Two hundred and forty million in low-interest loans to support youth employment as well as to help finance interventions in three social sectors (health, education, urban renewal). This is the overall size of the credit line that the European Investment Bank has just opened, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, for Italian small and medium-sized enterprises. Half in favor of SMEs and mid-caps that hire young people or contribute to their professional training or carry out highly innovative activities; and the other half of the resources are destined to companies (always small or medium-sized) operating in the social sector. The loans included in this line of credit, the EIB underlines, will have rather small dimensions: last year's average was around 250.000 euros, but the single intervention could also be much lower. So that the number of recipient companies, it is expected, could be in the hundreds.
“This deal with Intesa Sanpaolo, of which I am particularly proud, is the first in a series of loans with the Italian banking system as part of our Jobs for Youth programme,” comments EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco. He adds that, "following the request made by the European Council last June, also thanks to a strong impetus from the Italian government, these loans best represent the ability of the European institutions to give rapid and concrete responses to the social emergency of the very high youth unemployment".
“With this agreement, Intesa Sanpaolo, the EIB's leading European partner both in terms of volumes of activity and diversification of intervention sectors in favor of Italian companies, is providing tools and resources - underlines Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo - which will allow the our entrepreneurial fabric to renew itself through the employment of young people and the birth and development of companies marked by innovation”.
"By participating in the implementation of this initiative - adds Messina - Intesa Sanpaolo intends to promote and support an economic context that identifies innovation and dynamism as the factors and motivations capable of retaining young talent in our country, of restarting productivity and recover profitability”.
In order to access youth employment support loans, SMEs (up to 250 employees) and mid-caps (i.e. those that employ up to 3.000 people) must submit to Mediocredito, the corporate finance hub of Intesa Sanpaolo, a request accompanied by a project that possesses at least one of the characteristics indicated by the EIB. The first is that they have hired at least one worker aged between 15 and 29 (3 in the case of a mid-cap) in the six months preceding the loan application or will hire him during the following semester. Companies that carry out internships or vocational training programs for young people can also apply; or who have entered into a cooperation agreement for the training of young people with a technical institute, school or university; or even those in which more than 50% of the capital is held by young people under the age of 29. And finally those that fall within the provisions of law 99 of 2013 on the promotion of youth employment.
Loans may also be granted to innovative start-ups that meet three requirements: the first is that the company has been established and has been carrying on business for no more than 48 months; the second is that the main seat of its business and interests is in Italy; the third is that its corporate object, exclusive or prevalent, is the development, production and marketing of innovative products or services with high technological value.
The second half of the credit line (therefore 120 million), the activation of which will be finalized in the coming days, will be made available to finance investments by small and medium-sized enterprises in the health and education sectors, or in the context of urban renewal programs .
Banca Prossima, the Intesa San Paolo Group's institution dedicated to the non-profit, will select the companies that will be able to benefit from the resources made available by the EIB.
