A bank of excellence in support of the real economy

The results for the first quarter 2024 highlight that the Intesa Sanpaolo Group is able to generate solid sustainable profitability, with net income of €2.3bn, fully in line with the target of over €8bn for the current year.

Intesa Sanpaolo is fully equipped to continue operating successfully in the future, in any interest rate scenario, thanks to:

- the Group’s key strengths, notably resilient profitability, a solid capital position, the zero-NPL bank status, significant investment in technology and high flexibility in managing operating costs;

- its leadership in Wealth Management, Protection & Advisory with around €100bn in customer financial assets identified^(*) to fuel growth.

Technology is a further key factor to succeed, generating additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €500m not envisaged in the 2022-2025 Business Plan^(**):

• - new cloud-native technological platform (isytech), already available to mass market retail customers with the recent launch of the digital bank, Isybank, and to be progressively extended to the entire Group: around €3bn in IT investments already deployed and around 1,770 IT specialists already hired, with an additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €150m not envisaged in the Business Plan;
• - new digital channels:
  • - Isybank, the Group’s digital bank with a lower-than-30% cost/income business model and around one million new customers by 2025 - with an additional contribution to gross income of around €200m by 2025 - not envisaged in the Business Plan: over 90,000 new non-Intesa Sanpaolo customers already acquired and around 350,000 Intesa Sanpaolo customers already migrated;
  • - Fideuram Direct, the digital Wealth Management platform for Private Banking, with around 150,000 customers in 2025 (around 20% of the current customer base of Fideuram): already around 72,000 customers and over €2.7bn in assets under management as at 31 March 2024;
• - artificial intelligence, with around 150 Apps and 300 specialists in 2025 (already 80 Apps and around 150 specialists as at 31 March 2024) and an additional contribution to 2025 gross income of around €100m not envisaged in the Business Plan, not including potential upside from the adoption of Generative AI solutions.

As regards the leadership in Wealth Management, Protection & Advisory:

• - top-notch digital tools, distinctive advisory networks with over 16,000 people dedicated^(***), fully owned product factories (asset management and insurance) and over €1,300bn in the Group’s customer financial assets empower Intesa Sanpaolo with a unique set of enablers for revenue growth from Wealth Management, Protection & Advisory;
• - customer financial assets, managed through the 360-degree advisory services provided by the Banca dei Territori Division and the Private Banking Division, amounted to €123bn as at 31 March 2024, increasing by €23bn compared with 31 March 2023;
• - in the first quarter of 2024, a Wealth Management Divisions structure was established, to which the pre-existing Private Banking, Asset Management and Insurance divisions report, providing a single unit overseeing the wealth management activities, with the aim of accelerating growth and increasing the integration of product factories;
• - in the quarter, a “Fees & Commissions” Steering Committee was established, chaired directly by the Managing Director and CEO, focused on monitoring, overseeing and coordinating strategies to increase revenues from commissions across all the Group’s Divisions.

The implementation of the 2022-2025 Business Plan is proceeding at full speed, with the prospect of net income in 2024 and 2025 to exceed €8bn.

The solid performance of income statement and balance sheet in the quarter translated into significant value creation for all stakeholders, which is also grounded in the Group’s strong ESG commitment. Specifically:

• - significant cash return to shareholders: €1.6bn of dividends accrued in Q1 2024 (in addition to remaining dividends for 2023 of €2.8bn to be paid in May 2024 and buyback of €1.7bn to be launched in June 2024);
• - €1.6bn taxes generated and increased by €0.2bn on Q1 2023 as a consequence of the growth in net interest income which drove the increase of €0.6bn in gross income;
• - expansion of the food and shelter programme for people in need (over 38.3 million interventions in the period 2022 - Q1 2024);
• - enhancement of initiatives to fight inequalities and foster financial, social, educational and cultural inclusion (€15.8bn of social lending and urban regeneration in the period 2022 - Q1 2024);
• - an amount equal to around €1.5bn total costs to be contributed in the five-year period 2023-2027 to support initiatives addressing social needs (around €0.4bn already included in the results for 2023 and Q1 2024 and the remaining portion included, on a pro-rata basis, in the outlook for net income for full-year 2024 and for 2025), with around 1,000 people devoted to supporting these initiatives.

Significant ESG commitment, with a world-class position in social impact and a strong focus on climate and reinforcement of the ESG governance with:

• - the Risks Committee which in April 2022 became the Risks Sustainability Committee with enhanced ESG responsibilities;
• - the appointment, in April 2024, of a Chief Sustainability Officer to head a governance area created to consolidate ESG activities and enhance ESG business steering, with a strong commitment to social matters and the fight against inequalities, a continuous support for culture and a significant contribution to sustainability through innovation projects and investment in startups.

Intesa Sanpaolo is the only Italian bank listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, ranks first bank in Europe and second worldwide in the 2024 Corporate Knights “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Index” and first among the banks of the peer group by Sustainalytics. Furthermore, Intesa Sanpaolo:

• - has been included for the sixth consecutive year in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2023, obtaining a score well above the average of the global financial sector and of Italian companies;
• - has been recognised in the Refinitiv Global Diversity and Inclusion Index 2023 as the first bank in Europe, and the only one in Italy among the top 100 companies for diversity and inclusion;
• - has ranked first in the global ESG Corporate Award ranking, in the Best Company for Diversity Equity & Inclusion category, among large cap companies;
• - has been the first major Italian banking group to obtain the certification for gender parity “Prassi di Riferimento (PDR) 125:2022” envisaged by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, thanks to its commitment to diversity and inclusion;
• - has been the first bank in Italy and among the first banks in Europe to obtain the Gender Equality European & International Standard (GEEIS) - Diversity certification.

Intesa Sanpaolo continues to operate as a growth accelerator in the real economy: around €14bn of medium/long-term new lending in Q1 2024. Loans amounting to around €9bn were granted in Italy, of which around €8bn was granted to households and SMEs. In Q1 2024, the Group facilitated the return from non-performing to performing status of around 700 Italian companies thus safeguarding 3,500 jobs. This brought the total to 141,500 companies since 2014, thus safeguarding 708,000 jobs over the same period.

(*) Out of direct deposits and assets held under administration
(**) Additional contribution to 2025 gross income from isytech, Isybank, Fideuram Direct and Artificial Intelligence, which offsets the impact from higher inflation and the renewal of the labour contract
(***) Digital branch relationship managers, relationship managers for Exclusive and Affluent customers, private bankers and financial advisors

We endeavour to guarantee our sound capital base and the sustainability of results over time, striving to create a relationship of trust with our customers, our shareholders and the territories in which we operate. In Italy, where we have the largest network of bank branches in the country, we aim to act as the driver of the real economy and make our contribution to community development. We also operate in 37 countries.

Conscious of the value of our activity in Italy and abroad in Europe, Egypt and Brazil we promote a style of growth that is attentive to financial strength and capital solidity, sustainable results and the creation of a process based on the trust deriving from customer and shareholder satisfaction, a sense of belonging on the part of our employees and close monitoring of the needs of the community and the local area. We compete on the market with a sense of fair play and are ready to cooperate with other economic entities - both private and public - whenever necessary to reinforce the overall capacity for growth of the economies of the countries in which we operate.