The managing director of Intesa, Carlo Messina, commented the indiscretions of the Financial Times on the possible cuts foreseen by the new business plan stating that even if the structure of the distribution network could be reviewed, the branch will remain at the center of the relationship with the customer and any exits will only be on a voluntary basis. Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa, made some statements on the sidelines of a conference regarding the news reported by the Financial Times on the institute's new business plan. According to the rumors collected by the Anglo-Saxon newspaper, the new industrial plan of the Italian bank which will be presented at the beginning of next year would envisage an aggressive cut in costs, with the closure of a third of the branches. In this regard, Messina wanted to clarify that the new plan will not include drastic cuts in personnel and that any exits will only be on a voluntary basis.
“People are and remain the central element, our bank can only be left by those who want to leave”, stated the CEO of Intesa, underlining how the branch will remain a central place in customer relations and that the new plan will be based on growth and innovation. Which does not exclude that the group's distribution structure could be updated to the new possibilities given by technology and revised in the light of the purchase of the tobacconists' bank which has 20 points of sale, which can be used for the operation of some functions. “We will evaluate whether there are branch reductions to be made, but with respect for the people who are strategic. The new bank 5 will lead to an analysis of the geographical presence to better serve families but will have no impact on our considering the branch strategic in customer relations", Messina pointed out, adding on personnel "As we have already demonstrated with the previous industrial plan where we had 4500 excess employees, we reused them to increase revenues”. Meanwhile, in Piazza Affari, Banca Intesa shares decreased by 0,31% to 2,56 euros.
