With a new financial commitment of 17 billion euros for Piedmontese companies, Confindustria and Intesa Sanpaolo renew the operating agreement launched in 2009. The protocol, valid for the next four years, is part of a broader national agreement that aims to mobilize a total of 200 billion by 2028.
The agreement focuses on high-potential sectors such as aerospace, renewable energy (including hydrogen), robotics, artificial intelligence and life sciences. The aim is to support the competitiveness of companies, in an international context made uncertain by geopolitical tensions and market volatility.
Marco Gay, president of the Turin Industrial Union, underlines the importance of this link between companies and the banking system: “The relationship with finance is tactical and strategic – both for investments and to help companies in an extraordinary moment in which the only certainty is uncertainty and planning for 3 or 5 years is difficult between dancing markets and novelties that are discovered every morning“.
Particular attention will be paid to exports, a fundamental asset for the Piedmontese economy. According to Gay, the signing of the protocol represents a concrete tool to strengthen supply chains and support businesses in an evolving global context. “Companies in this area have exports as central and we are facing the period considering horizontal and vertical supply chains, also leveraging an important protocol such as the one we are signing this morning”.
Intesa Sanpaolo has presented a study that highlights the vulnerability of strategic sectors such as mechanics and agri-food to the trend of US tariffs. Faced with these critical issues, new opportunities are emerging in alternative markets: the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf countries, India, China, Brazil and Mexico are emerging as strategic destinations for diversifying exports.
“This protocol will help us continue to do our job and accelerate to be ready when there is a global restart: we want to be there,” Gay said again.
Despite a complex context, characterized by a long negative phase in production and still weak demand, Intesa Sanpaolo looks forward to the coming months with confidence. We are coming from a 2024 and a first quarter of 2025 that is not easy after 26 months of negative production and negative exports despite national growth and investments still show very slow demand, with sectors suffering more than others. But we are positive:we believe that as early as the end of this year there will be a restart that we will then see better in 2026,” said Stefano Cappellari, regional director of the banking group for the areas of Northern Piedmont, Valle D’Aosta and Sardinia.
Sectors in difficulty such as automotive and components are also in the crosshairs. Cappellari assured targeted support: “We will be close to even the most difficult situations such as automotive and components: we want to map the needs, if not investment, then management of such a difficult moment“.
The agreement provides not only financial resources, but also a package of consulting services to support the digital and technological transition. “We also want to be consultants to support companies in issues such as digitization , which can no longer be postponed, but also artificial intelligence,” Cappellari concluded.
