Ubi Banca joins the big family of NBA basketball. It is the first Italian financial group to join the most famous basketball league in the world, the one where not only the Italians Gallinari and Belinelli play but also people of the caliber of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and which in Italy has millions of fans. "In Italy there are 5 million NBA fans, of which 3,4 million can be defined as avid fans," explained Riccardo Tramezzani, head of the retail area at Ubi Banca, announcing a multi-year partnership in the retail banking sector.
Starting this season, therefore, Ubi will be the official NBA bank for Italy and the agreement also provides for the offer of prepaid cards that can be customized with the logos and colors of the thirty NBA teams, already available in Ubi branches and online. Furthermore, the creation of dedicated NBA spaces in some branches of the group and the creation of promotion campaigns through digital marketing activities aimed at increasing the involvement of younger customers are planned. Ubi will also contribute to the promotion of the NBA by making it available to its customers the chance to win tickets and access to restricted areas to attend both the NBA Global Games (matches played outside the US) both at matches in the United States.
The institute has not disclosed the figures of the partnership agreement, but the managing director Victor Massiah underlined that “it's a pretty serious thing, given that we're talking about a global brand. But it's nothing disproportionate,” he added. The CEO then clarified that the deal didn't come after a race ended, suggesting that, as Ubi has chosen the NBA, the NBA has chosen Ubi: "We didn't have to fight a duel and I consider it a compliment", he clarified, not excluding other partnerships after the national one with Juventus. In fact, Ubi could also be interested in realities in its historical territory of roots such as, for example, Atalanta, which “already had a relationship with another bank and obviously two banks cannot coexist. If the opportunity arises in the future, we would certainly look at Atalanta as well”, concluded Massiah.
