Intesa Sanpaolo-Confcommercio agreement: zero fees on POS micropayments
Intesa Sanpaolo and Confcommercio Imprese per l'Italia have signed an agreement that makes an additional €5 bln in credit available to member companies - within the framework of the €410 billion earmarked for objectives linked to the NRRP - to support competitiveness, technological and digital innovation and energy efficiency.
Confcommercio Imprese per l'Italia - Italian General Confederation of Enterprises, Professions and Self-Employment - is the largest business association in Italy.
The benefits afforded by the new agreement include:
- zero fees on POS micropayments
- short-term financing directly accessible from the dedicated internet channel.
With the aim of encouraging the spread of digital payments and facilitating access to credit, the measures envisaged respond above all to the needs expressed by smaller businesses.
"Today's agreement confirms that collaborating with trade associations and listening to our customers is essential in order to provide concrete answers to their needs. Zeroed fees on micropayments, other POS subsidies and easy access to credit through our digital channels will enable us to support investments to improve business. The objective that we share with Confcommercio is to stimulate technological and digital innovation in the sector, as well as energy efficiency, which has an increasing impact on small businesses too”
Stefano Barrese, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori Division
In 2020-2024, Intesa Sanpaolo disbursed around €18 billion to Italian retail and wholesale trade companies.
The contents of the new Agreement will be explained to the Confederation’s members in a series of local meetings and concern, in greater detail:
- multi-channel and advanced payment solutions and tools (e.g. SmartPOS) enabling multiple services (e.g. tipping)
- access to a new innovative dematerialised and digitised credit process
- support for investment projects in digitisation and renewable energy
- definition of sustainable business models, also thanks to Intesa Sanpaolo's ESG Laboratories
- tools to facilitate the creation of new activities and the development of female entrepreneurship.
The trade sector has more than one million enterprises, employs around 3.7 million people and generates an added value of €230.5 billion. Its relevance ranges from 12.1% when considering employees to 23.1% in terms of enterprises.
In commerce, micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees) play an important role, accounting for 96% of the total and employing 53.5% of the workforce. These percentages rise to 99.6% and 71.8% respectively when small enterprises (between 10 and 49 employees) are added. Medium-sized and large enterprises, while absorbing only 28.2% of the workforce, account for 43.1% in terms of added value, thanks to good levels of labour productivity, which in turn is favoured by a good propensity to invest.
After collapsing in 2020 due to the pandemic, the sector showed sustained growth over the following three years, registering 8.6 % higher value added in 2023 at like-for-like prices, compared with 2019. After the slowdown in 2024, expectations for 2025 are moderately positive: the recovery in household purchasing power should contribute to a recovery in consumption, with positive effects on business activity.
Over the past few years, trade companies have shown good growth in investment, which rose by +20.5% from 2016 to 2022. An important contribution came from investments in machinery and equipment (+15.5%), computers (+67%), software and databases (+35%) and R&D (+26.5%).
There remains much room for improvement. In 2021-2022, the share of companies in the sector with at least three employees engaged in innovation was 37.4%. The low percentages found among the smallest enterprises weigh heavily; in medium-sized enterprises it rises to 65%, while in large enterprises it reaches 76%. When considering the adoption of actions to improve environmental sustainability, the overall sector figure stands at 37.2%, while that of the large ones is close to 70%.
The numbers in this text are taken from Istat statistics: national economic accounts, permanent census of enterprises, economic accounts of enterprises.
Last updated 4 March 2025 at 09:34:44
