“We will decide within a few months, no later than half a year”. Federico Ghizzoni, ad of unicredit, thus confirming the talks with Intesa for the creation of a vehicle, open to the giant Use Kkr, on restructured loans". It is a different project from the bad bank, because it includes performing and restructured companies.” And then, for the avoidance of doubt, "no one has offered me a system bad bank". Nor Enrico Letta, illustrious guest at the party for the inauguration of the Unicredit skyscraper which, he stresses jokingly with the president Roberto Maroni, "is taller than that of the Lombardy Region".
The Prime Minister does not speak of Bad Bank. Or maybe yes because, after having explained to the audience (a true parterre de rois, from Giovani Bazoli to Roman, Prodi, the president of the Confindustria Giorgio Squinzi) that "there is a need for trust, credit, tax simplification, work, all issues that will be part of the Government Agenda" and recommended to Unicredit to "always remember to be a local bank" because "many SMEs that turn to to you because they have an idea',' takes advantage of a cultured reference to illustrate the current situation. “Dear Federico – he says to Ghizzoni – I suggest you read an extraordinary book that talks about the future even if linked to the figure of Jacques Coeur, the banker of the kings of France”. In the book, Coeur is defined as "a man of dreams - said Letta -, because starting from the French province he invests and never sets aside. Things go wrong for him and he leaves again and thanks to his continuous investing, his country has found success ”. And therefore, the wish that the prime minister has made is "that you remember that this is your man. The man of dreams is the one who looks into the distance”.
In short, there are no quarters. And the banker, while keeping his feet on the ground, must look beyond the present which does not make one happy. The president of Abi, Antonio Patuelli puts on a good face, even if he is bitter. ”I have no prejudices about the public-private Bad Bank – he replied on the sidelines of the meeting – but the initiative cannot come from us bankers but from a public entity which, in recent years, instead of helping us, up to now has increased bank taxes". And then, thinking back to the Intesa-Unicredit axis (but not only) he adds: "There are many models that the banks are developing with initiatives that are not systemic but market ones", added Patuelli. These reflections do not spoil the Unicredit party. On the contrary, as Ghizzoni points out, Unicredit has now got into gear for recovery. The 2014 budget in terms of loans is much more generous than last year's. The growth of problem loans is set to slow down. Above all, he added, "over the next three years we will invest 2,5 billion in technology". And in the meantime, he presents to his guests, including a very attentive Romani Prodi ("we really are in a country of madmen", he replies to those who ask him for a comment on the controversies surrounding President Napolitano's "conspiracy"), the branch of the future which, on the land in Piazza Gae Aulenti, is already active.
The news? On the ground floor a customer manager which welcomes visitors to a workstation equipped with software specially developed to eliminate queues and make appointments with consultants, as well as solve the most basic problems.
In the waiting area, a large touch screen allows you to read the newspapers, but, thanks to the tablet equipment, the customer can also surf the Internet thanks to the wi-fi. There is a room dedicated to foreigners equipped with a pad for the collection and use of electronic signatures, which cannot be falsified. Finally, thanks to a video room, customers will be able to carry out up to 22 types of operations until 70 pm. “Within three years - the country manager Gabriele Piccini - we will have a thousand points of sale like this”. Then, hopefully, the crisis will be behind us.
