Mauro Micillo: infrastructure is a key driver for sustainable growth
6 August 2025
“We believe infrastructure is a key driver for sustainable growth”, said Mauro Micillo – Head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division – in a recent interview with The Banker, the Financial Times Group’s benchmark publication for international banking.
Intesa Sanpaolo positions itself as a strategic partner for the United Kingdom to support the UK government’s massive €846 billion infrastructure plan over the next ten years, because “few banks have this type of speciality and competency in infrastructure financing that we have”, Micillo emphasized.
“Infrastructure financing is the single most important global product we have across our footprint in 24 countries, including Italy. We have financed very important projects in the US, UK, Australia and Sweden”, Micillo highlighted. He noted that in 2024, Intesa Sanpaolo was involved in 15% of the global project finance market.
Some highlights from the interview with Mauro Micillo, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division:
Intesa Sanpaolo’s role in driving infrastructure financing
- Intesa Sanpaolo is "well positioned to be a partner and help the UK government in deploying and finding private capital for the country’s infrastructure plan" thanks to its specialization and expertise
- In 2024, global project finance volumes surpassed €300 billion, with transactions involving Intesa Sanpaolo’s IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division totaling around €45 billion - nearly 15% of the global total
- Infrastructure projects require massive investments, and “the plan that the UK has ready to put in place to attract capital is ok. So this is why Intesa Sanpaolo thinks the UK is the place to be with such an important plan going forward”
- Micillo also noted that the UK could look to the US for additional financing models: “They are using a mechanism where the tax credit is given by the federal authority, so the government is considered [the equity portion] of the overall financial scheme”, a model which, in his view, could inspire more sophisticated solutions in the United Kingdom as well
- In the UK, Intesa Sanpaolo has already taken part in major infrastructure projects, such as the financing of ENI’s Liverpool Bay T&S project for the transport and storage of CO₂ in Liverpool Bay
Infrastructure and sustainability
- “We believe infrastructure is a key driver for sustainable growth”, as also emphasized by Mario Draghi, who has said that “investing in infrastructure, whether energy or digital, will be the key for prosperity for the EU”
- Infrastructure and sustainability are two sides of the same coin, as there can be no sustainability without the right infrastructure. Project finance serves as a bridge between the two: a growing number of bankers have recognized the link between resilient infrastructure and the fight against climate change
- Infrastructure therefore serves as a kind of barometer — “a good proxy of worldwide GDP growth"
Europe and the challenge of Eurobond
- “By having a single common debt instrument, we could become the alternative to the US dollar” also considering that “issuing common debt is much easier than doing the full political union”
- Europe should be pragmatic, act decisively, and move quickly by selecting five areas of “common goods” that European citizens wish to share, such as security, infrastructure, education, culture, and, above all, a common debt instrument: “We need to invest using a common debt instrument, or the Eurobond to call it by the right name”
Comparison between European and US banks
- Size matters: “Having more powerful European banks, especially in the corporate investment banking business, where the big infrastructure deals happen”, as “you need big banks to handle these transactions”
- The leading US banks are not as strong in infrastructure financing, focusing instead on activities they consider more profitable in the domestic market
- There is a need to “think about having a level playing field in terms of regulation with the US banks”, while avoiding a race to the bottom in banking regulation: “In Europe, we are super safe but at a cost”
- For Intesa Sanpaolo, being a “super safe” bank has nevertheless paid of: “As a bank, we are super safe and it is part of our heritage and tradition to not be too aggressive”, Micillo said. “But we have made money, during my tenure over the past 10 years we have made €16bn in the Corporate & Investment Banking Division.”
The interview with Mauro Micillo by The Banker was conducted by Michael Klimes on the occasion of the conference “Infrastructure and Growth Opportunities for Europe and the UK: Focus on the UK Infrastructure Strategy”, organized by IMI Corporate & Investment Banking in London on 15 July 2025.
