The economic crisis that our country is going through places the strengthening of the relationship and dialogue between companies and banks as a priority and shared need to stimulate and support the demand for credit of the many virtuous small and medium-sized enterprises, the backbone of the Italian production system, resorting to all the credit facilitation tools that make access to credit easier and more advantageous.
This is the spirit of the new agreement, the fourth since 2009, which makes a ceiling of 2,6 billion euro available to SMEs in the area and further strengthens the collaboration between the local associations of Confindustria Lombardia and Intesa Sanpaolo which, with today's signature, ratified at regional level the national agreement signed by Confindustria Piccola Industria and the Intesa Sanpaolo Group which provides for a ceiling of 10 billion euros, of which 200 million euros dedicated to financing innovative projects of new businesses.
The regional agreement, signed today in Milan at the Assolombarda headquarters, was presented by Ambra Redaelli, president of Piccola Industria Confindustria Lombardia, Giuseppe Castagna, general manager and head of Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori, Vincenzo Boccia, president of Piccola Industria Confindustria and Alvise Biffi, president of Piccola Impresa Assolombarda.
International Business Development
Italian industry will be increasingly dependent on foreign countries and in particular on emerging countries, which are more difficult and far away to reach. In 2015 the weight of these countries on world markets will exceed 50%; at the turn of the millennium it was still 33%. In this context, the companies of Lombardy are already well positioned: the weight of emerging countries on exports is, in fact, equal to 38%, equal to the national level. However, there is still considerable room for improvement. To compete in increasingly global markets, the agreement offers a platform of products, events and consultancy services (including the Trade Explore, Greentrade portals and a program of local meetings) to support the expansion and internationalization strategies of SMEs .
Among the most innovative financial solutions, Export Facile is a product that covers the insolvency risk of foreign debtors up to 100% against receivables assigned without recourse. Export Facile also provides companies with additional liquidity and an alternative to traditional lines of credit, supporting companies' export strategies and facilitating their foreign trade. In this direction, 4.257 exporting companies have already been identified in Lombardy that could take advantage of this solution. During 2013, Intesa Sanpaolo managers, assisted by specialists, will meet these companies.
Dimensional growth
In order to export more, it is necessary to have larger business dimensions, also to activate new competitive levers; small compared to medium-large companies suffer a gap of 70% for international patents and trademarks, and 50% for quality/environmental certifications. The agreement offers specialist consultancy services for SMEs facing moments of discontinuity and change with a view to growth and provides solutions for starting aggregation processes. Forms of collaboration are also envisaged such as the establishment of business networks, corporate finance operations, M&A, generational transfers, partner research on a national and international scale. The service is provided by the Corporate & Investment Banking-Banca IMI Division and makes use of the collaboration of special specialists present in the area, making services available traditionally accessible only to large companies.
New entrepreneurship
Economic growth must also focus on the consolidation and development of new businesses. The probability of survival of Italian start-ups is higher than that of their German counterparts. Our start-ups are also growing faster: in the last 6 years they have created 2,76 million new jobs (equal to 17% of employed people). As part of the Piccola Industria Confindustria «AdottUp» programme, which provides for active involvement in terms of "tutorship" by associated companies, today's agreement provides for services and initiatives aimed at facilitating the creation and development of new businesses. the best business ideas, selected by the joint Intesa Sanpaolo-Confindustria Committee, are in fact "adopted" by companies, indicated by Confindustria, already consolidated on the market so that, as "incubators", they help them develop into sustainable businesses also thanks to the Intesa Sanpaolo Neo-Enterprise and Training Workshops.
Dialogue between business, bank and territory
To activate and develop a "virtuous" relationship between business and bank, the agreement confirms and renews, in the name of continuity, the global advisory services through dialogue and support tools already activated in the previous agreements, now further enriched and implemented with new functionality. With these instruments, Intesa Sanpaolo intends to encourage the creation of a strategic company-bank partnership based on a constructive and transparent dialogue aimed at allowing SMEs easier access to credit and better conditions.
The Bank has already identified over 9.000 SMEs in Lombardy for which it has assessed the adequacy of the bankability requirements and those required for access to the subsidized ceilings. These companies will be contacted in the next six months to propose financial solutions to support their growth. In fact, the use of dialogue tools, such as Diagnostic and Simulator, allows the bank to improve the assessment of creditworthiness and the company to acquire greater knowledge of its degree of "bankability" as well as promoting knowledge and the possibility of accessing the credit facilitation instruments made available by the system (e.g. EIB and CDP subsidized funding, ABI plafond, Central Guarantee Fund).
Vincenzo Boccia, president of Piccola Industria of Confindustria: "This is an agreement that is the result of a collaboration consolidated over the years, which identifies a wide range of solutions in line with the idea of a strategic finance function increasingly at the service of the competitiveness of companies. Piccola Industria will be a key partner for the maximum success of the initiative in the area and in particular for giving strong relevance to the "AdottUp" project in which SMEs are candidates to become incubators of new innovative ideas.
In fact, with the agreement, training, consultancy and financial solutions are made available to the system for start-ups and for companies interested in adopting them with the dual objective of supporting the birth and development of new businesses and increasing innovation within of SMEs".
Ambra Redaelli, president of the Small Industry Regional Committee of Confindustria Lombardia: “We are very proud to sign this important agreement, which for years has sanctioned the profitable relationship between Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria. Thanks to this continuous dialogue, and in particular through the operating Tables at the provincial level, we have been able to convey the real and concrete needs of our associates who, in a moment of such a severe crisis, cannot renounce the continuity of credit disbursement and a specific support for growth and development activities”.
Giuseppe Castagna, general manager of Intesa Sanpaolo: “The moment requires a joint effort to enhance the typically Italian creativity and determination that distinguish our Small Business. Dialogue, which is the distinctive feature of these agreements with Confindustria, is essential for understanding and deepening the difficulties and potential of companies. These must then be helped and encouraged to make a decisive cultural step in order to equip themselves with the necessary tools to better compete on international markets. Today's agreement intends to facilitate dialogue with companies and support the birth and development of new businesses with an eye also to those young people who have ideas and entrepreneurial spirit and who should be encouraged and supported in looking at self-entrepreneurship as an important opportunity for their future. Intesa Sanpaolo, thanks to its complete and diversified know-how, is able to respond to the different needs of companies throughout the country".
Alvise Biffi, president of Piccola Impresa Assolombarda: “I am particularly pleased to sign this agreement as the first official act as president of Piccola Impresa di Assolombarda. The support tool for new businesses envisaged by the agreement demonstrates Intesa's foresight in promoting startups and is perfectly in line with the process of helping new businesses started when I was president of the Young Entrepreneurs Group, and with the construction of strong integration between startups and SMEs, one of the main objectives of my new mandate”.
THE PREVIOUS AGREEMENTS
The agreement signed this year is the fourth stage of a process that began in July 2009 with a first common commitment to guarantee the necessary liquidity for companies hit by the crisis. The subsequent agreement, dated September 2010, also re-launched the competitiveness of Italian companies by encouraging investments in R&D and for internationalization, considered decisive engines for restarting growth. The 2011 agreement presented a further step forward by aiming in particular at some strategic areas for the company: innovation, business networks and other forms of alliances, the enhancement of "human capital", internationalisation, energy efficiency and eco-sustainability.
