PRESS RELEASE

COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE IREN GROUP AND INTESA SANPAOLO

DISCOUNTS ON ELECTRICITY AND GAS BILLS
FOR CUSTOMERS OF GROUP BANKS

• The Iren Group and Intesa Sanpaolo sign a co-marketing agreement aimed at retail customers of Intesa Sanpaolo Group Banks who pay their electricity and gas bills by direct debit to their accounts
• The partnership is part of the customer loyalty initiatives promoted by the Bank in order to provide its customers exclusive advantages, quality offers and opportunities to save on day-to-day expenses: overall, in 2015 the average savings offered to households will amount to approximately 1,000 euro
• The agreement marks the beginning of a partnership between Iren Group and Intesa Sanpaolo to offer additional innovative services in the area of energy efficiency and savings

Turin, 19 December 2014 – Intesa Sanpaolo and Iren Group have launched a new partnership to offer customers of Group Banks an opportunity for transparent, immediate savings on their energy consumption.

The agreement was signed in Turin, at the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Centre, by Valter Pallano, Managing Director of Iren Mercato, and Stefano Barrese, head of the banking Group's Sales and Marketing Area, in the presence of Francesco Profumo, Chairman of Iren, Carlo Messina, Managing Director and CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, and Maurizio Montagnese, head of the Chief Innovation Officer Governance Area of Intesa Sanpaolo.
 
Electricity and gas bills represent a significant, and difficult to contain, portion of the budgets of households, who allocate the considerable share of 35% of their monthly outlays to expenses relating to their homes and energy. Consequently, the partnership calls for a discount of 15% for the first year and of 10% for subsequent years, applied to all Intesa Sanpaolo customers who, from now until 28 February, activate direct debit service on their accounts for their bills. Savings on bills will be offered not only to customers of the Bank who become new Iren customers, but also to those who already have a supply contract in force with the Bank's initiative partner.

Obtaining the discount is easy: from the websites of Intesa Sanpaolo Group Banks, users may access a Web page dedicated to the agreement. After completing a form with his or her details, the customer will be contacted directly by the Iren Group's customer service representatives, and will then be able to proceed rapidly with the formalisation of the new contract under the conditions envisaged in the agreement, or with the discount applied to contracts already in force.

The partnership between Intesa Sanpaolo and the Iren Group is based on the common objective of establishing an increasingly close relationship with their customers, at a time of economic crisis that has not yet been overcome and cautious consumer behaviour, by offering exclusive advantages and high-quality services. The meeting in Turin marked the launch of ongoing discussions to define strategies and the next steps for the partnership, which aims to focus in particular on offering Intesa Sanpaolo and Iren Group customers innovative services in the energy savings and efficiency area.

Iren is one of the foremost multiutility groups on the Italian market and is active in the sectors of electrical power (generation, distribution and sale), thermal energy for remote heating (generation and sale), gas (distribution and sale), integrated water service management, environmental services (waste collection and disposal) and services for public entities. The Group is focused on energy and environmental consulting, in order to offer customers valued-added services, capable of providing practical responses to the need for greater efficiency and cost reduction.   

For Intesa Sanpaolo, the diversification of its commercial offerings into non-banking sectors is part of the guidelines of its 2014-2017 Business Plan and is aimed at reinforcing its services in sectors that have a particular impact on the budgets of the over 11 million customers of Banca dei Territori, consisting of retail, micro-enterprise and corporate customers. In addition to that with Iren, partnerships are already in place with companies such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and TotalErg. Overall, in 2015 the average savings offered to households will amount to approximately 1,000 euro.

Francesco Profumo commented: "The partnership launched between the Iren Group and Intesa Sanpaolo is a virtuous cycle in which the two Groups' customers are offered important opportunities not just to optimise gas and electrical power costs, but also, in an immediate future, to reduce waste and optimise energy management for households and businesses. It is a partnership that proposes a model in which the advantages for customers, advantages for the environment and, more generally, advantages for the entire community are interwoven with and reinforce one another. The Iren Group wants to consolidate this model and apply it to other contexts with the purpose of offering concrete examples of the design of innovative solutions which meet customers' actual needs."

Carlo Messina commented: "The partnership agreements signed with leading partners allow us to take a broader approach to managing relationships with our customers, which, along with our focus on the market, is the foundation of the most significant developments of the new Banca dei Territori service and organisational model. We aim to go beyond the finance, investment and payment banking operations by offering dedicated non-banking services to drive growth as well. In addition, in more traditional sectors, through our integrated multi-channel approach, we are providing our customers with access to powerful innovations, which will increasingly allow branches to be integrated with the Internet and mobile-banking environment."

 

 

 

 

 

 

For further information: 
 
Intesa Sanpaolo
Banca dei Territori Media and Local Media
Tel. +39 011.5559609
stampa@intesasanpaolo.com

Iren
Media Relations
Tel. + 39 0521.248267 Cell. + 39 335.7723476
selina.xerra@gruppoiren.it