Bankers, almost 45,000 hires with the Employment Fund

"In such a delicate phase, for years, between industrial plans, redundancies, early retirements and voluntary retirements, we have managed to get 45,000 young workers hired by banks, all with union agreements. Who in other sectors can boast such socially important numbers and results?". The secretary general of Fabi, Lando Maria Sileoni, at the 129th national council of Fabi (underway until tomorrow), in front of the ceo's of the main groups, recalls the data of the Employment Fund and retraces a year and a half of extraordinary union results starting with the contract which closed at the end of 2023 with the highest increase of all contracts, 435 euro on average. But also, Sileoni recalls, 'with the defence of rights, welfare, training, youth employment. That contract is not just a union or personal success, it is a political act. It is not just a contract, it is a choice of field, because work must be paid, recognised, respected. And other great results have been achieved, by our coordinations'.

Those results, however, today have to be seen in a context where in just a few months as many as five exchange offers have been set up, involving 102,700 workers, practically more than one employee in three: Unicredit-Banco Bpm, Banco Bpm-Anima, Bper-Popolare di Sondrio, Mps-Mediobanca and Ifis-Illimity. In this context, says Sileoni, 'it is more necessary than ever to address issues such as the management of the organisational change taking place in banks and the use of new technologies applied to the sector. Change can often cause anxiety and concern, but you have to face change by looking it in the face, just as you always have to look life's problems in the face. If you don't, you put yourself in the hands and decisions of others. And I have never particularly liked this aspect'. On the numbers that this change will produce, Sileoni adds, 'not even those directly involved know how the operations will turn out. The numbers are in the dossiers studied in advance by the groups who do not communicate them publicly. But when you put two structures together it is clear that the union must expect that there will be redundancies. Banking is not a system, it is a sector where there is competition. The union must be prepared, we have built ourselves tools to be autonomous, we solve problems internally without stress and without redundancies'.

On M&A in the banking sector, Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina said that "if UniCredit decided to take over Generali I would call Andrea Orcel and tell him 'stop'". For the top manager 'the way the operations are being built' in the banking sector, the image is not one of best practice. It is not a country that is showing an ability to handle certain phases elegantly'. "All operations are by definition hostile, but today" this hostility "is beginning to be a point of focus also in terms of our country's image," added Messina, who does not see "great value in what is happening. My opinion is that the sooner we end these phases of great uncertainty, dialectic and hostility, the more useful it is for our country'.

Of the value and protection of the bankers' contract, Antonio Patuelli, president of ABI, is also convinced. He emphasised that 'the bankers' contract is the best contract in terms of updating and protection of the real purchase value and the legal depth of rights, duties and responsibilities. It is a settled work. I do not make prophecies about the numbers of bankers, each bank has its own business project and trends are not homogeneous. We are in a market that changes so rapidly, but the banking sector is the most culturally and methodologically equipped not to suffer and to face tomorrow'. What we are experiencing, Patuelli adds, 'is not the first technological evolution, the banking sector has not gone from the biros to artificial intelligence, technological evolution and investments in technology are continuous, always keeping up the protection of confidentiality and duties towards customers and jobs. We have never fired anyone'.

In the general uncertainty of the market, meanwhile, the presentation of Intesa Sanpaolo's plan is approaching, and from the Fabi national council comes a request for a guarantee of employment. "When I became CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, my priority has always been to take care of the people who work there," Messina explained, "I started in the bank as a clerk before, I'm someone who earned a million lire at the time, and I know what it means to start and grow as you go along. My priority, those who work in banking here, I think they know it well. The second thing I have always done is to invent new jobs. Processes must aim for efficiency and innovation, so you have to invent new professions that can make an economic contribution, such as different activities in the branch world, but which can also make a reputational contribution, such as social activities. The desire to be able to do something for those most in need, the social element was one of the priorities that led me to make the bank a point of reference'. Having listed these priorities, Messina then concluded that he feels it is 'a value element to protect the people who work in our company, where, as long as I am CEO and will still be CEO for many years, there will never be anyone forced to leave the bank. Surely, however, we must try to make the bank more efficient and productive, giving dignity to work. Our people must feel proud to be part of the bank'.