Affide
From mount of piety to pawn agency to pledged loan
Affide is the largest company active in pledged loans and came out of the acquisition of the former Custodia Valore company by the Dorotheum group.
Inarea partnered Dorotheum in the process of redefining the values and positioning of a time-honoured financial institution. The Monte di Pietà – mount of piety – was founded in the fifteenth century by the Franciscans. It was a no-profit concept and the only possible alternative to moneylending, relying on the use of microcredit. The objective here was therefore to give a contemporary approach to Custodia Valore, focusing on the future with actions on all aspects of interaction, beginning right from the name.
Affide was the name chosen, inspired by the Latin expression “ad fidem” (in faith, in trust) and creates a contemporary feel to the actual meanings of entrusting oneself, confiding, and having trust. The pledged loan pay-off that accompanies Affide thus became the expression that rewards the ability to found a relationship of trust with customers.
The network of branches throughout Italy has its headquarters in Rome’s Palazzo Petrignani. Built in the sixteenth century and subsequently enlarged in 1603 by Maderno and Borromini, the mansion has always been home to the Monte della Pietà.
