From Intesa Sanpaolo comes a 5 billion euro plan for initiatives aimed at supporting small and very small businesses in the Commerce, Crafts and small hotels sectors. This is the group of companies that are most numerous in our country (over 4 million for more than 7 million employees) and which are currently most exposed to the rising prices of energy, transport, raw materials and the effects of the international crisis. The risk for this business segment, consisting mainly of tertiary sector activities, is the drastic reduction in revenues in the face of the surge in costs. The moment is difficult for everyone “but while medium and large companies have more market power and in many cases are able to offload the increases on final prices, micro enterprises have less capacity to download downstream” said Gregorio De Felice, Chief Economist Intesa Sanpaolo during the presentation of the new initiative in Milan today.
The intervention is in addition to the 30 billion already allocated by the Bank in favor of SMEs and families since the beginning of the year to combat expensive energy, part of the more than 400 billion in support of the NRP. The plan provides for interventions for liquidity and guaranteed loans, zeroing for one year of commissions on micro-payments via in-store Pos up to 15 euros, free for one year of the fee for Pos and commercial credit cards, concessions on insurance coverage products and rental of capital goods to contain operating costs. The initiative, called «CresciBusiness», has the objective of accompanying small businesses out of the crisis and helping them to relaunch them through digitization, sustainability and development projects for commercial activities.
“The plan we are presenting today adds a new pillar to the interventions that Intesa Sanpaolo has activated in support of the Italian economy and population: 35 billion in total in favor of families, businesses, traders, hoteliers and artisans – said Stefano Barrese, division manager Banca dei Territori Intesa Sanpaolo -. Recent confirmations on the strength of our production system do not hide the difficulties of a large part of the socio-economic fabric. We are aware that, in this situation of uncertainty, trust and social cohesion are essential to respond to the crisis and to ensure the sustainable growth that the country is pursuing. Precisely to provide maximum support to our 500,000 small business customers, we have adopted immediate measures such as the cancellation of commissions on electronic micropayments up to 15 euros for one year. Our Group has never lost sight of the importance of the country’s social and economic stability, which from 2020 to date we have supported with over 11 billion euros in disbursements to the tourism, trade and crafts sectors “.
In Italy there are more than 4 million enterprises with fewer than ten employees, 95% of the total industrial and service enterprises. Their weight is also very high in terms of employment: they employ around 7.3 million people, 43.8% of the total. It is the most important size class in Italy. In 2020 they recorded a turnover of 658 billion euros (23.5% of the total) and an added value that touched 200 billion (26.8%). This is above all an Italian phenomenon and a crucial competitive factor for the supply chains active in Italy. The role of these companies is relevant in all Italian economic sectors, with peaks of 80% in personal services (out of the total number of employees in the sector), 62% in tourism and 55% in commerce.
The ability of Italian micro enterprises to create value is good, thanks to an excellent positioning in terms of quality and flexibility: for these companies the share of added value as a percentage of turnover is 30%; it drops to 23.9% among Italian medium-sized enterprises (50-249 employees). However, their propensity to invest is low and equal to half the percentage observed among companies with at least 250 employees (2% of turnover vs 4.1%), with negative repercussions on innovation and digitization activities. From an internal survey of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, the responses of smaller companies to the energy crisis emerge: attention to production efficiency is high, but recourse to renewables is still low. Looking ahead, interventions on digital, innovation and green transition will remain priorities. Only in this way, the Italian economy and micro enterprises in particular, once the current criticalities have been overcome, will be able to grow again.