A bank of excellence in support of the real economy

The results for the first nine months of 2023 confirm that the Intesa Sanpaolo Group is able to generate sustainable profitability even in complex environments thanks to its well-diversified and resilient business model, with net income of €6.1bn driven by net interest income. 

Intesa Sanpaolo is fully equipped to continue operating successfully in the future given the Group’s key strengths, notably resilient profitability, a solid capital position, the “zero-NPL” Bank status and high flexibility in managing operating costs. The exposure to Russia has been further reduced: down by around 80% (€2.9bn) on end of June 2022 and now below 0.2% of the Group’s total customer loans.

The implementation of the 2022-2025 Business Plan is proceeding at full speed and the key industrial initiatives are well underway, with the prospect that 2024 and 2025 net income will be higher than that envisaged for 2023.

Technology is a further key factor to succeed, generating additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €500m, not envisaged in the 2022-2025 Business Plan^(*):

• new cloud-native technological platform (isytech), already available to mass market retail customers with the recent launch of the digital bank, Isybank, and to be progressively extended to the entire Group: €2.1bn in IT investments already deployed and around 1,300 IT specialists already hired, with an additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €150m, not envisaged in the Business Plan;

• new digital channels:

- Isybank, the Group’s digital bank with a lower-than-30% cost/income business model and around 5 million customers by 2025 (over 2.5 million by the first quarter of 2024), of which around 1 million being new customers - with an additional contribution to gross income of around €200m by 2025 - not envisaged in the Business Plan: around 50,000 new customers already acquired and a first group of around 300,000 customers already migrated;

- Fideuram Direct, the digital Wealth Management platform for Private Banking, with around 150,000 customers in 2025 (around 20% of the current Fideuram customer base);

• artificial intelligence, with around 150 Apps and 300 specialists in 2025 (already 70 Apps and around 150 specialists at end of September 2023) and an additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €100m, not envisaged in the Business Plan, not including potential upside from the adoption of Generative AI solutions.

The solid performance of income statement and balance sheet in the first nine months of the year translated into significant value creation for all stakeholders which is also grounded in the Group’s strong ESG commitment: specifically, around €4.3bn dividends accrued (around €2.6bn of which will be distributed in November 2023 as interim dividends) and €4bn taxes generated and increased by around €1.1bn on 9M 2022 as a consequence of the net interest income growth which has driven the net income increase of around €2.8bn, expansion of the food and shelter programme for people in need (over 32 million interventions in the period 2022 – 9M 2023), enhancement of initiatives to fight inequalities and foster financial, social, educational and cultural inclusion (around €13.5bn of social lending and urban regeneration in the period 2022 – 9M 2023), an amount equal to around €1.5bn total costs to be contributed in the five-year period 2023-2027 to support initiatives addressing social needs (already included, on a pro-rata basis, in the outlook for 2023-2025 net income).
Significant ESG commitment, with a world-class position in social impact and a strong focus on climate and reinforcement of the ESG governance, with the Risks Committee which in April 2022 became the Risks and Sustainability Committee with enhanced ESG responsibilities.
Intesa Sanpaolo is the only Italian bank listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, in the CDP Climate A List 2022 and in the 2023 Corporate Knights “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Index” and ranks first among the banks of the peer group by Sustainalytics and Bloomberg (ESG Disclosure Score) international assessments. Furthermore, Intesa Sanpaolo:

- has been included for the sixth consecutive year in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2023, obtaining a score well above the average of the global financial sector and of Italian companies;

- has been recognised in the Refinitiv Global Diversity and Inclusion Index 2023 as the first bank in Europe, and the only one in Italy among the top 100 companies for diversity and inclusion;

- has ranked first in the global ESG Corporate Award ranking, in the Best Company for Diversity Equity & Inclusion category, among large cap companies;

- has been the first major Italian banking group to obtain the certification for gender parity “Prassi di Riferimento (PDR) 125:2022” envisaged by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, thanks to its commitment to diversity and inclusion;

- has undergone a mid-term audit, with successful outcome, to maintain the Gender Equality European & International Standard (GEEIS-Diversity) certification achieved in 2021.

Intesa Sanpaolo continues to operate as a growth accelerator in the real economy: with around €44bn of medium/long-term new lending in 9M 2023. Loans amounting to around €29bn were granted in Italy, of which around €26bn was granted to households and SMEs. In 9M 2023, the Group facilitated the return from non-performing to performing status of 2,800 companies thus safeguarding 14,000 jobs. This brought the total to 140,000 companies since 2014, thus safeguarding 700,000 jobs over the same period.

(*) Additional contribution to 2025 gross income from isytech, Isybank, Fideuram Direct and Artificial Intelligence, which offsets the impact from higher inflation and the renewal of the labour contract.

We endeavour to guarantee our sound capital base and the sustainability of results over time, striving to create a relationship of trust with our customers, our shareholders and the territories in which we operate. In Italy, where we have the largest network of bank branches in the country, we aim to act as the driver of the real economy and make our contribution to community development. We also operate in 37 countries.

Conscious of the value of our activity in Italy and abroad in Europe, Egypt and Brazil we promote a style of growth that is attentive to financial strength and capital solidity, sustainable results and the creation of a process based on the trust deriving from customer and shareholder satisfaction, a sense of belonging on the part of our employees and close monitoring of the needs of the community and the local area. We compete on the market with a sense of fair play and are ready to cooperate with other economic entities - both private and public - whenever necessary to reinforce the overall capacity for growth of the economies of the countries in which we operate.