Enhancement of female talent

Intesa Sanpaolo is a supporting member of Valore D, the association of businesses to promote female diversity, talent and leadership for the growth of companies and the country.

In 2017 Valore D launched the Manifesto for Female Employment, a programmatic commitment shared by the associated companies, including Intesa Sanpaolo. The Partnership is a constant opportunity to spread and increase the inclusive culture, also through numerous training initiatives and dedicated development paths. Among the topics discussed: leadership, entrepreneurship, inclusive strategies, work-life balance.

In collaboration with Valore D, Intesa Sanpaolo supports InspirinGirls Italia, a project that envisages the section of female managers of the Group as role models, who meet girls and boys from of high schools, to convey a message of inclusion and help overcome gender stereotypes that can hinder school-age dreams and ambitions and influence the choice of subsequent educational paths. The Group has participated in more than 100 corporate Role Models.

STEM is the English acronym for "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" and indicates the scientific-technological disciplines and related courses of study.

Within Intesa Sanpaolo, professional skills in the STEM field are carried out for approximatively 33% by women and the Group pays particular attention to the enhancement of female talent within these contexts, with the aim of facilitating a greater gender balance in situations where technical-scientific-IT jobs are prevalent . In these contexts, Intesa Sanpaolo works with the utmost care and attention to support their growth.

In particular, 41,7% of IT and Engineering positions within the Group are covered by women (the data covers more than 80% of the Group’s overall workforce).

With regard to the enhancement of female talent, Intesa Sanpaolo has launched the YEP - Mentoring for the Future of University Students path, developed in collaboration with Ortygia Business School. The initiative includes a mentoring process aimed at bringing young female students (mentees) from Southern Italy closer to the world of work, benefiting - through individual coaching - from the experience of Intesa Sanpaolo female managers and professionals (mentors). Through partnerships with the Universities of Southern Italy, five scholarships will also be disbursed over the next three years to female students for study paths at STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) faculties, to actively contribute to attracting more female students in technical-scientific faculties, which offer greater employment prospects. 

In addition, Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center support and accompany young students in their choice of STEM degree courses at the Politecnico di Milano. Thanks to the Girls @ Polimi program, promoted by the Politecnico di Milano, our Group offers 8 scholarships for as many young and future engineers.

Intesa Sanpaolo with the Marisa Bellisario Foundation, has set up in 2017 the "Women Value Company " award. The award, in 2022 at the sixth edition, is dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises that have implemented concrete and innovative policies and strategies to guarantee men and women equal opportunities and career recognition. From about 800 candidates from all over Italy for the 2022 edition, 100 SMEs received awards in the final event that was held in June 2022, entitled “The enhancement of female talent and gender equality in successful business strategies”.

Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the under-subscribers of the ABI Charter "Women in the Bank; gender diversity." In accordance with the principles promoted by the Italian Banking Association, Intesa Sanpaolo is committed to enhancing its business policies according to the principle of equal opportunities, promoting an inclusive and open working environment to all values of diversity, strengthening its processes to promote gender equality and full female participation at every level of the company. 

To bring the values ​​of inclusion also outside the context of the Group, during 2022 we actively participated in various events dedicated to the themes of enhancing diversity, including: 4 Weeks 4 Inclusion, the marathon of meetings dedicated to D&I issues a more than 300 companies have joined; “Giovani e futuro: verso uno sviluppo sostenibile” (Youth and the future: towards sustainable development), the event organised by University for SDGs to promote the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.

In 2022, the International Subsidiary Banks confirmed and enriched the various commitments in order to strengthen the D&I Structure through a number of local initiatives. Among these, Banca Intesa Beograd was awarded the “Disrupt Award” for the “Banca Intesa’s Diversity and Inclusion Business Calendar 2022” communication project, recognised as one of the best in the local market, in the context of communication choices on social issues. Alexbank joined the Egyptian Gender Equity Seal, a certification process successfully completed in 2022, in collaboration with the National Council for Women, aimed at promoting equality and removing gender discrimination, which focuses on four areas: recruitment, professional development, work/family balance and policies against sexual harassment. For the fourth consecutive year, CIB Bank received the “Family Friendly Company” award from the Hungarian Foundation “Three Princes, Three Princesses Movement” for the various initiatives in favour of its employees and in support of families; moreover, it won the “Lovable Workplaces Award” received from “Dreamjobs”, based on employees’ votes, for the Bank’s initiative in relation to the quality of the working environment. VÚB Banka and PBZ continued with internal initiatives the process started in 2021, the year in which they were locally recognised as Banks engaged in the promotion of D&I issues.