INTESA SANPAOLO AND NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY (INPS) SIGN AN AGREEMENT FOR PENSIONERS

Pensioners will be able to obtain financing in a simpler manner, directly from Group branches and without bureaucratic charges.

Rome, 21 September 2007 – Gian Paolo Sassi, Chairman of INPS, Mario Ciaccia, Managing Director of Banca Intesa Infrastrutture e Sviluppo and Andrea Crovetto, in charge of Retail and SME banking of the Banca dei Territori Division of Intesa Sanpaolo met in Rome today to sign an agreement aimed at facilitating access to financing for pensioners, against giving up a fifth of their pension.

Around 8 million pensioners will benefit from the agreement, on the sole condition that they have not reached their 80th birthday on the expiry date of the loan requested.

The main advantages of this agreement are as follows:

• very competitive terms for the loan to the pensioner Customer: for example, when requesting a ten-year loan, a 60 year old Customer with a net pension of Euro 1000 who relinquishes a fifth of his pension could receive up to about Euro 15,500 from the Bank;
• maximum transparency and no costs for setting up the arrangement: the Bank will not apply start-up charges. It will also inform the Customer of interest details, insurance premiums and the overall cost of the loan (AER);
• loan granted quickly: provided the pension is not already pledged elsewhere, the Bank will grant the loan within 48 hours of the application;
• direct relationship between the Bank and the pensioner Customer, thus avoiding unjustified cost increases;
• simple and swift communications: the Customer will be informed immediately of the outcome of the application.
 
The agreement signed today will become operative at all Intesa Sanpaolo Group subsidiaries as of 08/10/2007. In an initial transitional phase, the Customer must deliver to the Subsidiary the “Communication of the portion available” issued by the INPS provincial office concerned. During the following months, when INPS’s computer linkup is connected with the Bank, it will be enough to present only the pension pay-slip.

The agreement was made possible by the cooperation of two companies belonging to the banking Group: Banca Intesa Infrastrutture e Sviluppo – which is completing the formalities for integration with Banca OPI, to create the first Italian bank operating in the public finance sector and which has had a long-term relationship with INPS and NEOS Banca, a company specialised in consumer credit and capable of meeting all market requirements, giving its customers the financial resources to carry out any of their plans when they wish.

For further information:
Intesa Sanpaolo

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