Invest, invest, invest. This is the key that Intesa Sanpaolo offers to enhance the competitiveness of Italian companies and promote the country's economic growth. With a rich man funding program, the bank led by Carlo Messina makes available 120 billion euros until 2026, with the aim of supporting and encouraging the development of small and medium-sized businesses, micro-businesses, the third sector, as well as agri-food and tourism supply chains. This new program, called “Your future is our business“, is based on three essential pillars: promoting the evolution towards a sustainable 5.0 economy, promoting growth on international markets and implementing advanced digital solutions while ensuring cybersecurity.
“Companies that invest today can gain an important competitive advantage in the near future.” As Stephen Barrese, head of the Banca dei Territori division of Intesa Sanpaolo, presenting the new business financing program in Milan. According to Barrese "the business world must face a technological, digital, geographical and generational repositioning in a medium-long term logic and Intesa Sanpaolo is ready to support it with a 120 billion plan between now and 2026". “Our role – he continued – is to activate financial resources and tools dedicated to accompanying investment choices and seizing the opportunities of the Pnrr and Transition 5.0. We address over 1,2 million customers including SMEs and smaller businesses, for everyone we want to stimulate a relaunch approach towards growth with new means and new shared objectives".
The economic rebirth of Italy
Italy is no longer at the bottom of the European ranking, growth prospects have changed significantly in the post-pandemic period. We have outpaced our eurozone neighbors, with growth that beats both France and Germany. This change was driven by investment dynamics. To give a picture of the Italian economic situation Gregorio De Felice, chief economist Intesa Sanpaolo.
The turning point began in 2016 with measures related toIndustry 4.0, which allowed companies to reverse the negative trend in investments since 2008. This acceleration became evident especially after the pandemic, when the Super bonus of 110% which has revived a sector in deep crisis, that of construction.
There are notable factors that can contribute significantly. The funds of National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) offer a huge opportunity, if the objectives are achieved. Another important aspect is the incentives of the Transition 5.0 plan for investments in digital and the environment. The reduction of energy consumption, the implementation of innovative technologies and the purchase of machinery are the areas in which, according to surveys, companies are preparing to invest more.
Intesa Sanpaolo's business growth plan
The three lines of the program offer a wide range of opportunities for a wide range of economic actors.
Firstly, the “Transition 5.0 and energy” offers approximately 13 billion euros in tax credits for achieving energy efficiency goals. Intesa Sanpaolo, together with its partners and Sace, has developed dedicated and subsidized financing solutions, offering consultancy for access to tax incentives, the issuing of the relevant certifications and training. This is to integrate competitiveness e sustainability through new investments for development, energy saving and efficient energy production.
Furthermore, the banking group provides specific solutions for shared energy, including collective self-consumption, together with financing and consultancy models for the construction of new innovative energy saving systems.
The second pillar, dedicated to “Growth on foreign markets“, aims to support companies that aim to export and enhance Made in Italy excellence on global markets. Thanks to its consolidated international presence, the group identifies the most promising product sectors and new potential markets, with a focus on Eastern Europe, India and the United Arab Emirates. It also offers specific training courses to help companies successfully expand abroad.
Finally, the third pillar of the program, focused on “Digital development and cybersecurity“, it is essential in the era we live in to protect companies from constantly evolving digital threats. Intesa Sanpaolo has developed dedicated protection and financing tools, including the new Cyber Loan. In collaboration with partners and ESG laboratories present throughout Italy, the bank involves companies in qualified digital training programs.
In particular, within the program "Your future is our business", the sectors ofAgribusiness and Tourism, which require specific support in the transition towards more innovative, profitable and sustainable models. For Agribusiness, the banking institution established a specialized commercial network in 2021, capable of following the entire production chain from production to transformation.
With the launch of Grow Agri, a new line of financing with a duration of up to 30 years dedicated to the development of production that can be modulated on the production cycle of the supply chain, together with products for the coverage of risks on raw materials and solutions for energy efficiency and international growth, Intesa Sanpaolo is committed to supporting Agribusiness in a complete and innovative way.
Finally, special attention is paid to Third sector, with a dedicated management team of over 600 people who follow around a third of the non-profit organizations in Italy. The bank has already granted financing for over 1,5 billion euros to this sector.
The importance of investing
The analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo's studies and research department highlights how crucial it is to invest in the ongoing transformation processes. The investments in sustainability e tech have produced significant returns: manufacturing companies that have adopted systems based on renewable energy sources between 2019 and 2022 have shown greater solidity in profitability, better overcoming the energy crisis.
Similarly, companies that have embraced 4.0 technologies have seen their turnover grow double compared to the others (+32,5% versus +16,6%), also recording a notable increase in productivity. However, the analysis highlights large margins for improvement in the Italian economy: for example, in the two-year period 2021-2022, only 5,7% of Italian companies with at least three employees used renewable energy sources.
On the other hand, medium and large-sized companies are more interested in suppliers who reduce their environmental impact and energy communities that promote investments in renewable energy sources.
The analysis also finds ample room for development in the sectors of innovation and tech. In the two-year period 2021-2022, almost half of industrial companies undertook innovation activities, with a peak of 92,1% among companies with at least 250 employees. However, among smaller companies (with 3-9 employees), this percentage drops to 34,4%.
Regarding the adoption of technologies, in the two-year period 2021-2022, on average 39,1% of industrial companies used business management software, with a maximum of 90,8% among larger companies. However, there is considerable development opportunity especially among smaller companies, where less than 30% have implemented such solutions.
Finally, resolve the gap between job supply and demand will be crucial: overall, almost 2023 million difficult-to-find positions have been estimated in 2,5, representing 45,1% of the total.
