Address by Chairman Gros-Pietro at the 31st ASSIOM FOREX Congress

Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo, spoke at the 31st ASSIOM FOREX Congress, the annual gathering of Italy’s financial market operators.

In his address, Gros-Pietro underscored the strength of the Italian financial sector and its capacity to significantly support the necessary investments to navigate the dual green and digital transitions, as well as to address crises.

Themes addressed in his speech:

Today’s epochal changes

• “We are experiencing profound changes. Two stand out as truly epochal: climate change, which is altering the planet's physical and biological balance, and geopolitical shifts, which are redefining the roles of the North and the West in the world.”
• “To confront these, we possess unprecedented scientific and technological capabilities. Financial operators are vital, as we are accustomed to evaluating and steering long-term initiatives towards the desired outcomes.”

The strength of Italy’s banking system after the financial crisis

• “In Italy, banks have played a crucial role in recovery, safeguarding depositors, restructuring struggling competitors, and rescuing their creditors. This success has had enduring effects.”
• “Today, if we look at the Eurozone bank rankings by market capitalisation, we find that the top five spots are dominated by former PIGS countries: two Italian banks, two Spanish banks, and only one French bank - none from Germany, the Netherlands, or any of the so-called ‘frugal’ countries.” 
• “I believe Italy is home to the most dynamic and competitive banking market.”

Finance for transition and resilience

• “Italy and Europe must now advance further. We, as financial operators, can provide substantial support for the necessary investments to navigate transitions and address crises.”
• “We can also help assess the objectives of these transitions and the paths to achieve them safely.”
• “As financial operators, we must position ourselves to act as supports, preventing errors along the way, not just for clients but for all stakeholders, including public, service, administrative, and governmental bodies, at every level: local, national, supranational.”

Investing in the information paradigm

• “European financial operators must invest in the information paradigm, in people and technologies, enhancing operational capabilities in service to society and institutions. We are best equipped in terms of data ownership, market positions, and investment capacity, but we must compete in terms of time, performance, and costs. To achieve this, we must be on an equal footing with operators, particularly from the big tech sector.”
• “There will be no level playing field as long as financial operators remain obligated to grant big tech companies free access to consenting clients’ data, without reciprocity. This data - of immense value, collected, verified, updated, stored, and protected by European banks at significant cost - are being made freely available to competitors, most of whom are largely non-European.”

The “treasure” of European private savings

• “We must remember our treasure to defend and enhance: European private savings. Yesterday, a figure of 35 trillion euros was mentioned. This is a privileged source, vital for financing, alongside public sources, the estimated 800 billion euros annually required for Europe to undertake the necessary transitions and organise a common defence.”
• “From this perspective too, the financial industry is an essential tool to safeguard and develop.”

Three factors to deploy: people, operational structures, a societal model

• “The first factor is people, their knowledge, and their ability to utilise it to develop tools for users. We must train, attract, and retain these individuals, offering them opportunities to enhance and expand their professional assets, while ensuring compatibility between professional commitments and positive family developments.”
• “The second factor is operational structures, which must be more effective in performance, efficient in cost containment, and resource consumption.”
• “The third factor is a societal model that can absorb changes without generating exclusion or unsustainable social hardship, which would otherwise bring hinder a transition.”

The 31st edition of the ASSIOM FOREX Congress - of which Intesa Sanpaolo served as the Main Partner - was held on February 14th and 15th, 2025 in Turin.