Alessandro Azzi

Alessandro Azzi obtained diploma in 1969 at the “Bellini Pastore” high school of Castiglione delle Stiviere, and a degree in Law in 1973 at the University of Parma obtaining full marks with honours. He has a law firm in Montichiari and one in Brescia.
He is the president of Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana “Colli Morenici” of Montichiari near Brescia (which in 1985 became Banca di Credito Cooperativo “Colli Morenici del Garda”).
He was the Vice-President of Federazione Lombarda delle Banche di Credito Cooperativo (Federation of Co-operative Credit Banks of Lombardy) from 1988 to 1991, President of the Labour Union Delegation of Federcasse (1988-1991), President of IRCEL (Research Institute for Co-operative Credit and Local Economies) from 1993 to 1998, a member of the B.o.D. and the Executive Committee of ICCREA (1994), President of ICCREA Holding (1995- 1997 / 2001-2003), President of Credito Cooperativo Guarantee Fund (March 1999 to March 2002).
Since 1991, he has been the President of the Federation of Co-operative Credit Banks of Lombardy, and the President of Federcasse (Italian Federation of Co-operative Credit Banks), representing 440 agricultural banks of 98 provinces and 2499 municipalities, with 3789 offices, equalling to 11.6% of all Italian banks.
He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Co-operative Banks; a member of the B.o.D and the Executive Committee of the Italian Banks Association (since 1992), a member of the Committee for the Minor Banks of the Italian Banks Association (since 1999), a member of the B.o.D and the Executive Committee of ICCREA Holding (since 1995), President of the Bondholder Guarantee Fund (since 2004), President of the Tertio Millennio International Foundation (2000), Advisor of the Enzo Badioli Foundation, he was appointed Knight of Labour of the Republic of Italy, he is an advisor and a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Confederation of Co-operatives (since 1991), an advisor of the Chamber of Commerce of Brescia (since 1999), a member of the B.o.D. of ECRA (since May 2005), and a member of the B.o.D. of Sacro Cuore Catholic University (February 2006).

Reasons for assigning the award

This prize is meant to be a sincere and well-merited acknowledgement for a person who made Cooperative Credit a significant and appreciated reality of Italy’s financial and business life. Mr. Azzi has devoted himself to the constant development of Co-operative Credit, whose success has demonstrated that the mutuality, moral values, and business-oriented culture of Credit Cooperative banks are the elements that characterize the modernity of the Italian banking system. The strenuous defence of financial pluralism, and the impulse toward higher and higher levels of efficiency and consistency, contributed to making thousands of local communities the real protagonists of their own development.
Through Cooperative Banks, territories and their typical cultures have witnessed the implementation of valuable forms of participation that were risking to become rare.
In his capacity as the President of Federcasse (Federation of Italian Cooperative Credit Banks), Mr. Azzi promoted and supported solidarity and cooperation initiatives for development projects in Italy and abroad (South America, Asia and Africa). Furthermore, he devoted himself to the development of a popular finance system in Ecuador, and to the construction of a hospital in Burundi in collaboration with Cardinal Ersilio Tonini.

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