Banks not supporting the real economy? This does not seem to be the case with Intesa Sanpaolo, which defines itself as a "SME bank" and in Milan presented the state of the art of its support for small and medium-sized Italian enterprises, those with fewer than 250 employees "but which are worth half the exports and are the backbone of the Italian production system, also through the supply chains”, recalled the chief economist Gregorio De Felice. The data show that there are one million corporate clients of the Banca dei Territori, of which 200.000 structured SMEs, and 2.500 startups supported. In structured finance transactions alone (acquisitions, mergers, etc.), Intesa Sanpaolo disbursed a good 2018 billion in 1,6 (out of over 100 total transactions). To these must be added 1,3 billion in loans linked to the Industry 4.0 plan with over 4.800 requests processed, and for example - through the instrument Nova+ – over 1,8 billion in support of 1.600 investment projects in research and innovation, of which 40% for the benefit of SMEs. Then there are the plafonds, such as the 5 billion that Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center dedicates to the circular economy, or the 100 million to support the internationalization of companies allocated by Medium credit in collaboration with SACE. Mediocredito also collaborates with the EIB (European Investment Bank) for 1,5 billion intended for special projects in the agro-industrial, agri-food and energy efficiency fields.
“But now we want to go beyond credit – Stefano Barrese, head of the Banca dei Territori explained in the conference -: now it is important to take a step further, in particular towards companies that are the backbone of our country, offering development solutions that go beyond financing which is also part of the role of a large bank”. Intesa Sanpaolo's path in this direction is based on four main points: internationalisation, capitalisation, innovation and development. And it passes through a new branch model, which is close to local companies, to serve them: "Today we have 200 points in the area, with 2.000 managers who deal directly with SMEs", explains Barrese. One of the first missions is to help companies to attend foreign markets: not only by disbursing credit, as mentioned, but for example by exploiting the presence of Intesa Sanpaolo in 85 countries around the world: "Soon we will open desks in New York, London and Shanghai, dedicated entirely to assisting Italian companies also through the advice".
For this purpose it was established Intesa Sanpaolo Forvalue, specialized in non-financial consultancy, which helps companies embark on the path of change, new skills and new markets. About 1.500 companies have already joined this network. Similarly, the subsidiary Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione launched the programme Skill4Business, which has already involved around 3.200 companies with over 46.000 hours of training for people, on internationalization but also digitization issues. “The goal of Intesa Sanpaolo – says Barrese – is beyond credit, to strengthen the link with local businesses building partnership paths and enhancing entrepreneurial initiative thanks to targeted and qualified consultancy”. For this reason there are even coaching courses from a purely industrial point of view, such as Industrial Dialogue or even the Filiere Program, which allows companies to reward the ability to network across the territory, which according to the analyzes of the chief economist De Felice is the distinctive feature of Italian manufacturing excellence.
“We are the fifth country in the world for trade surplus, net of the fact that we import almost all of our energy – explained De Felice -. In 2010 our trade surplus, thanks also and above all to SMEs, was 31 billion euros, in 2020 according to our forecasts it will be close to 100 billion. We are also the first country in the world for the diversification of exported products, with a great advantage over all other competitors".
