Unicredit relaunches its plan “For Italy and businesses” to support the country’s production and services sectors with 10 billion euros. An operation worth 28 billion in total in the three-year period 2022-2024. «Today we offer further support to the country’s businesses, in particular to the smaller ones so that they can accelerate their growth path» explains the CEO of Unicredit, Andrea Orcel, via connection from New York, who then adds: «40% of the funds are destined for the South. And in the fund there will be great attention to ESG issues so that growth is as sustainable as possible.”
Also because, according to the banker, Italy’s fundamentals «are still very solid and the market prospects for investors are reassuring, the country is seen as improving. The role of businesses is fundamental in our country because it has allowed Italy to achieve growth above expectations in 2023.”
The plan provides «a package of financial, insurance and consultancy solutions aimed at helping small and medium-sized Italian businesses in particular to grow, face the transition and become more competitive».
Remo Taricani, deputy manager for Italy of the group, explained in detail that one billion is reserved for micro-enterprises (businesses with less than two million in turnover and up to 10 employees), 500 million for the Third Sector, one billion for the agribusiness sector , together with Confagricoltura, and one billion to tourism.
The initiative aims to support the ESG transition of companies towards more sustainable business models through specialized consultancy, starting from a free ESG score provided by Cerved. «We continue to support the excellence of Made in Italy with a set of solutions aimed at supporting its development and transition towards greater environmental and social sustainability, with new resources for investments and – concludes Taricani – a renewed service model that will allow us to further improve the quality of our support.”