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marzo 2017
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“Banks are back to being
drivers of development”
The last decade has marked a profound
change in the economic scenario
and the dynamics that regulate the
relationship between banks, companies,
and even families. The banks are in
the middle of a crucial step for their
future: amalgamations and mergers,
the occasional need for recapitalization,
implementation of digital technologies.
The risk is that the virtuous circle that
has given impetus to the Italian economy,
characterized by attention to the
territory and local businesses, will lose
its incisiveness. We talked with Federico
Ghizzoni, for the past six years managing
director of Unicredit, one of the main
symbols of Italian capitalism. “Due to the
crisis of 2008, the banking industry today
has a major reputation problem, which
can be remedied by first of all applying
clear and shared ethical principles within
the banking culture, and then attempting
to restore the role of the bank, which for
decades, for centuries, was considered
the engine of economic development.
From the first day, six years ago, when I
came aboard as CEO of Unicredit, I’ve
been convinced that the bank should go
back to doing the work of a commercial
bank. We’ve distanced ourselves from
the so-called territories and we need to
get back there. Obviously this demands
strict governance principles, insofar as
we can’t return at any cost, thus creating
the kinds of problems we’ve seen in recent
years”. For Ghizzoni, other Italian
businesses need to adapt to new scenarios:
“They’re too undercapitalized and too
dependent on credit. And globalization
means making bold decisions that can’t
be postponed, including growing in terms
of size and accelerating the generational
transition, to family members or
managers”.
vizi. Come si concilia tutto questo col
dialogo col territorio?
“Occorre trovare un equilibrio, dob-
biamo rimanere agganciati alla nostra
clientela altrimenti non riusciremo a
fare il nostro mestiere. Il tema è delica-
to: se oggi paragoniamo l’Italia ad altri
Paesi, qui c’è una presenza di filiali su-
periore alle necessità. Il percorso di ot-
timizzazione va fatto con intelligenza,
perché non bisogna lasciare territori
scoperti, e al contempo bisogna inve-
stire parecchio nello sviluppo del digi-
tale. Sul digitale occorre poi chiarirsi le
idee: fino ad oggi è servito soprattutto
per eseguire le operazioni online, quel-
le che si facevano una volta in filiale
oggi vengono eseguite tramite mobile
banking e internet banking. Ma il digi-
tale non è ancora diventato un canale
di servizi per vendere, oltre che consi-
gliare, un prodotto al cliente. Il cliente
ha tutti i giorni dei bisogni, diretti o
indiretti, legati o non legati alla banca:
con il digitale dobbiamo cercare di col-
mare questo gap, facendo in modo che