks are capitalized as never before and credit risk is at an all-time low: it is estimated that the top five banks in 2024 lost an average of 0.28 euros per 100 loans, from 0.31 in 2023; therefore, the supply of credit should have an interest in matching the "demand". But the large banking groups are focusing less and less on loans, and more on commission revenues, which require little capital and are not risky.