Intesa Sanpaolo is an Italian bank, the result of the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI. The Italian company has a strong presence in Central-Eastern Europe and on the Mediterranean market. The group offers its services to about 12.3 million customers. As of 31 December 2017, Intesa Sanpaolo had total assets of €797 million.[1]
Intesa Sanpaolo’s weapons policy states that the group bans “any type of banking activity or financing related to the production and/or sale of weapons that are controversial and/or banned by international treaties”, including nuclear weapons. However, this only excludes nuclear weapons producers operating in countries that are not a member of NATO.[2] Intesa Sanpaolo’s policy does not cover specifically designed delivery systems or maintenance.[3]
The policy covers commercial banking and investment banking. Intesa Sanpaolo also excludes nuclear weapons producers from some active funds that it manages: Eurizon Ethical International Equity, Eurizon Ethical Diversified and Eurizon Ethical Bonds. However, other asset management activities, including investments made on its own account, investments made on behalf of third parties, discretionary mandates and passively managed funds are not covered by the policy.[4] Intesa Sanpaolo is working to strengthen the application of its exclusion policies to those categories.[5] The bank does not make use of external asset managers.
To implement its policy, Intesa Sanpaolo uses a non-public exclusion list, based on its own analysis of international reports and sources.[6]
Intessa Sanpaolo was also found to have several investments in nuclear weapon producing companies identified by this report, more information can be found in the Hall of Shame.
We commend Intesa Sanpaolo for adopting a public policy on nuclear weapons. We recommend Intesa Sanpaolo apply its exclusion policy to companies regardless of their country of origin. Intesa Sanpaolo should expand its policy to cover all types of nuclear weapons producing companies. It should apply its policy to all financial products including all asset classes. We look forward to engaging with Intesa Sanpaolo, so a strong and comprehensively applied policy may be listed in the Hall of Fame in a future update of this report.
[1] Intesa Sanpaolo, “Profile”, website Intesa Sanpaolo (http://www.group.intesasanpaolo.com/scriptIsir0/si09/eng_index.jsp#/chi_siamo/eng_profilo.jsp), viewed 23 January 2018.
[2] Intesa Sanpaolo, “Rules On Transactions in the Armament Sector”, September 2016, page 5, available at http://www.group.intesasanpaolo.com/scriptIsir0/si09/contentData/view/Regole_settore_armamenti_eng.pdf?id=CNT-04-000000008539D&ct=application/pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[3] Intesa Sanpaolo, written response to PAX dated 7 May 2015.
[4] Intesa Sanpaolo, written response to PAX dated 7 May 2015.
[5] Intesa Sanpaolo, written response to PAX dated 7 May 2015.
[6] Intesa Sanpaolo, written response to Profundo, 2014.
Last updated March 2018