The Banca Impresa Observatory, between the digital impact and the European vocation of Italian companies – WWN

Yesterday morning, in the spaces of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, in Milan, the Banca Impresa 2030 Observatory met for the second annual session of work which coincides with the fifth anniversary of activity.

Founded at the beginning of 2018 thanks to the fundamental contribution of the Varesotto Community Foundation, Corriere della Sera Foundation, Kpmg, Aifi, Liuc Business School and others The Economy of the Corriere della Serathe Observatory has been carrying out work of screening and analysis of the relationships between the business world and the credit system, proposing the reflections and testimonies of some of the most important managers in the sector in Italy.

Complexity

They have been five particularly complex and fascinating years, especially for the banking system which found itself to be stronger today than then after having gone through very severe tests, such as the management of Non-performing loans and the leap to digital imposed by the 2020 pandemic, in addition to the two most recent international conflicts. Having found solutions for NPLs, the national banking system was able to respond to the new operating parameters required by the health crisis only because the digital infrastructures were already ready, ignored but ready. And it was therefore enough to activate the channels to obtain the fundamental result of never closing banking operations, not even in the darkest weeks of the Covid season, making extensive use of remote working, which made it possible to keep all the financing channels active and of payment, thus avoiding the collapse of the system.

The development and diffusion of digital technologies in these five years has been significant. The fintechtechnological micro-companies have transformed from a customary phenomenon into reliable partners: not only groups of kids closed in the Italian equivalent of the American garage have staked part of their future on information technologies, but also long-term bankers, who have invested money own – as was the case of Aidexa, founded by the former general director of Unicredit Roberto Nicastro – or money from international investors – as in the case of illimity, the creation of the former Minister of Economy Corrado Passera -.

Parallel to the impetuous development of fintech and IT content, in recent years the resilience of the banking system has been revealed, which is itself changing. The birth of isybank, the relaunch of Buddy Bank, the role of Widiba and Webank are evidence that four of the first large national credit groups (Intesa, Unicredit, Mps and Banco Bpm) have concentrated attention and resources on the bank of the future, which it will be more digital, but it will continue to be a fundamental partner for businesses, especially when making strategic choices. If industry is increasingly being shown the path to foreign markets as a development path, banks cannot be outdone and must look to accompanying relationships with Italian companies in an organic and no longer episodic manner.

Accelerations

The pandemic has proven to be an extraordinary accelerator of the spread of information technologies and the Observatory, which had set the end of the current decade as the moment of synthesis of a new relationship between the worlds of finance and production, had to photograph that the change has already occurred and which continues daily on the strength of technological development. If digital has become an increasingly part of everyday life, banks have not been outdone and have evolved. This is demonstrated not only by the series of services now possible remotely, but also by the indicator that sums up efficiency, results and market expectations, namely the stock market capitalisation. On 13 June 2018, the date of the first half-yearly meeting of the Observatory, the top Italian commercial banks (Intesa, Unicredit, Banco Bpm, Monte dei Paschi, Bper, Credem and Ubi, whose assets are today divided between Intesa and Bper) capitalized 88,304 billion euros. On Friday 17 November 2023 their value was 112.08 billion euros. A growth in absolute terms of 23.7 billion, which is equivalent to 27 percent in five stormy years.

The meeting on Monday 20 November was dedicated to these topics, with the participation of Marco Corti of Kpmg, Giuseppe Castagna of Banco Bpm, Corrado Passera of illimity, Giovanni Pirovano of Banca Mediolanum, Alessandro Spada of Assolombarda, Alessandra Perrazzelli of Banca d’ Italy, Anna Maria Tarantola of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontefice Foundation, Giovanni Brugnoli of Confindustria, Innocenzo Cipolletta of Aifi, Flavia Mazzarella of Bper, Pier Carlo Padoan of Unicredit, in addition to the deputy director of Corriere della SeraDaniele Manca and the owner of the house, Giovanni Gorno Tempini, president of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

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