Intesa Sanpaolo

Intesa Sanpaolo identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. In terms of senior leadership accountability, the bank links the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. Intesa Sanpaolo publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment and discloses a target to achieve approximately 30% of female presence in senior leadership roles by 2025. It also discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including sustainability- and non-sustainability-related organisations, as well as the positions it takes in its lobbying and political engagement activities on sustainability themes.

As a member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, Intesa Sanpaolo has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The bank also discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions and aims to finance EUR 88 million in climate solutions between 2021 and 2026.

Intesa Sanpaolo has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It also discloses categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. Furthermore, the bank has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns. In terms of diversity, Intesa Sanpaolo discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group, gender, and race or ethnicity. Moreover, the bank discloses that it disperses EUR 1.5 billion in loans towards usually excluded groups and EUR 1.3 billion towards SMEs. Intesa Sanpaolo discloses a global tax strategy as well as discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions.

In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors, where only 7 out of 19 board members are women, as well as in senior leadership positions. While Intesa Sanpaolo discloses the total ratio of basic salary to men and women, it could provide a breakdown by significant location or disclose the actions taken to address any pay gaps. Furthermore, the bank has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees across its financing activities.

Intesa Sanpaolo discloses interim emissions reduction targets, but only for the fossil fuel, power, and automotive sectors. There is no evidence that the bank does not provide any form of financial service to any new fossil fuel projects or to a company undertaking new fossil fuel projects. Intesa Sanpaolo has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. It could also align its green loans with internationally recognised frameworks. Regarding nature and biodiversity, no evidence was found that the financial institution is committed to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions.

Intesa Sanpaolo has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. It could also disclose the amount of finance it directs towards low-income developing countries.