The results for the first quarter 2023 confirm that the Intesa Sanpaolo Group is able to generate sustainable profitability even in complex contexts thanks to its well-diversified and resilient business model, with net income of nearly €2bn 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 was further reduced and was down by around 70% (over €2.5bn) on end of June 2022 to 0.2% of the Group’s total customer loans.

The solid performance of income statement and balance sheet in the quarter translated into significant value creation for all stakeholders, also grounded in the Group’s strong ESG commitment: specifically, €1.4bn dividends accrued, €1.4bn taxes generated and increased by around €300m on Q1 2022 as a consequence of the net interest income growth which has driven the increase of around €900m in net income, expanding the food and shelter programme for people in need (around 24.3m interventions in the period 2022 - Q1 2023), enhancing initiatives to fight inequalities and favour financial, social, educational and cultural inclusion (€10.5bn of social lending and urban regeneration in the period 2022 - Q1 2023).

Significant ESG commitment, with a world-class position in social impact and 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;
• - recognised in the Refinitiv Global Diversity and Inclusion Index 2022 as the first bank in Europe, the second worldwide, and the only one in Italy among the top 100 companies for diversity and inclusion;
• - 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;
• - among the first in Europe to receive the Gender Equality European & International Standard (GEEIS Diversity), the prestigious international certification assessing the commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The formula of the 2022-2025 Business Plan is confirmed, with a clear and strong upside for the €6.5bn net income target in 2025 deriving from the interest rate increase. The implementation of the Plan is proceeding at full speed, with the key industrial initiatives well underway.

Intesa Sanpaolo continues to operate as a growth accelerator in the real economy: with around €15bn of medium/long-term new lending in Q1 2023. Loans amounting to around €10bn were granted in Italy, of which around €9bn was granted to households and SMEs. In Q1 2023, the Group facilitated the return from non-performing to performing status of around 900 companies thus safeguarding around 4,500 jobs. This brought the total to over 138,000 companies since 2014, thus safeguarding around 691,000 jobs over the same period. 

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.