The press conference for the presentation and signing of the agreement was attended by Stefano Barrese, Head of the Banca dei Territori Division at Intesa Sanpaolo, Andrea Munari, CEO of BNL and Head of the BNP Paribas Group in Italy, Victor Massiah, CEO of UBI Banca, Luca Manzoni, Head of Corporate at Banco BPM, Giovanni Solaroli, Regional Director for Lombardy at UniCredit, and the President of Confindustria Lombardia, Marco Bonometti.

The agreement aims to establish a partnership to facilitate access for Lombardy’s SMEs to banking finance instruments dedicated to investment and working capital, identifying support for production supply chains and internationalisation as key areas on which to focus in order to encourage investment.

Marco Bonometti, in presenting the agreement, stated: “To support the competitiveness of Lombardy’s SMEs during this delicate economic phase, Confindustria Lombardia has launched the regional Credit Project which, by bringing together the Lombard industrial system and the five main banking institutions, aims to facilitate access to credit even for those companies that, despite contributing to the success of high-potential supply chains, have a low financial rating”.

The regional framework collaboration agreement, aimed at promoting investment by Lombardy’s SMEs through the territorial associations of Confindustria Lombardia and the local branches of the banks, provides for the definition of specific agreements with each individual bank regarding:

- the most suitable instruments to encourage and support SME investment, with particular attention to leveraging their membership in champion supply chains and their credit portfolios as elements to improve access to financing;

- joint initiatives for the concrete implementation of the Agreement at a local level, with the aim of raising awareness among member companies about the opportunities offered by the products that will be jointly identified, in compliance with current legislation and regulations.