Intesa Sanpaolo, after closing a loan for Brescian hospitals, continues its commitment in another area among the most affected by the coronavirus emergency: Bergamo. Today's news is the agreement with the Municipality to launch the "Renaissance Programme", which will make 30 million euros available to the city. "Renaissance Programme" will support micro and small business activities, small commercial and craft businesses in Bergamo, to support, in this restart phase, businesses in difficulty that do not benefit from interventions or subsidies from central institutions or regional.
The operation involves first 3 million euros of non-repayable contributions to cover the expenses that small commercial and craft businesses had to bear during the forced closure, accompanied by a very innovative tool, that of impact loans (for an amount of 20 million euros, with long maturities and extremely advantageous rates) to allow them to face the investments that will be necessary to adapt their spaces and services to the new context of "coexistence" with the Covid-19, which in turn can be combined with non-repayable contributions for an additional 7 million euros. The interventions may also concern activities penalized by a sharp decline in turnover even after the reopening - for example those of the tourism chain - or startups that will be born to meet new needs or meet new lifestyles that will characterize the post-Covid context.
Finally, being aware of the impact of health prevention measures on urban mobility – starting from the sharp reduction in public transport capacity – the intention is to encourage the dissemination of sustainable mobility tools as alternatives to the use of the private car. The total 10 million euros aimed at the disbursement of non-repayable grants will come paid into the Mutual Aid Fund set up by the Municipality of Bergamo to support the relaunch of the city after the Coronavirus emergency and will form a special sector specifically intended for private economic activities.
“The Renaissance Program which was born thanks to the generous contribution of Intesa Sanpaolo – he commented the mayor of Bergamo Giorgio Gori – represents an extraordinary form of support and accompaniment of the economic ecosystem of our city. Bergamo is the city hardest hit by the epidemic that has devastated the world, and although it is solid, characterized by a complex fabric of economic activities, it is today, objectively, a city in great difficulty. This is why the Municipality of Bergamo has created the Mutual Aid Fund and for this reason we welcome the initiative of Intesa Sanpaolo with deep gratitude. After having been, in spite of ourselves, the city symbol of the epidemic we want to become the city symbol of the restart of our country. We are honored that Intesa Sanpaolo has decided to experiment in Bergamo, to then extend it to other territories, an unprecedented and innovative form of cooperation between the local authority and the banking institution, which we will make every effort to make effective for the benefit of our community." .
“With Mayor Gori and his Council – he added Carlo Messina, Managing Director and CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo – we intend to concretely contribute to strengthening social and civic cohesion through the use of new resources and new inclusive and sustainable tools, giving life to a new development model. Among the interventions envisaged in the relaunch programme, shared with the Municipality of Bergamo, we are introducing for the first time an innovative tool, also at an international level: the impact loan. An instrument characterized by long deadlines and whose resources are dedicated to activities of high social significance for the ecosystem of businesses in the Bergamo area, whose industriousness represents an extra gear for the restart of the country. We are alongside the most vulnerable categories, the fabric formed by micro and small businesses, the infrastructures and strategic supply chains of the Bergamo area, the lifeblood for the rebirth of this area".
