New confindustria and Intesa Sanpaolo agreement: 150 billion euro for business growth

New Confindustria and Intesa Sanpaolo Agreement: 150 billion euro for business growth

Programme dedicated to innovation and digital transition, sustainability, capital enhancement and support for supply chains
Local meetings with companies are planned throughout Italy
More than 200 billion euro disbursed by Intesa Sanpaolo since the first agreement was signed over ten years ago

Milan, 18 October 2021 - Today Carlo Bonomi, President of Confindustria, and Carlo Messina, Managing Director and CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, signed the new Agreement for the growth of Italian companies.

The new joint Competitiveness, Innovation and Sustainability programme will make €150 billion available to Italian companies to promote the development of the economy according to these three fundamental growth drivers and in harmony with the NRRP.

The agreement signed today extends and builds on the more than ten-year partnership between Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria, which, thanks to a synergistic, shared interpretation of the relationship between bank and business, has been strengthened in recent years. Starting in 2009, in fact, a series of agreements were signed according to a broad vision of industrial policy aimed at making finance and credit strategic components at the service of the competitiveness of the business community. The crucial issues discussed and agreed on included internationalisation, support for production chains, investments in research and innovation and credit quality enhancement. These joint initiatives have made it possible to support tens of thousands of companies and SMEs with credit of over €200 billion, assisting them in the most critical phases of an ever-changing economic scenario.

“The €150 billion made available to businesses will make it possible to activate private investment, generating a multiplier effect on the resources made available for public investment by the NRRP and creating new prospects for sustainable growth for the Italian economy and the country as a whole,”- said Confindustria President Carlo Bonomi. “We need to support the country in emerging from the pandemic crisis as emergency measures are gradually discontinued, sustaining the recovery and taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by the NRRP. Along with the reform agenda to be pursued without delay, action is needed on growth drivers. The Agreement that Confindustria and Intesa signed today is part of this framework.” “Our economy is going through momentous transformations. The environmental, energy and digital transition will affect entire production chains and will also have a strong impact on communities. We need a strong focus and sense of responsibility on the part of institutions so that they act gradually and proportionally and support the processes of modernisation of the industrial system” concluded the leader of the industrialists.

Carlo Messina, Managing Director and CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, commented: “Our country is experiencing a robust recovery above the European average. The real challenge now – which is also the basis of this agreement – is to ensure that this recovery consolidates over time and is widespread, giving rise to a structurally more robust economy, capable of sustaining levels of GDP growth that are permanently higher than those to which we are accustomed.

We are a country with solid fundamentals and strong businesses, which have withstood the pandemic crisis and we are now making €150 billion available for their growth plans, extending joint programme with Confindustria. Towards this goal we will further support the enhancement of supply chains that, after being one of the main factors of resilience during the crisis, today can and must be a decisive driver as the country's economy opens up again.

The programme, made available for the recovery phase and for the indispensable ecological and technological transition in which every sector of industry is involved, is part of our overall commitment to activate, over the NRRP period, medium-long term disbursements of over €410 billion from now until 2026, of which €270 billion for businesses, in order to accelerate, through the mobilisation of private investment, digitalisation, infrastructure and environmental projects, the strengthening of the health system, research and social cohesion which are also at the centre of our collaboration with Confindustria and the Group's strategies”.

Today, with the peak of the Covid-19 emergency behind us, Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria are jointly proposing a strategic plan to accelerate the revitalisation of the Italian real economy, focusing on skills and people, along the lines of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Digitalisation and innovation, enhancement of financial and capital structure, strengthening of supply chains and sustainability are the focus of the Agreement signed by Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria for businesses. In view of the end of the extraordinary measures adopted during the pandemic, Intesa Sanpaolo provided various tools to facilitate the transition to ordinary credit solutions to support the liquidity of companies and their financial balance.

The three-year Agreement was presented and signed today in Milan by Carlo Bonomi, president of Confindustria and Carlo Messina, Managing Director and CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo. During the meeting, Alessandro Fontana, director of the Confindustria Studies Centre, analysed the macroeconomic scenario and Anna Roscio, head of Enterprise Sales & Marketing at Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori, headed by Stefano Barrese, illustrated the strategic pillars of the Agreement.

BUSINESS GROWTH INITIATIVES

· Digitalisation and innovation

To face the digital transition and ensure sustainable, lasting growth, Intesa Sanpaolo is making tools and programmes to improve production processes based on new technologies and methodologies available to businesses. Under the new Agreement, the commitment to support new investments, as well as advice to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Transition 4.0 plan of the Budget Law 2021, will play a central role.

· Sustainability

Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria intend to give maximum impetus and support to the process of transitioning companies to a digital and green economy to make them sustainable and resilient, facilitating the adoption of growth strategies based on sustainability and the evolution towards the circular economy model. In particular, Intesa Sanpaolo has activated a programme for new S-Loans – a specific line of sustainable financing – accompanied by a programme for investments in the circular economy.

· Strengthening financial and capital structure

In order to support companies during this phase of recovery and economic revival, new instruments need to be found to favour a medium-long term perspective, in order to contribute to the progressive restoration of cash flow and promote capitalisation and improved company financial structure. This is a goal that the new Agreement seeks to achieve by encouraging the spread of a corporate culture that is more attentive to the diversification of financial sources and the correct balance between equity and debt, making full use of government programmes.

· Enhancement of the role of supply chains

The Agreement continues the ongoing partnership with Confindustria, including the specific protocol within Intesa Sanpaolo's “Sviluppo Filiere” programme, which will be extended to new sectors of the sector to ensure sustainable, inclusive and excellent development to increase employment and investment. In a market and a scenario of turnaround as at present, the supply chain relationship can become an extraordinary multiplier and facilitator for access to credit by smaller companies, leveraging the strength and solidity of Italian national champion businesses and their creditworthiness, from which all suppliers can benefit. Since the programme was launched in 2015, Intesa Sanpaolo has supported over 780 supply chains, involving around 20,000 suppliers with a total turnover of €90 billion.

In addition, as part of the Agreement, Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria recognise the importance of the managerial skills and competencies of employees as key factors of success for the competitiveness of businesses and undertake to adopt and promote actions to support employment, training and business continuity, in particular the management of generational handovers, encouraging female entrepreneurship and flexible work.

The contents and strategic axes of the agreement will be adapted and presented throughout national territory for Intesa Sanpaolo customers and Confindustria associates at a series of local meetings and initiatives to involve the respective local organisations.

Press information

Intesa Sanpaolo

Media Relations SME & Retail Banking and Local Media

stampa@intesasanpaolo.com

Confindustria

Area Communication

ConfindustriaComunicazione@confindustria.it

Intesa Sanpaolo

Intesa Sanpaolo is the leading Bank in Italy and one of the most robust and profitable banks in Europe. It offers commercial, corporate investment banking, investment management, asset management and insurance services. The Intesa Sanpaolo Group has approximately 13.5 million customers in Italy, served through its digital and traditional channels, and 7.2 million customers abroad, where it has subsidiary banks operating in commercial banking in 12 Countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and an international network specialised in supporting corporate customers in 25 Countries. Intesa Sanpaolo is recognised as one of the world’s most sustainable banks. The Group believes that creating value means driving growth in society and the economy. In the environmental field, it has created a €6 billion fund for the circular economy. It supports relevant economic inclusion and poverty reduction projects, including a €1.5 billion impact fund for financing groups that struggle to access credit. Intesa Sanpaolo is deeply involved in cultural activities, organised both by the group and in collaboration with other institutions in Italy and abroad, including permanent and temporary exhibitions of its vast artistic heritage at the Gallerie d’Italia, the Group’s museums in Milan, Naples, Vicenza and soon Turin.

Last updated 18 October 2021 at 17:57

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