PRESS RELEASE

Third edition of the
DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING INNOVATION AWARDS 2015
sponsored by Efma and Accenture

THE INTESA SANPAOLO GROUP AWARDED 1ST PRIZE IN THE
“PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION” CATEGORY
FOR ITS “ZERO PAPER BRANCH” PROJECT

• The Intesa Sanpaolo Group is one of the first winners of the competition that identifies the most innovative projects and best practices in the retail financial service sector at a global level
• Intesa Sanpaolo has gradually extended contract dematerialisation functions to the entire Banca dei Territori network, streamlining processes thanks to new forms of paperless signatures
• The project, the result of close collaboration between the Banca dei Territori Division and the Chief Innovation Officer Governance Area of Intesa Sanpaolo, forms part of a wider process which aims at enhancing the customer experience by saving time and improving the quality of our relations with our customers

Turin, 29 October 2015 - The Intesa Sanpaolo Group has won an award from Efma and Accenture for its “dematerialisation of contracts” project, launched right across the Banca dei Territori network with the ambitious goal of completely eliminating, by next year, handwritten signatures and the use of paper in branches, with a gradual process of IT development, staff training and frequent customer communications.

The prize was awarded yesterday, in the “Physical Distribution” category, during the official ceremony of the Distribution & Marketing Innovation Awards 2015 in Amsterdam.

Gradually introduced since May in Retail and Personal branches, the project seeks to streamline processes and improve the customer experience using new homogeneous paperless signature methods in the various touch points (in branches, at the customer’s home, via internet banking, in contact centres,…).

Customers can view the proposal on a tablet and sign it by choosing from one of the two methods of signature made available by the Bank, both of which have the same legal value as a handwritten signature: a graphometric signature made on an electronic tablet or a remote digital signature (RDS), providing the PIN of the digital signature and the one-time password generated via the O-KeyPiù service. In this way customers receive a copy of the documentation in electronic format directly via email or their internet banking service.

The elimination of the handwritten signature using the above solutions also makes it possible to reduce operational risks, ensuring the presence of all necessary signatures through automatic controls included in the signature process and guaranteeing the complete traceability of the documents, stored in a single Group digital repository.

Last but not least, there is the additional goal of greater respect for the environment - with a reduction in operating costs at the same time - in accordance with the Bank’s environmental policy: thanks to the elimination of paper, it is estimated that it will be possible to save up to 350 tonnes of paper a year with a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions.

At present, around 1200 branches have already gone paperless (rising to 2500 by the end of 2015). 40% of managers have a tablet for signatures and are therefore already enabled for the dematerialisation of cards, investments and mandatory questionnaires (e.g. MiFID, anti-money laundering, Fatca). At the start of October, one transaction in every five had already become paperless. By the end of the first half of 2016 all branches will have made the switch with the main contracts and documents dedicated to retail customers completely dematerialised (of course, should customers require so, they will continue to receive a paper copy of the documentation).

However, the Intesa Sanpaolo “Zero paper branch” project goes beyond the streamlining and efficiency of processes. In actual fact, it is a genuine Bank revamping process that fits perfectly with the new service model and the in-depth rethinking of the branch’s spaces and functions: not just a branch providing services but a homely and welcoming meeting place. The customer experience is refined and made unique thanks to the continuity between all of the Bank’s access points in an integrated multi-channel approach, while the in-branch experience, the core of our relationship with our customers, is focused on consultancy and commercial proposals.

According to Massimo Tessitore, head of the Intesa Sanpaolo’s Integrated Multi-channel Department, who yesterday accepted the prize on the Bank’s behalf and was involved in the various activities throughout the day: “This recognition obtained by Intesa Sanpaolo confirms the quality of a project in which we have decided to greatly invest resources, training and energy. It is also significant that for the third consecutive year Intesa Sanpaolo has stood out among the many institutions from all over the world thanks to an initiative which, once again, underlines our desire to save time and improve the quality of our relations with our customers. Our drive to innovation is increasingly central to our strategy and the way we operate; it’s crucial in order for us to continue the transformation of our service model, which is built around our customers and our people.”

In the two previous editions of the Awards, Intesa Sanpaolo had received first prize, respectively, for its project to redesign the commercial relations between customers and managers - which moved the main focus from success in sales to the quality of relation - and for its deep innovation of the multi-banking customer management, extending the traditional analysis with a predictive analytics-based approach.

The www.efma.com/accenture website includes a description of the Intesa Sanpaolo’s project, along with 500 innovations by 212 financial institutions from 61 countries.

For further information

Intesa Sanpaolo                                                        
Media Relations
Banca dei Territori and Local Media
Tel. +39 0115559609
stampa@intesasanpaolo.com