Member lending is a regulated cooperative financing channel, not public fundraising. Under the TUB/CICR/Banca d’Italia framework, qualifying cooperatives may take loans from their own members (prestito sociale) subject to statutory, membership, disclosure, liquidity and prudential safeguards. Banca d’Italia describes the ordinary aggregate limit for cooperatives with more than 50 members as three times cooperative net assets; the ceiling may rise to five times only with prescribed guarantees for the whole member-loan pool (including at least 30% cover by qualifying supervised guarantors or an eligible cooperative guarantee system). Conditions and exemptions are technical and must be checked in the operative rule and the cooperative’s bylaws.
This is not an automatic financing entitlement for any co-housing entity. Member qualification/timing, proper authorisation in the bylaws, investor information, limits, accounting treatment and repayment terms require specialist review. Taking funds from the public or offering investments through a platform raises separate banking/securities/crowdfunding rules. Associations, foundations, condominium groups and informal communities cannot assume the cooperative member-loan exception applies to them.
Related
- it-cooperativa — cooperative form and governance.
- it-capital-crowdfunding-regulation — separate platform-mediated loans or investment offers.
- it-legal-tenure-proprieta — member finance does not decide who owns the property.