Sustainability, ethics and ESG topics: these are the values that Ubi Banca and Intesa Sanpaolo have always shared. In light of the completion of the merger of Ubi into the Group led by Carlo Messina which took place on 12 April, the CEO underlined how this integration represents the best possible combination for Intesa Sanpaolo and how it will allow the Group to become a leader in Europe by 2025.
“When more than a year ago we defined what could be the growth options for our Group – he declared Messina during an interview given on Intesa Sanpaolo's internal web TV – especially in a logic of positioning as a European leader, starting from the concentration that could still be achieved in our country, it was clear that choosing a bank that had important talents, but also the greatest affinities in terms of values with those of the Intesa Sanpaolo group could be the best choice to build a common path of success and value creation".
Furthermore, the CEO also recalled that the public exchange offer operation launched last year coincided with the beginning of the pandemic emergency, setting limits above all in terms of restrictions and social distancing but not on the final objective.
As regards personnel, Messina declared that he will undertake to keep all the people within the company by inventing new jobs "because it is the human capital which allows us to be winners within the European banking system and the only way is to be able to invest in people: technologies are very useful in emergency conditions, but our life is made up of relationships, talking to each other while looking into each other's eyes, interactions with clients. The video must be a tool, but not the end through which we go about designing our bank of the future".
The managing director of the banking group explained how “the strength of our country, despite a weakness represented by debt, is based on objective elements: an amount of savings that exceeds ten trillion, companies strongly linked to exports, the ability and talent of the people who work in Italy. We will benefit from funds of the Next Generation EU which, if used correctly, will allow us to accelerate growth, an indispensable factor for reducing inequalities".
Looking to the future Messina revealed that in less than five years, upon completion of the next business plan, that he is very optimistic about achieving a path as a leader in Europe: “to grow revenues, reduce costs and keep them under control, ensure that the credit quality of our Group is excellent and lead us to a sharp reduction in the cost of risk. All this makes it possible to increase the net profit and therefore to be able to position the Bank in a growth perspective. The business model is fundamental: the enhancement of our customers' assets. Wealth Management, Protection, Private Banking and Asset Management, Insurance and Banca dei Territori remain strategic points, alongside Corporate & Investment Banking which completes the solutions to strengthen the Group's results. Foreign banks will increasingly have to be leaders in the countries in which they operate, especially where we have significant market shares".
Messina concluded that the sustainability will remain a key point of the Group, along with many aspects of the fintech, in which it will be necessary to invest as well as in digital, another enabling factor also underlined by the current health emergency. Even if human capital remains the real key to success and for this reason it will be necessary to invest in this.
