"The Association of Foundations of Banking Origin (FOB) of Piedmont will continue to interpret requests from local communities to promote joint initiatives with CDP and identify new investment opportunities", he declared Giovanni Quaglia, president of the Association of Banking Foundations of Piedmont and president of the support committee of Cdp.
Fabrizio Palermo, managing director of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, spoke at the conference "The role of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in support of the local area, businesses and public administration", organized by the Association of Foundations of banking origin, who focused attention to the importance of banking foundations as shareholders of Cdp and primary interlocutor for the development of joint projects with a high impact on local communities.
"Bank foundations are able to better interpret the requests coming from the communities, with them we share mission and objectives and together we have achieved important results in various fields, such as in Social Housing for example", he continued Palermo. “For the future, we believe that the contribution of the Foundations will be increasingly decisive in enabling CDP to implement the most effective initiatives capable of generating benefits at the local level”.
The 2019-2020 industrial plan of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti group finds space for the renewed commitment to support the local area with over 200 billion euros earmarked for the country's growth. There are numerous small and medium-sized enterprises already reached by CDP's activities in recent years: 4.000 companies which guarantees have been given for 200 million euro in the last three years and others 2.000 indirectly financed for over 500 million euros starting from 2016. This is accompanied by the direct financial support provided to large industrial companies, strategic for the area and with a significant impact on the national economy, such as the CNH Industrial Group, the FCA Bank Group and Exor, as explained by official press release.
The CDP Group's support for the Piedmont area also takes the form of the operations of the investee companies: they are 450.000 Piedmontese homes covered by the Open Fiber broadband network, for a total of over 1.200 municipalities in the region which will be reached with a total investment of over 185 million euro. Terna's Innovation Hub was inaugurated in Turin, to stimulate interaction between institutions, universities and companies, while around 200 million euro the resources invested by Italgas for the distribution of natural gas to over 190 thousand users of the Piedmontese capital and its hinterland, for the benefit of the territory. The activities of Cdp in Piedmont also affect local authorities: a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the Municipality of Turin to offer a organic support to the metropolitan fabric, strengthening local infrastructures, the development of the urban system and the productive fabric.
In the afternoon of 2 October, the Piedmont Region, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Finpiemonte have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.
The agreement was signed by Alberto Cirio, president of the Piedmont Region, Fabrizio Palermo, CEO of CDP, and by Stephen Ambrosini, president of Finpiemonte.
The agreement makes it possible to start a collaboration with Cdp, as a national promotional institute, aimed at promotion of alternative financing channels in favor of small and medium-sized Piedmontese enterprises. The Region will carry out guidance, impetus and coordination activities for the definition of the implementation methods of the initiatives. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will evaluate the possibility of intervening in the initiatives individually or together with other institutional investors and financial institutions, while Finpiemonte, as regional financial institution in support of the economic and social development and competitiveness of the territory, will act as an operational instrument of the Region for carrying out the activities.
The Group's commitment in Piedmont is also confirmed by the forthcoming opening of the Turin office, which aims to become a place for meeting and discussion with the public administration and businesses.
