2 Although comparing international data involves some difficulty, we can put cooperative banks’ market shares in terms of number of branches at about 60 per cent in France, 50 per cent in Austria, 40 per cent in Germany and the Netherlands, and 10 per cent in Spain and Portugal. 3 In Italy, the figure is 39 per cent for the entire cooperative banking sector.
Yet, more recently, demand and supply shocks have pushed inflation well above central banks’ targets (Reis 2022b). According to the most recent projections by the ECB (European Central Bank), inflation will return to target only by the year 2025. [10] And even if actual inflation rates decline, perceived inflation – notably in terms of higher energy prices – will remain at an elevated level.