CREDEM AND LATTERIA SORESINA: EUROPE’S FIRST OPERATION OF FINANCING WITH REVOLVING PLEDGE AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
An innovative system of shared digital ledgers developed with Sopra Steria will enable the goods pledged as collateral for the 20-million-euro loan to be constantly monitored with numerous advantages for the bank and the producer.
Credem Group, one of Italy’s leading banking groups and one of Europe’s most solid, has recently finalised a 20-million-euro loan to Latteria Soresina, the world’s leading producer of Grana Padano cheese, based on a non-possessory revolving pledge and for the first time in Europe, supported by shared digital ledger technology (blockchain). Carried out with the collaboration of Sopra Steria, this operation will allow the producer to sustain its investments, while reducing operations and costs and guaranteeing the bank the security of the pledged asset, owing to a monitoring of the goods with real-time updates of the pledge countervalue, linked to the value of the Milan Chamber of Commerce.
In particular, the institute will make a credit line available to Latteria Soresina by receiving wheels of grana padano cheese as collateral. The producer will keep these wheels in its warehouse (non-possessory pledge) and may replace them over time with other wheels of equal value (revolving pledge). The absolutely new aspect of this operation is that, for the first time in Europe, it will be possible to constantly monitor the goods placed as collateral via a system of digital databases shared between the producer and the bank (blockchain), developed in collaboration with Sopra Steria, one of Europe’s leading companies dealing in consultancy, digital services and software development. The operation was carried out in cooperation with the Demuro-Russo legal firm for the contractual part.
Credem has further confirmed its long-standing commitment to supporting companies in their development and growth path by overseeing their financial well-being, also through constant innovation in its product and service range. “This financing operation comes under a broader project to support the country’s companies, which Credem has always advanced and has strengthened in this period of the pandemic crisis”, said Corrado Biuso, Credem’s Medium and Large Enterprises Sales Manager. “We wanted to study a customised financing solution, the first in Europe of this kind for which blockchain technology has been used, which can be from now on an important tool to support those companies which, like Latteria Soresina, need liquidity, for the manufacturing cycle or to support investments, when dealing with long-term product inventories in stock prior to sale”.
“We are pleased to have closed this wonderful loan operation with the Credem partners, but more importantly to have done so with an absolutely innovative approach, which, using new technologies, allows effective real-time control of the product given as a guarantee,” declares Latteria Soresina President Tiziano Fusar Poli. “This opens up a new pathway of access to credit for companies such as ours, which, because they stock products which require long periods of ageing, need financing related to the production cycle also in order to support current operations and investments targeting efficiency and growth. It is one of the many tangible examples of how digitisation and new technologies are increasingly indispensable tools for generating development and helping businesspeople and their companies to be more competitive and perform better’”
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The Credem Group, one of Italy’s leading banks and amongst the most solid in Europe, is listed on the Italian Stock Exchange and has a total business as of 30 September 2021, including total funding and loans, of almost 120 billion euros.
Latteria Soresina: is the world’s leading producer of Grana Padano (over 500,000 wheels per annum) and holds leading positions with regard to other outstanding Italian products, such as butter and provolone. The 2021 turnover was €414 million (+10%).
Sopra Steria: one of Europe’s leading consulting, digital services and software development companies. With 45,000 employees in 25 countries, the Group has generated revenue of 4.1 billion euros in 2018 (listed on the Paris Stock Exchange).
Demuro-Russo legal firm: a boutique legal firm providing assistance and consulting to private and public businesses at every stage of their activity and development.
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