Barrese: ‘12 billion for exports over six years. We’re working on Mercosur and India’

“In a context of global uncertainty such as the one we are currently experiencing, it is important to support businesses on their path to international growth, which can also help diversify their market presence and, consequently, their turnover.” According to Stefano Barrese, head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Banca dei Territori division, overseas operations are essential for a country such as Italia, which is Europe’s second-largest exporter and ranks among the top five globally.

This has led to the development of support programmes for SMEs in key markets, such as the United States, which also capitalise on the long-standing international presence of the banking group led by Carlo Messina, through its network of branches and offices.

Programmes which, Barrese adds, “help not only our companies to grow, but us as well, because we too learn through these activities and adapt our approach, effectively ‘scaling up’ our offering”. The missions to Silicon Valley, carried out over the last three years in collaboration with Innovit, are a case in point: starting with start-ups, the project evolved last year to involve a number of selected innovative SMEs – clients of the bank – and this year has come to focus on a specific sector with high growth potential: the Space Economy.

And that’s not all: ‘Last year, both through the mentoring sessions organised by our companies during the mission to San Francisco and through discussions between us and some major Silicon Valley groups, we realised just how important it is to forge a link between these groups and our manufacturing SMEs,’ adds Barrese. “There is, in fact, still a significant gap in the US economy in general, and in Silicon Valley in particular: whilst they possess a great deal of cutting-edge technology, they have limited capacity for technology transfer into basic, more traditional manufacturing – an area in which Italy excels.” This is why it is essential to connect Italian businesses – which are often small and struggle to reach global ‘big corps’ on their own – with this demand for manufacturing. And this is where Intesa Sanpaolo steps in, offering not only its lending and advisory services but also its international network of contacts. Moreover, this demand for manufacturing is not limited to the United States, Barrese notes, but extends to many other emerging markets with great potential, including the Mercosur countries, where a Confindustria mission is currently underway, in which Intesa Sanpaolo is also participating at the invitation of Confindustria itself. “We are particularly interested in that geographical area, which is very dynamic and is seeing growing demand for advanced technologies that Italia is well placed to meet. It is no coincidence that we are seeing a great deal of interest from our companies,” adds Barrese.

The programme of missions to the United States will therefore continue, but Intesa Sanpaolo’s focus also extends to other markets, following a flexible model capable of responding in the most tailored way possible to the demands of individual regions. Another important development, currently being finalised and announced by Barrese, should be viewed in this light: ‘We are working to establish a series of partnerships with leading banking institutions across various regions, starting with India and Brazil, to ensure our companies have access to local commercial operations. We will continue to provide advisory services and financial support for medium- and long-term investments, but it is essential that we are also able to offer our clients transactional commercial services.” In particular, Barrese focuses on Brazil, which today accounts for “a modest share of Italia’s total exports, but is the strongest and wealthiest economy in South America”.