Good evening. We begin this meeting with the press. As you know, today the bank communicated its 2025 results and the 2026-2029 business plan. The meeting will feature an introductory address by Managing Director Carlo Messina, followed by ample time for questions. With us also is Chairman Gianmaria Cospietro, who will also be available for questions. Thank you. Please, Dr. Messina.
I'll briefly describe our business plan, then open the floor to questions, as the presentation has already been delivered to investors. I'll cover only the key concepts defining this new phase for Intesa Sanpaolo.
We have completed a significant growth trajectory across all key variables in banking, insurance, and asset management, and we are ready to enter a new phase where our major technology investment enables us to compete both domestically and internationally.
We are shifting focus from Italy—while it remains our primary profit source—toward growth using technology as the strategic lever for expansion beyond Italy. This plan values our strengths, starting with the exceptional work of our people. We are a champion of wealth management with 1.5 trillion euros in assets under management—a European leader. Our model of financial promoters, private bankers, and now Global Advisors is unique in Europe.
There will be strong acceleration in exclusive and private banking, corporate banking, and the foreign banks division. The true vanguard of this plan is what we call EasyWealth Europe. Through EasyTech—a cloud-based information system—we will have by 2027 a component managing wealth management for the affluent, exclusive, and private segments using state-of-the-art technology.
For international diversification, acquiring banks involves goodwill payments, litigation, and geopolitical friction. Instead, we will transform our existing well-managed branches using the EasyTech system. We won't build digital banks to enter countries—we will use our existing branches with EasyTech for wealth management development, hiring financial advisors and private bankers.
We sold non-performing loans to present zero NPLs in countries where banks historically looked down on us. This reinforces our wealth management proposition based on zero risk, and gives us better positioning to handle any future crises.
This plan also strengthens support for Italy, with 260 billion euros in medium and long-term credit to families and businesses over this period—more than the PNRR—contributing to GDP growth. Italy is demonstrating good health, with GDP growth exceeding forecasts, improving ratings and outlook, solid political stability, and prudent fiscal policy.
The plan delivers net profit of 9.3 billion euros at actuals, 10 billion in 2026, and over 11.5 billion in 2029—truly significant numbers supporting a 95% payout ratio: 75% in cash and 20% in share buybacks. We confirm ourselves as a leading operator in all sectors where we operate.
I will not take questions on Montepaschi di Siena, Mediobanca, Generali, or UniCredit. This is the presentation of the business plan. For my views on those, please refer to previous presentations. We can begin the press conference. Unless, Mr. Chairman, you would like to add something.
If there are questions for the chairman as well, we'll see. I'll start here on the left. Sorry if it's not the first person who raised their hand. Could you bring a microphone? Here, this one. No, three rows back. There. Thank you. Name and outlet, please.
Francesca Rampinelli, Italia Informa. Given all these plans for abroad, thanks to new technology development and investments, in a moment that is also politically so uncertain and unstable—are there specific countries in particular that we'll hear a lot about regarding Intesa in the coming years, in the next three years?
Certainly, all the countries where we already operate in Central and Eastern Europe. The activity in our Foreign Banks division is already being conducted by the private banking component in Belgium and Switzerland. Additionally, we have corporate and investment banking operations with strong emphasis on infrastructure, energy support, digital, and investments being made in the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the Core Europe component—Germany, France, and also Spain, where we have branches in Frankfurt, Paris, and Madrid, and where we intend to develop the EasyWealth Europe project.
Good evening, from EuroBorsa. Intesa Sanpaolo continues to position itself on social impact with programs on poverty, inclusion, and community support. What new instruments will you deploy in 2026-2029 to make this commitment more measurable and expand support to the most vulnerable areas? Also, in a recent statement you emphasized higher salaries, incentivized investments, and more sustainable public debt. What measures do you consider priority to create an ecosystem that retains young talent while supporting the competitiveness of Italian businesses?
On support for the vulnerable and addressing inequalities, we have developed a global leadership position. No other bank in the world has allocated the funds we decided to allocate in the previous business plan. We will allocate another billion euros. We will continue with all the projects where we are seeing significant results—first and foremost providing food, because unfortunately in this country one of the first needs is supporting those who struggle to eat, which is staggering in a country with Italy's wealth. We provided hundreds of millions of meals to those most in need in the previous plan. This will continue to be a priority, as will support for young people and social housing. We are ready to support government initiatives in this area. Support for culture and all these elements remain defining features of the bank. I don't know, Mr. Chairman, would you like to speak on salaries and public debt?
On salaries, we know Italian salaries are lower than the rest of Europe. This is one of the problems. We need people who earn more, young people who earn more, who can afford to start a family, raise children, and have those children attend good universities and work in Italy rather than going abroad where they're paid more. This means building jobs that create more value, which is the essence of the business plan just illustrated—investing in technology, new products, people's skills, with the goal of producing more value.
I'll say it simply: Mario Draghi said it in a much more complete and convincing way, proven by facts. Enrico Letta said it too. They are the two Italians most cited in Europe. We should take these lessons and translate them into practice. This is what our CEO intends to do with the path that has been laid out over the next four years, as we did in the past four years—actually doing a bit more than the business plan called for.
On public debt, I want to add that the government has managed this component very carefully—truly excellent work, which has allowed a strong contraction in the spread. If we manage to exit the infringement procedure with the European Commission—and this is one of the reasons I supported the bank profits taxation process in the last finance law—I believe we will find great benefit in terms of spread, increasing the sustainability of our public debt. However, this depends on growth, because large public debt is sustainable only if GDP grows. That's why our 260 billion euros in credit to families and businesses can contribute to growth, in addition to the over 25 billion euros in taxes we will pay over the plan period—a direct contribution to public finances.
Go ahead. There's a question.
Gianluca Valdini, City Wire. I wanted to know in detail which countries you plan to bring your private banking and wealth management consulting services to, and what investment is dedicated to this type of project.
The countries where we already have private banking development, as I indicated, are primarily Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium—where we're already present. The ones where we intend to broadly develop wealth management are all the countries in the Foreign Banks division, and then with this EasyWealth project: Germany, France, and Spain.
Also, how much do you intend to invest?
The investment is within the various divisions as part of the overall plan, with tens of millions of euros supporting growth in both the Private Banking and Foreign Banks divisions. For the EasyWealth project specifically, we have allocated 200 million euros in costs and investments, which are already expensed—unlike other projects that generate revenue. This project has zero revenue today because it's still in a startup phase, and we need to see what the actual prospects are.
Go ahead. Could you bring the microphone. Thank you.
Linda Volontieri, Il Giornale d'Italia. Since we've been talking about Europe, I wanted to ask if cross-border acquisitions are planned, and if so, in which sectors? And if instead you also want to focus on something more specific in Italy.
By acquisitions you mean M&A? No, we do not foresee acquisitions, and certainly in Italy we have antitrust issues. Outside of Italy, our approach is that through these growth methods, the type of acquisition we might evaluate is that of financial advisor or insurance agent networks, but we certainly won't be acquiring banks. Cross-border M&A is not an option we're evaluating in the business plan. However, if we're unable to achieve sufficient scale through hiring private bankers and financial advisors, we will evaluate whether there are possible targets for acquiring financial networks in those countries.
She had also asked about Italy, if I'm not mistaken. OK. Here in the second row.
Thank you, Sonia Sirletti from Bloomberg. Two questions. First, I wanted to return to the EasyWealth topic to better understand these 200 million in allocated investment—what does it consist of, structures, teams? And is an authorization process needed, because you said 'We position ourselves as a sort of challenger bank'—what does that mean specifically? And is there a timeframe by which you expect to start operating in Spain, Germany, and France—maybe with which priority? Second question: you clearly said there's no way to make acquisitions in Italy, but within wealth and asset management development, could you think of aggregating UniFideuram Horizon in asset management, also in light of the Generali Natixis failure? Does it make logical sense or is it completely outside your plans?
You've asked the question I didn't want asked. You take advantage of being from Bloomberg, so... On EasyWealth: our approach will be a challenger approach. We are incumbents—strong in technology, business model, and people in the countries where we operate. If the incumbent decides to do something in a challenger logic—not a Challenger Bank—we want to enter other markets and be the ones who surprise and disrupt, like fintechs. But in these countries, we are already an important reality with billions in loans granted and strong reputation.
Once we have the EasyTech system, each foreign branch will by definition have it. The authorization process should be completable in some months. The key milestone is the EasyTech migration to cloud for the affluent, exclusive, and private components. Once this happens during 2027, we'll be operational. We distinguished two phases: first, up to 2027, completing all planning, identifying private bankers, financial advisors, and potential acquisition targets; then the starting point will be the mainframe-to-cloud migration.
On asset management: we have always been interested in growing in banking asset management. Insurance asset management is different—it manages technical reserves with different spread and yield implications. If we do transactions, we do them to have full control and to be in command.
Let's give the floor. Here, thank you.
Good evening, Giampaolo Cerri, Vitamagazine, Vita.it. We've seen social impact consistently confirmed—leader, with a major investment to reduce inequalities. I notice you also maintain a strong position on ESG. Since in the past year there's been much talk of backlash, of a changing world—I was wondering why you've nevertheless confirmed this position, and what your vision is.
This is a good point, and you're right, because it's an aspect that in this plan also differentiates us from many others. While we've reduced the emphasis compared to previous plans, we remain a bank with strong ESG involvement. We believe this is particularly positive for the bank—it's one of its core values. And many investors have an extremely positive approach to those who continue to address these topics. Obviously, without making it dogma—it shouldn't become the only important thing in a company's operations—but we continue to recognize its value both because we identify with these values and because investors value the ESG component extremely positively in many portfolios where we are present.
Good morning, Dr. Messina. Luca Dani, Il Sole 24 Ore. Two questions more on perspective. Today you've clearly outlined the business plan, which increasingly looks abroad. How long until this component, which already weighs on the accounts, becomes significant? Can you give us a sense of a project that will need to be tested against a complicated international context, non-trivial regulation, with revenues still at zero in the plan? The second question involves you directly: the plan looks to 2029, but the board term expires in 2028, so there's the question of who will see it through to the end.
