The South Tyrolian People's Bank (, , known as Volksbank or Banca Popolare) is an Italian bank headquartered in

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

. The bank originated as a

cooperative bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

, but demututalized in 2016. The bank was the second-largest bank in Trentino – South Tyrol with a market share of 8.8%. After the merger with Banca Popolare di Marostica in 2015, it was expected that the bank was the seventh bank in Veneto with a market share of 3.2% (behind Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banca MPS, Banco Popolare, BPVicenza and Veneto Banca) and more specifically 6.2% in the Province of Vicenza as the 6th. After the announcement of the proposed merger of BPVicenza and Veneto Banca in 2017, Volksbank – Banca Popolare increased in ranking in the Veneto region. As of 31 December 2016, the bank had 79 branches in Trentino – South Tyrol, 102 branches in Veneto and three branches in Friuli (all in the Province of Pordenone).

History

It was established in 1992 through the merger of two South Tyrolian cooperative banks, Volksbank Bozen – Banca Popolare di Bolzano from Bolzano (founded 1902 as Spar-und Vorschuß-Casse für Handel und Gewerbe) and Volksbank Brixen – Banca Popolare di Bressanone (found 1889 as Spar-und Darlehenskassenverein für die Pfarrgemeinde Brixen) from

Brixen Brixen (; , ; or , ) is a town and communes of Italy, commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography Brixen is the third-largest city and oldest town in the province, with a population of nearly twenty-three t ...

. In 1995 it acquired another South Tyrolian cooperative bank Volksbank Meran – Banca Popolare di Merano (founded 1886 as Gewerbliche Spar- und Vorschuß-Casse) headquartered in

Merano Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its Spa town, spa resorts, it is located within a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to Height above mean sea ...

. The bank's primary markets are the two autonomous provinces of

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

(63 branches) and

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

(20 branches), as of 2014. In recent years it has been aggressively expanding into the neighboring

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

region with 102 branches in 5 provinces (by absorbing Venetian banks Banca Popolare di Marostica in 2015 and its subsidiary Banca di Treviso). The bank has also expanded its operations to the

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

sub-region in the Province of Pordenone. In addition to the province of origin, the bank is present in much of north-eastern Italy, particularly in the provinces of Trento, Belluno, Treviso, Vicenza, Padua, Venice, Udine, and Pordenone for a total (at the end of 2021) of 180 branches, over 1,300 collaborators and about 280,000 customers.

References

External links

* * Banks of Italy Banks established in 1992 1992 establishments in Italy Companies based in South Tyrol Bolzano Former cooperative banks of Italy {{Italy-bank-stub