Sulla funzione sociale del conto corrente bancario (The social function of the bank account).

The renewal in the field of banking and credit laws has led to the affirmation of the "social function" of the bank (and postal) account, with measures apted to reduce the cash circulation. The subsequent and widespread diffusion of these accounts, also accentuated by access via internet banking, determined the need for a legislative action with the aim of protecting the weak part of the contract. It clearly shows up in the will of the legislator to increase the transparency of the contractual conditions and of the relationship with customers in operations and payment services offered by banks. In this context, the introduction of the general category of the so called "payment account" into our legal system assumes absolute importance since the bank account (as well as the postal one) belongs to this legal class, to the extent that it is used to make payment transactions. The protection is strengthened in case of payment accounts "offered to" or "subscribed by" consumers. Moreover, a further step was to consider a “social right" the possibility for any citizen to have a bank account, that allows him to carry out at least the essential operations; it is the so-called “conto di base”, which is an account designed to promote financial inclusion of the category of "most vulnerable consumers"