“We are the European champions of value on the stock market and the Italian flag of the great international investors”: with these words Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, opened the bank's shareholders' meeting in Turin, called to approve a budget, that of 2018, which recorded a record profit, above 4 billion euros for the first time. “More profit, less risk, more assets”, added the CEO who wanted to thank the shareholders but also "all the 91.000 employees of the bank, who are the true strength of Intesa Sanpaolo". However, it is precisely on the question of personnel, as well as on risk reduction, that Messina has promised greater commitment: in 2018 the personnel was reduced by almost 5.000 units (also counting the transfer of the debt collection platform to Intrum) and in the plan another 4.000 exits are expected by June 2020.
"In the previous plan we avoided 5.000 redundancies - explained the number one of the first Italian bank -, and we will avoid another 5.000 in this one, so we will have managed to find a solution to continue to make 10.000 people work in all". Also for NPLs, a greater commitment than the already large one is foreseen, which led Intesa to reduce impaired loans by 28 billion, from the maximum reached in September 2015, when the stock reached 64,5 billion gross, of which 34,2 net: “In 2018 alone we sold 15,6 billion , but we want to do even better”, assured Messina even if according to the roadmap indicated by the plan, 2018 has already reached 61% of the total reduction target.
For the rest, despite an unfavorable context for the banks, with the Btp-Bund spread which in the last 12 months has practically doubled from 129 in March 2018 to around 260 today, Intesa Sanpaolo's financial statements are more than positive and confirm all the goals of the 2018-2021 plan. “Our market capitalization has doubled from 20 billion to 40 billion, even reaching 50 billion a year ago. Profit continues to grow, has done so for five consecutive years and has more than tripled compared to 2014. The bank is very solid and this has allowed us to remunerate our shareholders well: in the 2018 financial statements we distribute 3,4 billion, in the previous plan we distributed 10 billion and about the same amount we will distribute at the end of the current business plan. It is a unique case among banks”. Intesa Sanpaolo's solidity compared to its competitors is also demonstrated by the data on excess capital, the CET1 Ratio which, already including the 30 bps impact due to the increase in the spread, is now worth 430 basis points compared to the 250 basis points of the competitors' average .
The meeting also approved the renewal of the board of directors, confirming Gros-Pietro as chairman of the board of directors and Messina as managing director. As for Giovanni Bazoli, former long-term president of Intesa Sanpaolo, Messina himself hoped that he will continue to have a role in the bank: “I hope Professor Bazoli can continue to be close to the bank. And I hope that the lawyer Guzzetti remains linked in some way to the world of foundations. They are two figures that certainly cannot be replicated in Italy”, said the CEO of Intesa.
GROS-PIETRO: "DRIVING ROLE IN ETHICAL FINANCE"
At the opening of the session, the chairman Gian Maria Gros-Pietro spoke on the guidelines of Intesa Sanpaolo, under the banner of sustainable finance: "It is essential for us to remunerate our shareholders, whom we must thank for the 5 billion capital increase of the 2011. We repaid with 10 billion in dividends in the period 2014-2017, but our bank's role is to make a useful contribution to society, to meet the challenges of the future and to support families in difficulty". “A bank – continued Gros-Pietro – finances investments, but chooses which ones to support. It employs thousands of people and knows the problems and opportunities of the market. Our participation in ESG (Environmental, social and governance) principles is not adaptive but driving”.
The president of Intesa then enunciated some results already achieved in social commitment and the circular economy: “We have brought 20.000 companies back to performing status, helping to save around 100.000 jobs. We have in 2018 distributed 3,3 million meals and offered 94.000 beds. Eurizon is the first SGR in Italy for sustainable and ethical funds. We disbursed 60 billion euro of new medium/long-term credit, 50 of which in Italy. We have also launched the 'Fund for Impact', which will make it possible to disburse around 1,2 billion euros to categories with difficulty in accessing credit”. Without forgetting the digital revolution, with technology that is seen as an opportunity and not a danger: "85% of our products are available on multi-channel platforms", added the president.
