BANKS

Intesa Sanpaolo, 5 billion on tech. "This is how we grow with cloud and Ai"

Proverbio: 'We have increased management productivity by 23%, now focus on the new business plan'

by Luca Davi

24 February 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

On the one hand, being a 'tech company'. On the other, to maintain the soul of a 'wealth management and protection company'. CEO Carlo Messina said it clearly during the presentation of the Business Plan on 2 February: it is on this double track - technology as a core competence, and wealth management as a lever for growth in Europe - that Intesa Sanpaolo must run.

The road is long, it must be said, but the course is set. And the business plan to 2029 is there to confirm it. What is certain is that a significant part of the path is already behind us. In the four-year period 2022-2025, the banking group has invested 5.6 billion in technological evolution and hired more than 2,400 It specialists. "We have invested heavily in technology and people, and at a level of absolute excellence compared to our peers, and the transformation is underway," comments Massimo Proverbio, Chief Data, Ai, Innovation and Technology Officer of the group.

Intesa Sanpaolo's transformation has not been confined to data centres. Isybank, the group's digital bank dedicated to retail, was born. The offer has almost totally become 'digital native', so much so that today 95% of products for private individuals can be managed digitally. And 70% of customer journeys are in fact omnichannel, i.e. interchangeable between app and branch. "Eight years ago we were going to see what others were doing. Today it is the others who come to see what we are doing,' claims Proverbio. 'We have increased management productivity by 23 per cent and project productivity by 9 per cent, reduced unit costs and increased service levels.

While much has been achieved, it is also true that technological evolution is such that major new efforts are required. That is why the focus is on the next phase of the plan, which looks ahead to 2029. On the table are another 4.6 billion IT investments, bringing the total to over 10 billion over two cycles. The pivot of the transformation is Isytech, a core cloud platform developed in-house and so far extended to retail. A bold industrial and strategic bet, that of a proprietary platform, but one that is paying off today. Because it means less complexity, less duplication, and more standardisation in processes and products. Now, in the plans, Isytech will be progressively extended to other segments and geographies. Objective? "To enable the 500 million efficiency gains envisaged in the plan", thanks in part to a share of cloud-based applications that has risen from around 10% at the end of 2021 to 64% at the end of 2025, with the target of reaching around 100% by the end of 2029. "These are not only savings from technology, but also savings made possible by technology," says Proverbio.

The chapter that most embodies the 'wealth & tech' formula, however, is the European expansion of asset management with isywealth Europe. A challenging project - 200 million investment, no immediate contribution to revenues - with which Intesa aims to transform the domestic advantage into a scalable platform to be extended into other markets. Moreover, at a time when cross-border consolidation still remains a chimera, it is necessary to find alternative ways to attack new markets. Hence the idea of leveraging what Intesa Sanpaolo considers its strengths, namely its leadership in wealth management, its global partnerships (see BlackRock), and the strength of its network and product factories to conquer shares where the group is already present, i.e. France, Germany and Spain. All this with a hybrid distribution model, mixing digital, consultants and private bankers, and international branches.

Then there is the chapter on artificial intelligence, a field on which all banks are practising today, with different approaches. At Intesa there are currently 150 use cases in production. The impact on the employment front? ' AI will enter anti-money laundering, credit, controls, software development. More technical and quantitative skills will be needed, but also more judgment and critical thinking skills,' says the manager. Certainly the idea is to stay the course on a 'responsible' approach, as shown by the research work on the subject developed in a consortium (Fujitsu) and universities of the calibre of Berkeley and Turin Polytechnic. "We are a bank: the trust of colleagues and customers is the fundamental element and we want to preserve it.

In the background, challenges remain. With two big unknowns. Not so much on the Fintech front ("I believe that one or two will survive, large ones that will complement the traditional banking business," says the manager), but, if anything, on the side of competition from the overseas giants. 'I am more afraid of the asymmetry with the big American players,' Proverbio concludes. 'We open up to the market, they do not do the same, and they can use AI with fewer constraints. And in Europe I do not see full awareness of this risk'. As if to say: it is up to Brussels to move in time so as not to find the 'barbarians' at the gates.

Finally, there is the most important issue, the internal one. Which is played out on the (thin) boundary between automation and relationship, between platform and trust. Particularly in wealth management, where technology can enhance consulting but certainly not replace the human relationship. "We will have to fine-tune carefully: between too little digital or too much digital, the balance is subtle. To bank well, you need to follow the tastes of customers and anticipate them as much as you need to, but with the right balance,' Proverbio concludes. In short, structuring yourself as a tech company while maintaining the nature of a relationship bank. Perhaps this is where Intesa Sanpaolo's real gamble lies.