Presentation of Poste Italiane Group’s third Integrated Report 12 2020 output of Poste Italiane’s value creation process 14
Support for local communities and the Country as a whole 246
The health emergency has pushed the conditions of survival of businesses to the limit, having a significant impact on a large part of the national economy and causing great social hardship. This situation requires companies to act quickly, to rethink not only products and services, but also the business models themselves, capable of connecting people, technology, organisation and all other forms of capital within a flexible and interactive system, in which interaction itself generates value.
Sustainability and innovation become, therefore, the pillars from which to start the recovery. In fact, the Group’s new Strategic Plan “2024 Sustain & Innovate” has been based on these pillars. In line with the previous one, whose objectives were successfully achieved, the new
Over the years, the Group has undertaken a path of constant growth that has made it stand out, above all, thanks to its ability to adapt its operating structures to the needs of the market, demonstrating, even in the most critical phases, that it can count on a widespread presence throughout the territory and transversal skills capable of reaching the entire Community and intercepting the needs of stakeholders. The 2020 results highlight this ability to know how to manage risks and seize opportunities, generating value not only for the
Since its establishment, the Group has played an important role in the life of the country, positively influencing its economy in terms of Gross Domestic
The results achieved derive from the correct use of financial and non-financial capital enabling Poste Italiane to generate economic, environmental and social outcomes, thus contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
In this respect, by giving social and environmental factors the same importance as business criteria, we are given a holistic view of the environment in which we operate.
The requests of the various stakeholders in the communities where the Group operates allow for a more complete and better assessment of business risks, thanks to which companies are able to carry out more accurate planning and develop more far-reaching scenarios. For these reasons, the integration of extra-financial issues is more vital than ever to build strategies that enable the creation of economic value in the long term. Poste Italiane has for some time now been making every effort to enable the seamless integration of sustainability aspects into its business. This means adopting a process of value creation over time based on a business model, governance and strategic plan integrated with a sustainability perspective, offering the market innovative products and services and creating positive impacts on the economy, environment and society.
tance to Poste Italiane, and represents a useful way of outlining the path to growth and consolidating solid bonds of trust and transparency among all stakeholders. For these reasons, the Company organises the annual Multi-stakeholder Forum, an institutional event that exhibits the highest expression of dialogue and sharing of ideas. Through the involvement of all categories of stakeholders, the Group identifies the material issues to be included in the above-mentioned
Sustainability Strategy, which is based on eight pillars: Integrity and transparency, People development, Diversity and inclusion, Support for local communities and the Country as a whole, Customer experience,
In addition, it is worth noting that the Group’s success is also based on continuous investment in technology and expertise. Poste Italiane has in fact demonstrated a remarkable ability to innovate, reorganising its processes and operating structures and developing a progressively wider range of products and services in line with consumer needs. A high degree of innovation is also essential, not only to intercept and respond adequately to the needs of stakeholders, but also to effectively implement a strategy that involves all levels of the organisation.
Carbon Disclosure Project) as a leader in the fighting against climate change, appearing in the “Leadership”
For Poste Italiane, the Integrated Report is not only a tool for effective reporting to stakeholders, but it is the result of adopting an integrated approach to business management, “integrated thinking” that sees the coexistence of financial assessments and sustainability impacts in business decisions. This approach is well represented by Poste Italiane’s value creation process, which is underpinned by the business model.
At the basis of this path of integrating sustainability into the business there are a series of strategic choices, identified in the interest of both the Company and the various stakeholders, and which focus on investment in the main forms of capital, such as: financial, human, physical-structural, intellectual, social-relational and natural. These capitals represent the assets on which the sustainable success of the Company is based, but also on which it impacts with its activities, contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In this regard, emphasis was placed on the impact of the emergency generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has undoubtedly affected the Group’s activities and operations. Poste Italiane was able to deal with this situation by implementing initiatives to manage the health emergency. In order to allow a more immediate visualisation of the activities carried out and their impacts, in Chapter 5 “Risks and Opportunities”, a linking table that summarises all the measures carried out, the capital needed to carry them out and the Pillars in which they are more extensively dealt with, has been included. Additionally, throughout this paper, content related to the management of Covid-19 is highlighted by this infographic: In spite of the health emergency, Poste Italiane has continued along the path of gradually integrating the culture of sustainability within the strategies, actions and decisions taken by the Group. As evidence of the progress achieved and in order to highlight the commitment of all those involved in promoting change, a specific section showing the development of the Group’s sustainability path and the awards and recognition obtained in the ESG area has been included in the Integrated Report.
On a methodological level, aware of its responsibility towards stakeholders for correct reporting, the Company has decided to go beyond the current regulatory framework and strengthen its reporting model by adhering to the most important international reference frameworks. This choice stems from the Group’s desire for transparency and accountability, as well as the objective of promptly intercepting new trends in non-financial reporting.
The Group also proves itself to pay particular attention to the growing demand for information from investors regarding the assessment of companies according to ESG criteria. For this, the indicators in the 2020 Integrated Report are reclassified according to SASB
In addition to the Integrated Report, the other documents that make up this Annual Report are: the consolidated financial statements of the Poste Italiane Group, Poste Italiane’s separate financial statements, including BancoPosta RFC’s Separate Report, the related attestations pursuant to art. 154 bis paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 and the reports of the Board of Statutory Auditors and the Independent Auditors, referring to the financial year ended 31 December 2020, and the Report on Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure published on the Company ’s website, in the Governance section, which is to be considered an integral part and to which reference should be made for further details on the Corporate Governance structure.
Partnerships and strategic acquisitions sennder, MLK Deliveries, Tink and Moneyfarm 575 million Post Office transactions 90 million on digital channels and 115 million on third-party networks €569 billion Total Financial Assets €15 billion Net inflows retail 1st place in the global ranking of Brand Finance Poste Italiane takes first place in the world ranking for the insurance sector
BancoPosta Fondi SGR the first asset management company in Italy certified ISO 37001:2016
First operator in Italy for cards issued (28.9 million) and e-commerce transactions (25% market share)
Through its leadership in the logistics, financial, insurance and payment services sectors, Poste Italiane plays a key role in the creation of economic value both for the stakeholders directly impacted by its business activities and for the country as a whole.
In particular, the activities carried out by Poste Italiane generate impacts on GDP, employment income, employment and contributions to PA. Impacts can be distinguished into: z Direct impacts: impacts generated by the operating activities carried out directly by Poste Italiane; z Indirect impacts: impacts generated along the supply chain as a result of Poste Italiane’s spending on goods and services from Italian suppliers; z Induced impacts: impacts generated by consumer spending that is realised through the income earned by workers employed directly and indirectly by the Group.
A significant indicator of the Company’s impact on the Italian economy is the so-called “multiplier”, a factor that shows the leverage effect generated by spending on purchases from local suppliers. According to estimates, €1 million spent by Poste Italiane is able to generate an impact on the economy of €4.09 million in terms of GDP, €0.69 million in tax revenue and €2.49 million in employment income, creating over 64 jobs in the production system.
Every €/mln spent by Poste Italiane generates an impact of 0.69 €/million on the country’s tax revenue
Every €/mln spent by Poste Italiane generates an impact of 4.09 €/million on the country’s GDP
Impacts of Italian SME suppliers Considering the parameters defined by the European Commission, the Italian suppliers that are characterised as SMEs and the indirect impacts related to them have been identified.
In 2020, SMEs impacted on the level of Gross Domestic Product for a value of €1.2 billion, leading to the employment of 21,000 people and an income distribution of around €567 million. Lastly, more than €370 million have been created in terms of tax revenue.
The economic value generated and distributed by Poste Italiane Group Poste Italiane also provides an overview of the economic value generated and distributed by the Company to its stakeholders such as suppliers, employees, lenders, the community, public administration and shareholders. This value represents the wealth produced by the Company and its impact on key stakeholder categories, in accordance with the requirements of GRI Standards 201-1 reporting standard.
The economic value created in 2020 amounts to over € 10.6 billion, of which the 88% distributed to stakeholders
3. Business model 3. Institutional investors in Poste Italiane SpA who take environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into account in their investment activities.
Below is the organisational structure of Poste Italiane SpA. MAIN RELATED TYPES OF CAPITAL
The organisation of Poste Italiane SpA envisages business functions4 specialising in the main areas of offer that cover the Group’s 4 business sectors and two commercial channels responsible for sales of products/services, which are supported by corporate functions of guidance, governance, control and provision of services in support of business processes.
An additional organisational intervention concerned the establishment of the Post Offices Network Committee with the aim of ensuring utmost integration on issues related to the evolution of the Post Offices Plan.
During the first quarter of 2021, the Human Resources and Organisation functions previously operating at BancoPosta and Group companies were centralised at Poste Italiane, with the aim of recomposing the Human Resources professional family within a single organisational structure.
4. These are the three functions of Poste Italiane: Mail, Communication and Logistics for mail and parcels, Payments and Mobile for payments and telephony, and BancoPosta as the placement agent for financial and insurance products. The fourth business area is covered by Poste Vita Insurance Group.
The first half of 2020 was a defining moment in the history of the country and the Company. The benefits of business diversification and operational resilience were confirmed in the emergency of the environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to its business model, Poste Italiane has been able to guarantee operational continuity, ensuring an uninterrupted service to its stakeholders and showing a strong ability to adapt even in a critical and unfavourable scenario such as the current one. In this context, the extensive collaboration with national institutions continued, making the Company’s operational know-how available to support the logistical activities of the Civil Protection, which are fundamental in the emergency scenario.
Grow responsibly thanks to the decisive contribution of its people to the sustainable success, innovation, digitisation and social cohesion of the country
Social-relational • Relations with entities and institutions • Union relations • Relations with other stakeholders
Financial Services • Collection and management of postal savings • Asset management • Collection and payment services • Placement and distribution of financial products
Social-relational • Partnerships and collaborations • Collaborative business climate • Stakeholder engagement
Financial y Sources of financing and ways of using financial resources
INPUT: y Business continuity plan resources y GRI 205-1 Companies assessed for risks related to corruption and percentage of operations audited for risks related to corruption y Specific training on procedures and policies of anti-corruption y 207-1 Approach to tax
OUTCOME: y GRI 205-3 Reports managed by the Whistleblowing Committee y GRI 418 Customer Privacy y IT security and cyber security breaches y Number of customers involved in IT security breaches y Cases of bribery and corruption and corrective actions y Anti-competitive practices y GRI 415-1 Political contributions y Work with transparency and integrity y Cybersecurity, IT Security and Privacy y Innovation and digitisation of products, services and processes y Indicators tables
INPUT: y GRI 102-8 Number of personnel by contract type and gender y GRI 401 Employment y GRI 403-5 Worker training on occupational health and safety y GRI 404 Training and Education y GRI 405 Diversity and Equal Opportunity y GRI 412 Human rights assessment y Number of participants in development programmes y Average hours of training for employees by gender and category y Training programmes and career development
OUTCOME: y Workforce trends (employee turnover y GRI 403-9 Occupational accidents y Diversity y Number of cases of non-compliance with labour standards y Disputes y Work with transparency and integrity y Protection of human rights y Equal career development opportunities y Occupational health and safety y Staff training and development y Staff welfare and well-being y Indicators tables
INPUT: y GRI 301 Materials y GRI 302 Energy y GRI 303 Water and Effluents y Total cost of energy purchased for real estate facilities y Existing tenders which incorporate specific environmental criteria
Poste Italiane intends to promote complete and effective disclosure of its ESG performances, which are strongly linked to the ESG Strategic Plan. The ESG Group Strategy is based on 8 Pillars related to the 18 material topics.
Work with transparency and integrity y GRI 205 Anti-corruption y GRI 207 Tax y GRI 415 Public Policy
Legality and incorporation of ESG criteria within procurement processes y Existing tenders which incorporate specific environmental criteria
Staff welfare and well-being y GRI 102 General Disclosures y GRI 401 Employment Human
Occupational health and safety y GRI 403 Occupational Health and Safety Human
Support for the socio-economic development of local communities y GRI 203 Indirect economic impacts
Dialogue and transparency in relations with the authorities y Monetary contributions related to activities with the ability to influence public policies
Innovation and digitisation of products, services and processes y Number of digital services offered y Number of digital transactions
Environmental impacts of real estate facilities y GRI 302 Energy y GRI 303 Water and Effluents y GRI 306 Waste y GRI 305 Emissions
6. The investment in Volante Technologies Inc. fully diluted is equal to 2.94%. 7. The investment in Conio Inc. fully diluted is equal to 14.50%. 8. The investment in MFM Holding Ltd is equal to 14.10% of the shares with voting rights (15.16% of property rights).
investments in 30 companies and consortia, of which 16 are consolidated on a line-by-line basis, 4 are subsidiaries and valued using the equity method, 4 are associates and valued using the equity method and 6 represent minority stakes.
The following table describes the activities of the Group companies, including them within the respective Business Units described in further detail in the paragraph “Areas of operations and organisation of the Group” to which reference is made for further information.
This company operates in communication services for businesses and the public administration, providing printing and delivery services, electronic document management solutions, direct marketing, e-procurement, IT services and website management (portals) for online payments.
This consortium coordinates the activities of the consortium members (Poste Italiane, SDA, Postel and Poste Air Cargo, Poste Assicura) in transport overland and by air of postal effects, integrated logistics, printing and envelope filling, electronic document management, e-commerce, marketing and telemarketing.
This company develops, mainly for Postel SpA, application software packages for the processing of personal and territorial data (normalisation of addresses, data cleaning and geomarketing).
This company manages and optimises Poste Italiane’s real estate assets that are not instrumental; it carries out town planning and construction transformations, in order to assure the relative marketing (new leases and sales). It also operated on the electricity market as “wholesale” purchaser for the Poste Italiane Group until 31 December 2020.
Indabox Srl This company develops IT and telematic systems offering logistics support to e-commerce, proposing to customers a collection service of parcels purchased online from authorised retailers.
Company that carries out home delivery activities for e-commerce through innovative and technologically advanced delivery services, such as Scheduled Delivery, which allows customers to customise deliveries by choosing the date and time of receipt and Same Day (the same day on which the purchase is made) and to have a detailed tracking service. The Company exclusively uses the technology of Milkman SpA.
PostePay SpA A company that integrates electronic money and payment services, acting as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) with the PosteMobile brand.
Consortium for the supply of services relating to the “Electronic Postman” platform, mobile telephony and integrating messaging services (device info services connected with financial instruments) exclusively for Poste Italiane. As of 1 October 2020, the provision of services relating to the “Electronic Postman” platform has been transferred to Poste Italiane SpA.
Holding company that holds 57.42% of SIA SpA, a company that manages infrastructures and provides technological services in the areas of payments, electronic money, network services and capital markets.
Swedish company accredited as a PSD2 operator with the FSA (Financial Supervisory Authority) and present in more than 10 European countries (including Italy). It is one of the main open banking platforms and provides banks and financial institutions with technological solutions in a PSD2 perspective.
American company specialising in the development of technological solutions underlying the payment and financial messaging processes on cloud and on-premise for the acceleration of digital transformation and the modernisation of financial services.
Investment holding company in the asset management sector. It controls 100% of Anima SGR, which, in turn, controls 100% of Anima Asset Management Ltd.
Insurance broker for the distribution and brokerage of insurance and reinsurance.
As part of the collaboration with the German digital carrier sennder GmbH, on 12 February 2020, Poste Italiane subscribed a capital increase of €255 thousand in the company sennder Italia Srl, acquiring 75% (25% is held by sennder GmbH). On 25 February 2020, on the basis of agreements between the parties to support business growth in the start-up phase, Poste Italiane made an additional capital contribution of €3 million.
5. Open Banking is a collaborative model between several market players, banking and non-banking, introduced by PSD2 (the European directive on payment services effective from 14/09/2019), which uses open technology platforms, sharing knowledge, work environments, customer data and base, creates innovative services and products for the end customer and increases market competition.
6. “Same day” and “Scheduled” services allow e-Shoppers to request delivery on the same day as the purchase or on a desired day and in a specific time slot among those available.
On 2 August 2019, Poste Italiane, in line with the Strategic Plan, launched a partnership with the digital asset management company MFM Investments Ltd (Moneyfarm) to offer innovative digital investment and asset management services. The agreement provides that Poste Italiane will distribute an asset management service in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) with 7 investment lines of which 2 developed exclusively for its customers. On 9 August 2019, Poste Italiane signed a contract with MFM Holding Ltd (the company that controls 100% of Moneyfarm) which provides for a capital increase by the latter for a value of approximately €40 million (£36 million) through the issue of convertible preference shares subscribed by Poste Italiane, as lead investor, and Allianz Asset Management GmbH (the minority shareholder of Moneyfarm Holding Ltd). The capital increase involved two phases. In the first, which ended in August 2019, Poste Italiane subscribed shares in MFM Holding Ltd for a total value of €15 million, representing 9.70% of voting rights (10.36% of property rights). In the second, additional MFM Holding shares were subscribed for a total value of approximately €9.6 million, with an increase in the investment of up to 14.10% of voting rights (15.16% of property rights). The latter was finalised on 13 May 2020 when the necessary authorisations were obtained by the supervisory authorities of Germany (Bafin) and the United Kingdom (FCA).
On 16 November 2020, Poste Italiane signed a preliminary agreement with the Dutch company PostNL European Mail Holdings B.V. (hereinafter referred to as “PostNL”) and the German company Mutares Holding - 32 GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “Mutares Holding”), for the purchase of the entire share capital of Nexive Group Srl (hereinafter “Nexive”).
The acquisition will allow Poste Italiane to take advantage of potential economies of scale from the consolidation of Nexive operations, improving the level of service for customers of both companies.
The transaction was carried out pursuant to article 75 of Law Decree no. 104 of 14 August 2020 (converted into Law no. 126 of 13 October 2020), which provides that certain concentration transactions shall be considered authorised upon indication to the Antitrust Authority (AGCM) of suitable measures to prevent the risk of imposition of prices or other contractual conditions that could be costly for the user as a result of the transaction. The acquisition was authorised by the AGCM, which prescribed a number of behavioural measures for Poste Italiane. The company will send a report, half-yearly for the first year after closing, and annually thereafter, on compliance with the prescribed measures.
BNL Finance On 23 December 2020, Poste Italiane and BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas signed a binding framework agreement to strengthen their partnership in the sector of loans secured by the assignment of one-fifth of salary or pensions (“CQ Credits”). The framework agreement calls for Poste Italiane to acquire a 40% equity investment in BNL Finance, a BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas company that is a leader in the CQ Credits market.
BNL Finance, as the product manufacturer, will distribute its CQ Credits through the post office network on the basis of a ten-year commercial agreement with Poste Italiane - BancoPosta RFC, in continuity with the existing commercial agreement.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and closing is expected by the first half of 2021.
On 19 January 2021, Poste Italiane and Cloud Seven Holding Limited signed a binding framework agreement aimed at strengthening the partnership in the e-commerce market between China and Italy. The framework agreement provides for the acquisition by Poste Italiane of 51% of the voting capital of Sengi Express Limited (“Sengi Express”), a company wholly owned by Cloud Seven Holding Limited based in Hong Kong. Sengi Express is a leading company in the creation and management of cross-border logistics solutions for Chinese e-commerce merchants active in the Italian market.
The closing of the transaction was completed on 1 March 2021.
Other intra-group transactions As part of the path of making the Poste Italiane Group’s Information Communication Technology processes more efficient by centralising the management of its subsidiaries’ information systems at the Parent Company, the following corporate transactions were completed during the period: z sale of Poste Vita, Poste Assicura and Poste Welfare Servizi ICT management business units to Poste Italiane. The transaction, approved by Poste Italiane’s Board of Directors on 12 December 2019, took effect from 1 March 2020; z sale of PostePay’s ICT business unit, dedicated to telecommunication services and Electronic Postman to Poste Italiane. The transaction, approved by PostePay’s Board of Directors on 23 September 2020, took effect from 1 October 2020.
In addition, on 1 July 2020, the transaction took effect, as approved by the Board of Directors of Consorzio Logistica Pacchi ScpA on 25 May 2020, for the sale of the BU “CLP Mercato” in favour of Poste Italiane SpA, consisting of the following activities: 1) “Gamma BOX”, i.e. national and international shipping services for mainly business customers, contracted through the (former) SDA sales network; 2) “IoInvio prepaid product”, i.e. the online shipping platform for national and international EU mailings, open both to retail customers and business customers that require payment at the same time. The transaction aims to concentrate within the Parent Company the commercial offer “parcels and express courier”, both business and retail, also allowing CLP to focus on the captive activities that represent its main mission.
Lastly, on 27 January 2021 Poste Italiane’s Board of Directors approved the removal of the restriction on the allocation of BancoPosta RFC regarding assets and legal relations constituting the “Debit Business”. This transaction, which is to be submitted for final approval to the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting, after obtaining all the necessary regulatory authorisations, marks the completion of the process of centralising electronic money services at the EMI PostePay SpA, via the transfer of the “Debit Business” to the latter. The purpose of the transaction is to make the debit cards linked to the BancoPosta account also a PostePay SpA product. BancoPosta account holders will be able to access the full functionality of the Postepay payment/cash collection ecosystem, thanks to integration of the functions of the BancoPosta debit card, without this entailing any changes to the product’s economic conditions for customers. On 4 February 2021, PostePay’s Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting approved, among other things, a divisible capital increase to be subscribed and paid up by 30 September 2021, via the contribution in kind of the Debit Business by Poste Italiane.
In addition to its mail and parcel handling activities, the SBU also includes those relating to the sales network, post offices and the corporate functions of Poste Italiane SpA, which also support the other sectors of the Group.
The SBU includes the activities of payment management, electronic money services and mobile and fixed-line telephone services by PostePay SpA.
Starting in 2020, and in line with the organisational changes that in 2019 saw the transfer of the digital channel control activities within the Mail, Parcels and Distribution SBU, the name of the Payments, Mobile and Digital SBU has been updated to Payments and
Omni-channel Commercial Strategy The Group’s integrated multi-channel platform provides for the monitoring of customers through 3 channels: z the physical network of Post Offices flanked by a commercial network specialising in business customers; z a digital infrastructure made up of all the Group’s digital properties, capable of serving the entire national population; z Third-party networks, consisting of over 37 thousand retail outlets and the result of commercial partnership agreements for the marketing of Group products and services.
Commercial Network – Post Office Network The Post Office Network function manages the commercial front end for the retail segment and is in charge of Macro Area offices, Branches and Post Offices covering the entire country.
With reference to the actions taken by the Company to protect its employees and customers from the current pandemic, reference should be made to chapter 5 “Risks and opportunities” and to the Group’s 8 Sustainability Pillars, which are discussed in chapter 6 “Performance”.
Commercial Network – Business and Public Administration The Business and Public Administration function of Poste Italiane guarantees the commercial supervision and sale of the Group’s products and services for businesses and the Central and Local Public Administration.
Organisation of the Logistics Network The Group’s mail and parcel services are provided through 2 integrated and synergistic logistics networks: the postal logistics network for the management of mail, now evolved to allow the management of small parcels delivered by letter carriers and the parcel logistics network which, by taking advantage of the SDA Group’s express courier assets, is also able to handle all types of parcel.
The integration between the two networks was strengthened in 2020 by increasing the interchange of small parcel volumes between the two networks (carriable parcels, i.e. under 5 kilos) using cost-effectiveness as a criterion. The delivery of these products in Italy can be carried out indistinctly by the Postal and Parcel Logistics Network according to a dynamic approach, aimed at maximising efficiency for each area.
The organisational model for the postal logistics network consists of 6 Logistics Macro Areas which, coordinated centrally, internally handle all stages of the value chain: acceptance and collection, outbound sorting, transport, inbound sorting and delivery. At the same time, this model makes it possible to have a single management system for the entire territory and to be able to adapt it to each specific situation with targeted interventions.
During the year, IT resources were transferred to the Digital, Technology & Operations department, following the centralisation of the IT support activities and processes carried out at local level by the Post Office Network and Mail, Communication and Logistics functions.
All workforce data (permanent and flexible) is shown as full time equivalent employees.
* Logistics Network - Macro Areas , whilst coinciding geographically with the Post Office Network - Macro Areas, from 2018 have their own, separate organisations in terms of processes and competences.
In addition to these trends, during the year, there was an even more significant decline in mail with historical trends due to the lockdown caused by the health emergency, which caused a general slowdown in the Italian economy.
With reference to the parcels sector, the pandemic, as a result of the change in buying habits of Italians, has generated an acceleration of the growth trends already foreseen in the 2018-2022 business plan.
9. Source: Report IPC and other postal/logistics operators. 10. Source: Internal processing, on Osservatorio eCommerce B2C – Politecnico Milano data. 11. Source: Osservatorio eCommerce B2C – Politecnico Milano/Netcomm data. 12. Source: Internal processing based on Cerved Databank, Netcomm data.
On 1 December 2020, the European Commission approved the compensation, for the public service obligations envisaged by the 2020-2024 Service Contract, in the amount of €262 million per year. The system of compensation for the public service obligations undertaken by the Company was considered by the European Commission to be fully in line with the relevant EU rules on state aid.
During 2020, the procedure for verifying the net cost of the universal service for the year 2019 was launched. In particular, with a communication dated 8 July 2020, AGCom extended to 2019 the objective scope of the net cost verification procedure for the years 2017 and 2018, previously initiated with Resolution 215/19/CONS of 2 July 2019.
Health emergency As part of the measures adopted by the Government (Law Decree no. 18 of 17 March 2020, Conversion Law no. 27 of 24 April 2020 and Law Decree no. 34 of 19 May 2020), specific urgent measures have been adopted for the performance of the postal service. Specifically, the delivery of registered mail, insured mail, parcels and notifications by mail pursuant to Law 890/82 (judicial documents and fines) throughout the country and until 31 July 2020, was carried out, subject to verification of the presence of the recipient or the person authorised to collect the item, by placing the item in the home mailbox or other place indicated by the recipient at the same time.
Resolution 350/19/CONS of September 2019: public consultation of the draft measure concerning the analysis of the parcel delivery services market, aimed at monitoring the market in order to assess whether, and in what way, the current amendments have modified, or may modify, its competitive structure in the future.
On 18 September 2020, AGCom sent the Company a request for information, stating that all clarifications must be provided concerning postal items with a thickness of more than 20 mm and a weight of no more than 31.5 kg. Poste Italiane sent a notice on 22 October 2020 stating that the European Parcel Regulation applies only to international items.
Resolution AGCom 331/20/CONS of 31 July 2020: defined the quality standards relating to the continuity and reliability of the services provided in Post Offices, i.e.: a) regular opening /closing at national and regional level, b) progressive removal of architectural barriers in Post Offices that can be adapted. In addition, average wait times for counter service provision have been defined, the principle of counter priority for vulnerable groups (the disabled, pregnant women, etc.) and the procedures for accepting complaints about the postal service made at the offices have been strengthened. These standards apply from 2021 onwards. In particular, with respect to the objectives under a), b), the Company will be measured on the basis of the results achieved annually against predefined objectives, rather than as part of individual sanction proceedings.
With respect to the other standards, the Company is required to ensure implementation thereof in the manner deemed appropriate.
In accordance with article 2, paragraph 7, of the 2020-2024 Contratto di Programma (Service Contract), on 24 June 2020, Poste Italiane submitted to AGCom a proposal to adjust the number of mailboxes to the changed size of the market and customer needs, taking into account the trend in postal volumes and actual use by users. With a communication dated 21 January 2021, AGCom initiated a procedure for the definition of the criteria for the reshaping of the distribution of default mailboxes in Italy. The deadline for concluding the procedure is 180 days, except for subsequent justified extensions.
With regard to the review process of the “Guidelines for the award of public procurement of postal services”, which aims to favour the effective liberalisation of the postal services market, the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) and AGCom, following the work of a technical table on a draft document in which the Company also participated, prepared the revision document of the aforementioned Guidelines which was subjected to public consultation until 31 December 2020 and in the context of which the Company submitted its comments on 30 December 2020. Publication of the final provision is awaited.
Acquisition of a shareholding in sennder Italia for the optimisation of road transport activities
Implementation of the new Punto Poste Da Te service, which, thanks to lockers installed in condominiums/company offices, makes it possible to collect, send and top up Postepay and SIM cards in complete autonomy
Implementation of the new Poste Delivery Web service: the online service that allows sending parcels, up to 30 kg, throughout Italy and the world
Implementation of the new Poste Delivery Business service, the complete offer that provides several services dedicated to the recipient for the development of e-commerce
Acquisition of an investment in Sengi Express Limited for the development of the parcel business from China
Mail Acquisition of the entire share capital of Nexive, for the rationalisation of the mail market value chain
• Energy services from 2022, leveraging market liberalisation and customer confidence
Credit cards are the most affected type, with a decline in transactions of 13% compared to the same period last year. Prepaid cards continue to grow at a strong pace with transactions up 16% and transaction volume up 19% compared to the first nine months of 2019, partly due to cards issued for Citizenship Income, as well as total transactions and debit card transactions which grew 2% and 0.5% respectively compared to the first nine months of 2019.
The number of cards active on the market exceeded 91 million (+1% compared to 31 December 2019) of which: debit cards amounted to over 46 million (+1.2% compared to 31 December 2019), prepaid cards to over 29 million (+1% compared to 31 December 2019) and credit cards to over 15 million (+0.4% compared to 31 December 2019).
According to the latest available figures14, Mobile telephony market penetration, in terms of total mobile lines, stands at approximately 173% of the population, with MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator)15 accounting for 16.1%. The total number of lines at 30 September 2020 amounted to 104.1 million, including approximately 26.3 million Machine to Machine (M2M) SIM cards. PosteMobile, with a total market share of approximately 4.2%, accounts for around 45.0% of the total customers of mobile virtual network operators.
13. Source: Internal processing and estimates on Bank of Italy data (supervisory reporting flows). 14. Source: AGCom Communications Observatory no. 4/2020, Operators Report. 15. Source: Internal Estimate PostePay - Administration, Planning and Control.
Bank of Italy Notice of 30 April 2020 The provisions of article 22 of the Fiscal Decree 2020 have been implemented in relation to the tax credit available to merchants (with revenue not exceeding €400,000), equal to 30% of the commissions charged by intermediaries for the acceptance of transactions made with electronic payment instruments traceable from 1 July 2020. This measure is intended for all payment service providers – including PostePay SpA – that have agreed with merchants resident in Italy to accept payment instruments at their physical or online points of sale (acquiring services).
On 18 December 2020, following the public consultation on the delegated act proposal open to all interested parties pursuant to article 75 of the new Code of Electronic Communications and which ended on 22 September 2020, the European Commission adopted a delegated act that supplements the directive that establishes the European Code of Electronic Communications, defining a single maximum termination rate* for voice calls on mobile and fixed networks in the European Union. The delegated act will not require transposition into national legislation but operators will have a few months, from the date of entry into force of the provision (expected in the third quarter of 2021), to implement the new termination values on the billing systems. On 17 December 2018, the new Code of Electronic Communications voted by the Parliament on 4 December 2018 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The national implementation of the Code, initially expected by 21 December 2020**, has been postponed due to the ongoing epidemiological emergency. The new transposition deadline will be foreseen in the next European Delegation Law.
* In order to ensure that subscribers to different fixed and mobile network operators are able to communicate with each other, networks must be interconnected and operators must therefore enter into interconnection contracts regarding the provision of one or more services.
The new Postepay PA offer has been developed: the prepaid card that allows public bodies to offer citizens a payment card on which to credit funds provided by the PA
The Codice Postepay offer has been further developed, allowing payments to be made directly from the app by framing the QR Code
New PosteMobile Casa WEB service developed, the innovative internet connection solution with self-installing, portable modem and fast internet connection up to 300 Mbps
Continued development of the PosteMobile Casa Standard service, the voice traffic offer for the home
Started collaborations with Open Fiber and TIM for the development of fiber optic services through ultra-broadband technologies
Financial markets The year 2020 ended with positive performance across many asset classes, both government and riskier securities. Monetary and fiscal intervention marked the reversal point of market performance in 2020 and will continue to dominate the scene this year at least until the real economy returns to a robust growth path. The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted first, in a massive recomposition of investors’ portfolios towards safer assets. In the financial markets of advanced countries, since the end of February 2020, severe turbulence has affected all sectors, in a context of high risk aversion, which then rose again significantly in the second quarter of 2020. The intervention of economic policy, with the coordinated action of central banks and governments, has favoured the fall in interest rates and credit spreads, as well as the rise in share prices.
In the last two months of 2020, the discovery of Covid-19 vaccines, the US presidential election and the Brexit deal supported share prices, which also rose thanks to continued improvement in short-term expectations. In the United States and Japan, prices exceeded pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, while recoveries in the Eurozone are still incomplete. In the January-December 2020 period16, the S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 gained 15.86% and 16.01%, respectively, while the EuroStoxx 50 lost 4.72%.
The joint action of the central banks has drastically reduced volatility in the money market. The high levels of liquidity available on affordable terms and the removal from the market, through Quantitative Easing (QE)17, of large issues of short-term government bonds have created the conditions for a normalisation of the spread between market LIBOR rates18, OIS19 and the rates on FED Funds20.
20. Very short-term interest rate, in the U.S. federal funds market, in which excess reserves held by credit companies at the Federal Reserve are exchanged.
The decision of the Federal Reserve (FED) to proceed with massive purchases of short-term US securities and the subsequent extension of the purchase programmes also to bonds, issued by States and local authorities, reduced the pressure on intermediaries and markets, which did not seem able to cope with the significant increase in demand for liquidity. The ECB followed the FED and the use of the PEPP (Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme) on securities with a maturity of even less than one year definitively stabilised the money market. The ECB strategy has also provided support for BTP; the yields on Italian government securities, after fluctuating at relatively high values, have in fact declined across all maturities since mid-May 2020. The 10-year spread between BTP and Bund at the end of December 2020 was thus slightly below the values at the beginning of the year (108 bps vs. 159 bps) and the yield on 10-year BTP fell from 1.41% to 0.54% in the twelve-month period.
The performance of the credit market, after the shock and sudden illiquidity caused by the pandemic, has been dominated by the progressive search for yield. The awareness that central banks will keep interest rates low in the medium to long term generated a lengthening of the maturities of securities issued and central bank purchases absorbed a significant portion of this, favouring a compression of yields between highly rated securities and those of lower quality.
Below is a table that represents the precise returns expressed in percentage terms at the end of the period for BTPs government bonds and interest rate swaps21: Spread BTP Vs BUND 10 yrs 21. Source: Bloomberg.
Asset Management Assogestioni figures at 31 December 202023, showed total assets of €2,421 billion, compared to €2,307 billion at the end of December 2019 (+5.0%, as a result of the positive contribution of inflows of +0.6% and performance of +4.4%). With reference to portfolio management (Retail and Institutional), assets amounted to approximately €1,220 billion (€1,171 billion at the end of December 2019, +4.2%, as a result of the negative contribution from inflows of -1.3% and positive contribution from performance of +5.5%). With regard to collective asset management (open-end and closed-end mutual investment funds), customer assets went from about €1,136 billion at the end of December 2019 to about €1,201 billion at the end of December 2020 (+5.8%). With regard to open-ended mutual investment funds alone, customer assets at the end of December 2020 amounted to approximately €1,133 billion (approximately €1,072 billion at the end of December 2019), or +5.7%, as a result of the positive contribution of inflows of +2.2% and performance of +3.5%. In terms of net inflows, the asset management industry recorded, in 2020, an overall positive balance of €14.6 billion, compared to €76.8 billion of the previous year (the 2019 result is largely attributable to intra-group transactions of Poste Italiane).
22. ABI - Economy and Financial-Credit Markets – January 2021. 23. Monthly data (preliminary) with reference to December 2020; quarterly data (consolidated) with reference to 2019.
On 22 January 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the document amending the guidelines of September 2018 on the obligation to report fraud for Payment Service Providers (PSP) required by the Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The changes, which have become necessary following some clarifications by the European Commission regarding the application of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) to certain types of transactions, were introduced as of 1 July 2020 and concern the reporting formats for fraud data related to certain means of payment.
From 1 January 2020, the Company provides customers with the Fee Information Document and has completed the preparatory activities for the preparation and handling of the Statement of fees as of 31 December 2020.
With reference to the Transparency Provisions, on 10 January 2020, the Bank of Italy published on its website updates to the Guides on risk control, mortgage and consumer credit that Poste Italiane has incorporated into its offer documents.
With reference to the amendments to the Intermediaries’ Regulations referred to in Resolution no. 20307 of 15 February 2018 in order to implement the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) on the rules of conduct applicable to the distribution of Insurance-Based Investment Products (IBIPs), CONSOB, by Resolution no. 21466 of 29 July 2020, definitively issued the aforementioned Regulation introducing specific rules of conduct and information obligations in the distribution of Insurance-Based Investment Products – IBIPs (Class I, Class III, and Multi-class in BancoPosta’s current operations).
In September 2020, the Authority published an Operational Guide on Transaction Reporting in order to rationalise and provide clarification on the activities relating to the management of the reporting obligations envisaged by the MiFIR Regulation (EU) no. 600/2014 of 15 May 2014. Poste Italiane, with regard to the CONSOB Resolution, modified operations and, with reference to Transaction Reporting, carried out an assessment on the criteria used for reporting.
On 23 September 2020, the Bank of Italy published the 34th update of Circular no. 285 of 17/12/2013, which implements the EBA Guidelines on outsourcing (EBA/GL/2019/02) and the adaptation of the Company’s awarding and outsourcing Regulation is already being updated.
Simplified procedures have been introduced for the remote conclusion of contracts relating to the provision of investment services, membership of Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and insurance contracts. The aforementioned provisions regulate the contracts stipulated between the date on which a state of emergency was declared in Italy and its termination.
Provided tax credit transfer service and implemented new promotions on the issue
Renewed and expanded the range of First and multi-class life policies
Renewed three-year agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for the regulation of treasury services and the movement of funds on behalf of the State
With reference to the Regulation implementing articles 4-undecies and 6, paragraph 1, letters b) and c-bis of Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998, adopted by the Bank of Italy on 5 December 2019 pursuant to art. 23 paragraph 7, the Company appointed to perform the legal audit of Poste Italiane’s financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019 complied with the new regulatory requirements by sending the Annual Report on the deposit and sub-deposit of customer instruments to the Bank of Italy on 28 October 2020.
CONSOB In January 2020, CONSOB launched an inspection of a general nature pursuant to article 6-ter, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998, aimed at ascertaining the state of adaptation to the new MiFID II legislation. The inspection was completed on 23 October 2020. The Company is awaiting feedback from the Authority.
In July 2020, CONSOB formalised a request concerning the checks carried out on the Transaction Reporting valuation criteria. The relevant feedback was provided on 24 August 2020.
Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM – the Italian Antitrust Authority)
On 9 March 2015, the Authority notified Poste Italiane SpA of an investigation of BancoPosta RFC for the alleged violation of articles 20, 21 and 22 of the Consumer Code, regarding the “Libretto Smart” product. On 21 December 2015, the AGCM notified Poste Italiane of its final ruling in which it deemed the Company’s conduct unfair and imposed a fine of €0.54 million, limited to a tenth of the maximum applicable amount taking into account the mitigating circumstance that Poste Italiane had adopted initiatives aimed at allowing customers to benefit from the bonus rate. Poste Italiane lodged an appeal against this ruling before the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, which has adjourned the case until a hearing on the merits to be set.
In May and September 2020, IVASS requested specific in-depth analysis of Poste Italiane’s third-party car liability offers, with particular reference to the business model, product and customer target. Feedback was provided on 19 May and 10 September 2020, respectively. Following the response note, a special meeting was held with the Authority on 18 September 2020.
On 9 October 2020, in view of the launch of the pilot project of proposing protection products through external call centres, the names of the managers were communicated to IVASS
• Life products at the heart of the group’s investment offering
• Full integration of ESG principles and reduction of underinsurance in Italy
Life business Based on official figures available at the end of December 202024, new individual and group Life business of €84.2 billion at the end of December 2020 declined by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2019. If new Life business reported by EU companies is also taken into account, the figure reached €96.2 billion, down 7.4% compared to 2019.
Analysing the figures by class of insurance, Class I premiums amounted to €55.3 billion at the end of December 2020, down 11.6%, given the health emergency, compared to the previous year. However, the decline is smaller than that recorded in the first half of 2020 (-19.8% compared to the same period in 2019).
The performance of Class III products was up (+3.4%) compared to the 2019 figure, reflected in inflows of €24.5 billion at the end of 2020, whereas inflows of capitalisation products (€1.7 billion) recorded a significant decrease (-24.2%) at the end of 2020 compared to the previous year, due to the decline in both individual and collective policies. The trend in new premiums relating to long-term health policies (Class IV) continued to be limited (approximately €68 million), and slightly up (+0.2%) compared to 2019.
New contributions relating to the management of pension funds at the end of December 2020 amounted to €2.7 billion, a significant increase (+72.4%) compared to 2019.
The performance of new business obtained through qualified financial consultants was €11.3 billion, down (-7.3%) compared with the figure for the previous year and with an incidence compared to the total of intermediated premiums equal to 13.5%.
* Source: ANIA. ** The term “EU insurers” refers to the Italian subsidiaries of undertakings with a registered office in an EU country operating under the right of establishment and freedom to provide services. The figures refer solely to undertakings taking part in the survey.
This decline is due in particular to the sharp drop in the car sector (-4.3%). In particular, the car TPL and land vehicle hull classes reported a decrease in premium income of 5.0% and 1.2%, respectively.
The other P&C classes also experienced a sharp slowdown. While growth was 5.0% at the end of the third quarter of 2019, at the end of the third quarter of 2020, there was a decrease of 1.4%, mainly due to a decline in April (-10.0%).
The classes with the largest share of premiums written, which were affected by the negative change, were: accident insurance with premiums of €2.4 billion, down 2.8%; Illness insurance with premiums of €2.1 billion, down 5.2%; general liability insurance with premiums of €2.9 billion, down 0.3%; and financial losses, down 25.0% compared to the same period last year.
* Source: ANIA. ** Premiums refer to Italian and non-EU undertakings and EU undertakings.
IVASS measure no. 97 of 4 August 2020, which will enter into force on 31 March 2021, completes the rules on the distribution of IBIPs (Insurance Based Investment Products) for the channels under IVASS jurisdiction and contains references to the rules of the IBIPs Delegated Regulation and the provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, supplementing Mifid II Directive as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms with reference to independent consultancy. In particular, some specific additional provisions are introduced concerning: pre-contractual information, combined sale, documentation storage, professional training and updating.
Adjustment activities are underway within the various obliged entities at Group level.
The measure also contains additions and amendments to Regulations nos. 23/2008, 24/2008, 38/2018, 40/2018 and 41/2018 with the aim of rationalising and simplifying the obligations on operators and increasing the level of protection for contracting parties.
The Regulation requires information to be provided in the Solvency and Financial Condition Report on the methods by which the consistency of the main elements of the equity investment strategy is ensured with the profile and duration of liabilities, in particular over the long term, and how they contribute to the medium and long-term returns of assets. The deadline for sending the Solvency and Financial Condition Report is scheduled for 19 May 2021.
Implemented the new product Poste Progetti Futuri Dinamica: the multi-class policy to seize the opportunities offered by the markets in a gradual way dedicated to Affluent customers
Implemented the new Postefuturo Investimenti product, Poste Italiane’s offer for investing savings online
Marketing of the Poste Guidare Sicuri offer, which completes the Group’s P&C insurance offer with the launch of a “Motor” product
The slump in economic activity and world trade generated a depressive effect on oil demand that, in the second half of 2020, was partly recovered by expectations of a recovery and dollar weakness: from the negative peak of $20 per barrel in late April 2020, Brent prices recovered to around $50 in December 2020, although still below pre-Covid-19 health emergency standards26.
Managers’ Index (PMI)29 composite rose slightly from 45.3 to 49.830 and the ECB, in its latest Economic Bulletin, noted a significant decline in activity, albeit to a much lesser extent than that observed in the second quarter of 2020, due to the sharp resurgence of the pandemic and the necessary reintroduction, from mid-October 2020, of containment measures that mainly affected the services sector. The Eurostat preliminary estimate of Eurozone GDP for the fourth quarter of 2020 shows a decline of 0.7% in the economy, resulting in a drop for the whole year of 6.3%.
The second pandemic wave, which began in October 2020, forced the government to impose new lockdown measures, albeit in different ways across regions. Despite the recovery of the industrial sector, the scenario remained weak in services, and especially in the sectors most exposed to the effects of the pandemic, such as retail trade and transport, accommodation and catering. In December 2020, the composite index of business confidence showed a more pronounced increase for market services and manufacturing, where the improvement affected all components and more strongly expectations of production and orders. Construction and especially retail trade, on the other hand, recorded a decline in the index35. For the full year 2020, the OECD forecasts a decline of 8.9%36 of the Italian economy and inflation, even with reference to the underlying component, remains very weak due to the sharp drop in energy commodity prices and the lack of aggregate demand: consumer prices fell on average by 0.1% compared to 201937.
by the Stability and Growth Pact, which allows member countries, in view of the severe recession in the Eurozone and the entire European Union caused by the pandemic, to deviate temporarily from the adjustment path toward the medium-term budget objective, provided that budget sustainability is not compromised.
Expectations for the coming months retain a high degree of uncertainty, although growth estimates for 2021 reflect a resumption of economic activity on a global scale, in step with the progress of vaccinations and thanks to the support measures adopted in all the main countries, especially in the United States where an impressive fiscal support programme is expected. These reasons for optimism are contrasted by the uncertainties, which weigh above all on the Eurozone, linked to the effectiveness and speed of vaccination campaigns, new waves of infection and possible variants of Covid-19. Macroeconomic projections made in December 2020 by IMF experts38 forecast global real GDP to increase by 5.5% in 2021, before settling at 4.2% in 2022. As economic activity picks up, it is hoped that commerce will also pick up, growing by an estimated 8% in 2021. Inflation will remain very low: below the targets set by central banks in advanced economies (around 1.5%) and below the historical average in emerging markets (just over 4%). China, the only major country not to show a recession in 2020, is expected to accelerate by 8.1% in 2021, while other economies will see a slower rebound. In particular, in the Eurozone, the recovery will be around 4.2% and will also depend on the success of the Next Generation EU programme.
To be sustainable for Poste Italiane means defining a clear strategy on ESG issues and structurally incorporating them within the strategic objectives set in the “2024 Sustain & Innovate Plan39. Over the period of the plan, €3.1 billion of investment is envisaged in strategic assets, in order to achieve financial objectives.
y Revenue: €3.9 billion (2019: €3.5 billion), with an increase in revenue from the Parcels segment, and easing of the decline in the Mail segment.
y EBIT: €0.4 billion (2019: €0.2 billion), with CAGR of 1%.
y Expected card transactions as CAGR up 14%, to reach €2.7 billion.
Poste Italiane has adopted a Sustainability Strategy consisting of a set of Sustainability Policies and an ESG Strategic Plan, which contributes to the achievement of national and supranational social and environmental development objectives. Within the broader strategic framework defined by the Group, this strategy is consistent with Poste Italiane’s activities and business criteria.
The policies adopted incorporate all the principles, qualitative objectives and different management methods, regulating in a synergistic manner the various issues that emerged from the materiality analysis and the areas required by Legislative Decree no. 254/2016. The ESG Strategic Plan, on the other hand, includes all the specific quantitative and qualitative objectives and targets that the Group has set itself with a view to continually improving its sustainability performance.
In its responsible insurance Policy, Poste Vita defines principles that enable inclusion of ESG aspects in the management of its insurance activities, and concrete adherence to principles and guidelines recognised at national and international level regarding the incorporation of sustainability criteria within traditional insurance processes.
In its responsible investment policy, BancoPosta Fondi SGR sets out principles that enable inclusion of ESG elements in the management of its investment activities, making a positive contribution to the impact counterparties in its financial portfolios have on the community, and concrete adherence to recognised principles and guidelines. The Policy has been updated in January 2021.
The BancoPosta Fondi SGR’s Guideline defines measures and procedures to exercise voting rights in accordance with established national and international reference principles and to promote the proper management of ESG issues through beneficial dialogue with issuers of securities in their financial portfolios.
The objective of the Policy is to regulate the management of dialogue with investors and other market participants adopted by Poste Italiane, with reference to the many forms of engagement that the Company puts in place, whether these concern activities normally managed by the relevant corporate functions (e.g. website maintenance), or involve direct dialogue with members of the Board of Directors (“Shareholder-Director Engagement”).
The Guideline for investment in sensitive sectors of Poste Vita SpA defines measures to identify, assess and monitor exposure to activities that present a relevant intrinsic risk from an ESG point of view, thus enabling environmental, social and governance aspects to be incorporated into the investment process.
The Company’s Guideline defines measures and procedures to exercise voting rights in accordance with established national and international reference principles and to promote the proper management of ESG issues through beneficial dialogue with issuers of securities in their financial portfolios.
Policy Diversity and Inclusion The Policy indicates that Poste Italiane Group is committed to supporting the values of diversity and inclusion through the adoption of corporate, organisational and management mechanisms based on respect for people’s rights and freedom. In this direction, the path undertaken aims to evolve the way in which diversity issues are dealt with, moving from an approach aimed at protecting and integrating “diversity” to a proactive strategy to overcome any cultural stereotype and to identify and resolve the factors that prevent people from being included in the labour market.
The Guideline aims to ensure compliance with competition and consumer protection rules, to reinforce awareness of the importance of the relevant regulations, to consolidate an operational and control environment aimed at mitigating the risk of antitrust and anti-competitive offences, to provide a guide to prevent actions, behaviours and omissions that violate competition and consumer protection regulations, and to outline monitoring tools to identify possible violations.
The 2024 Sustain & Innovate Plan aims to achieve responsible growth and accompany Italy’s path to sustainability and social inclusion. In defining the investment choices of the Strategic Plan, the contribution of each intervention to the Group’s 8 Sustainability Pillars was also assessed.
With its new “2024 Sustain & Innovate” Plan, Poste Italiane has introduced a new flexible and innovative “Reward Platform” model, with an integrated approach that combines Human Capital Development, Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) and Financial Sustainability strategies.
A “REWARD PLATFORM” TO SUPPORT THE GROUP’S LONG-TERM INTERESTS AND TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE VALUE
Principles for Responsible Investment: the PRIs are a set of six principles that set out the main actions to be taken by investors and provide specific tools (e.g. frameworks, guidelines) aimed at incorporating Environmntal, Social and Governance (ESG) factors within traditional investment policies.
Sodalitas: established in 1995 on the initiative of Assolombarda, this foundation was the first organisation to promote corporate sustainability in Italy, by contributing to the development of the role of companies as social as well as economic players, and putting the strengths of corporate culture at the service of civil society. A unique organisation in Italy, it brings together the commitment of more than 100 leading companies and a group of volunteer managers, and it is a reference point for companies that consider sustainability to be a vital strategic dimension. It has gained respect as a partner of European institutions for implementing the sustainability agenda in Italy, and stands out for its ability to implement multi-stakeholder initiatives for generating shared social value.
Anima per il Sociale: an association that brings together a group of managers and companies with the mission of spreading the culture of corporate social responsibility and sustainability among local companies, at an economic, social and environmental level. The partnership enables the Group to access the association’s network – consisting of large companies, associations, non-profit organisations, bodies and authorities – in order to keep up to date through monitoring, communication and training activities and by participating in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and events.
Valore D: founded in 2009, it is the first association of companies to promote women’s diversity, talent and leadership in support of greater gender balance within its 150 member organisations. This collaboration enables Poste Italiane, as a supporting member since 2012, to actively participate in programmes and workshops organised by the association, as well as to take part in benchmarks and the sharing of best practices regarding the issues of diversity management, achievement of work-life balance and welfare.
Positioning in the band leadership with rating A- by CDP Dec’20
The value of reputation and the Sustainability Indices in which Poste Italiane is present Aware that the value generated by a company is increasingly based on intangible capital, Poste Italiane sees reputation as a fundamental asset that can guide the choices of its stakeholders. The good rating that a company earns, in fact, increases the trust in it by raising its competitiveness. Even more so during the health emergency, in the most difficult period of the country’s democratic history, the Company confirmed its traditional vocation of being close to the territory with a series of exceptional measures, such as the early payment of pensions with shifts in alphabetical order, the agreement with the Carabinieri for the home delivery of pensions to the over 75s and the collaboration with the institutions in the distribution of masks to the population. Monitoring by RepTrak, a platform that measures corporate reputation, in April 2020, found that the Group had made significant progress through improvements in the quality of its services and its focus on ESG issues.
Another important index of the reputation achieved by Poste Italiane is represented by the many awards and recognitions achieved in recent years, which further strengthen its image and confirm the effectiveness of the strategic choices made.
Top Employer Italia 2021 Poste Italiane is Top Employer Italia 2021, for the second consecutive year. The prestigious award was given to Poste Italiane by the Top Employers Institute, the global certification body for excellence in HR practices.
SMAU Innovation Award Poste Italiane has been awarded in the financial and logistics sector for having identified, through an extensive process of scouting and analysis of companies and start-ups in Italy and abroad, some realities in which to invest, to integrate and develop its services.
“Punto Poste Da Te”, “Salvadanaio digitale” and “PosteMobile Creami WeBack” are the Poste Italiane solutions that have won the “Elected Product of the Year” award, an important recognition of Poste Italiane’s ability for innovation, which has been able to create market-leading products that are central to customers’ lives.
Poste Italiane was awarded the special prize “Bic-Best in Media Communication” in the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) section, an integrated system for measuring the quality of media communication created by Eikon Strategic Consulting and Fortune Italia, for the communication effort during the health emergency.
In light of the “trust” research conducted by Lundquist, Poste Italiane was recognised as an example of excellence for communication to stakeholders during the Covid-19 pandemic and for the information platforms Postenews.it and TG Poste, obtaining the “Silver Class” badge.
Top 10 Socially Devoted Poste Italiane was once again included in the Top 10 Italian companies in the services sector, drawn up by Social Bakers, a media marketing company that each year compiles a ranking of the best companies based on the degree of interaction with customers on social media, in particular: response times, percentage of posts that receive a response, number of responses given and the degree of satisfaction perceived by users.
Report Oscar Poste Italiane was awarded the Report Oscar for standing out within the “Large FTSE MIB Companies ” category, presenting an Integrated Report with a high degree of maturity in terms of disclosure, quality of information and clarity of presentation. A factor that has contributed to winning the award is having prepared an online Integrated Report, in which the Group’s strategy is explained clearly and concisely through videos and highlights. The tool allows Poste Italiane to make its report available to all categories of stakeholders.
Award “2020 CSR Coup de Coeur” In 2020, Poste Italiane received the “2020 CSR Coup de Coeur” award in the employee category from PostEurop, for its commitment in promoting employment inclusion programmes for women victims of violence.
Best fund in Italy FondoPoste was awarded as the best fund in Italy in 2020. The award was presented by IPE – Investment & Pensions Europe – an independent company and publisher of Europe’s leading publication for institutional investors and pension fund managers for 20 years.
BancoPosta won first place in the “savings” category at the “Financial Innovation - Italian Award” promoted by the Italian Financial Innovation Association, thanks to the “Salvadanaio Digitale” (Digital Money Box) feature.
The Poste Vita Company was awarded in the “Value Companies” category at the Insurance Awards by Milano Finanza, for achieving the best premiums in the life insurance sector and for the largest investments made in 2019.
Following the analysis conducted by the German Quality Institute ITQF in collaboration with the media partner La Repubblica Affari&Finanza, Poste Italiane Group has been awarded “Italy’s Best Employers for Women 2021”, ranking as one of the 200 best employers for women in Italy.
In 2020, Poste Italiane confirmed its presence in important sustainability indices that represent useful parameters both for communicating the company’s results to stakeholders and for assessing and improving the Group’s internal performance.
In 2020, Poste Italiane confirmed its presence in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) and the more selective Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index.
Poste Italiane has been included for the second year running in the prestigious FTSE4Good sustainability indices. The FTSE4Good Europe and FTSE4Good Developed indices include companies that stand out for their transparent management and application of ESG criteria. The Company particularly distinguished itself in the categories: Human Rights & Community; Labour Standards; Corporate Governance and Anti-Corruption.
Poste Italiane confirms its presence in the Sustainability Yearbook 2021, published by S&P Global, which assesses the sustainability performance of leading global companies. The Group was awarded Silver Class status for its excellent sustainability performance. The Company is the only Italian company in the financial and insurance sector to have obtained this recognition.
Giovanni Azzone (Chair) Daniela Favrin Elisabetta Lunati 1. The Board of Directors was elected by the Ordinary General Meeting held on 15 May 2020 to serve for a period of three years, and will remain in office until the Annual General Meeting’s approval of the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022. Following the Board of Directors’ resolution of 10 June 2020, the Co-General Manager and Head of Corporate Affairs participates in Board meetings without voting rights.
Magistrate appointed by the Italian Court of Auditors to audit Poste Italiane
Poste Italiane’s Corporate Governance structure reflects the provisions of Legislative Decree no. 58, 24 February 1998 (the Consolidated Law on Finance), where applicable, the Supervisory Standards issued by the Bank of Italy and applicable to Poste Italiane in view of the unbundled activities conducted by BancoPosta RFC (Patrimonio destinato BancoPosta), and the recommendations of the Corporate Governance Code for listed companies endorsed by Borsa Italiana in force as of 31 December 2020.
The various measures include the adoption of the “Policy guideline for managing dialogue with Poste Italiane SpA shareholders”. – Engagement Policy. Further details are provided in the “Report on Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure – Year 2020”.
Poste Italiane’s financial management is overseen by the Italian Court of Auditors (Law 259 of 21 March 1958); the relevant controls are conducted by a Magistrate appointed by the Court of Auditors, who attends meetings of the Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors.
The Board of Statutory Auditors has 3 standing members and 3 alternates. The Board verifies compliance with the law, the Company’s By-laws and with correct corporate governance principles, also verifying the adequacy of the organisational structure and administrative and accounting systems adopted by the Company and their functionality. During the year, the Board of Statutory Auditors met 37 times, 12 of which jointly with the Control and Risk Committee.
The statutory audit of the accounts is entrusted for the years 2020-2028 to the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche SpA for the entire Group. The aforementioned appointment was made pursuant to Legislative Decree 39/2010 implementing Directive 2006/43/EC and European Regulation 537/2014 on public interest entities and the audit of public interest entities, in force since 17 June 2016.
With regard to BancoPosta RFC’s governance, the rules governing the organisation, management and control of BancoPosta’s operations are contained in the specific BancoPosta RFC Regulation in the Report on Operations of BancoPosta RFC, to which reference is made.
As a result of the new Supervisory Provisions applicable to BancoPosta RFC, issued by the Bank of Italy on 27 May 2014, Poste Italiane, in providing financial services to the public, is comparable – for the purposes of application of corporate governance regulations – to a major bank in terms of size and operational complexity.
For further details on the corporate governance structure, reference is made to the document “Report on Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure – Year 2020”.
The function has constantly endeavoured to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Internal Auditing activities, ensuring the objectivity of auditors and the compliance of their work with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards), the Code of Ethics and Poste Italiane SpA’s “Guideline on Internal Control and Risk Management System (SCIGR)”40.
The 2020 Annual Audit Plan, which responds to the logic of Assurance towards the Governing and Control Bodies and of Support to Management on internal auditing issues, continued to guarantee high levels of “coverage” (above 20%) for over 75% of the processes of the Audit Universe during the three-year period, many of which with a view to continuous auditing.
40. Approved by Poste Italiane’s Board of Directors on 19 February 2018.
At the meeting of the Board of Directors on 2 April 2020, the Internal Audit Function presented the Assessment Report on the SCIGR (Internal Control and Risk Management System) which, following discussion and having heard the opinion of the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Board of Statutory Auditors, was approved. The Report, which has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Corporate Governance Code for listed companies and supervisory instructions, has taken account of the results of audits carried out on the basis of the Audit Plans of all the Audit functions involved and the general framework of the Poste Italiane Group’s SCIGR, considering the impact of organisational changes adopted, developments and events during the year. The Report provides an overall assessment of the Poste Italiane Group’s Internal Control and Risk Management System in terms of “Positive Assurance”, noting that, on the basis of the findings at the date of the report and for the period covered by the report, the system is, on the whole, adequate to mitigate the risks that threaten the pursuit of the Group’s objectives.
At 31 December, overall progress was slightly over 80% for the operational audit and 96% for the design audit. In particular, progress was about 85% for the processes of providing products/services at POs with assurance and on-demand activities and 100% for Branch processes, administrative-accounting processes at the Administrative Hubs, and the processes of managing real estate assets, maintenance and environmental hygiene at the Real Estate Areas.
However, given the impacts experienced due to the health emergency, the inevitable impacts on the implementation of the 2020 Audit Plan could not be fully recovered/contained. In this regard, a series of assessments were carried out considering, where possible, any changes in the risk profile of the business processes represented by the Audit Universe and the level of implementation of the activities envisaged in the Plan at 31 December 2020 was overall above 85%. Despite this, the company processes were guaranteed the levels of audit coverage necessary to express the Overall Assessment of the Internal Control System with a view to “Positive Assurance”.
Finally, as in the previous two years, the operating guidelines also include audit requirements expressed to the BancoPosta Internal Audit function by the Poste Italiane Group’s financial and insurance companies. In relation to the impact of the health emergency, the plan for the activities assigned to network structures (post offices) was revised to around 85% of the initial plan and fully implemented.
Poste Italiane Internal Control and Risk Management System (SCIGR) is a combination of tools, procedures, rules and organisational structures, designed to ensure that the business is managed in a way that is sound, fair and consistent with the corporate objectives, and to pursue sustainable success, through an adequate definitions of players, duties and responsibilities of the various corporate bodies and control functions as well as through the identification, measurement, management and monitoring of the main risks, and through the structuring of adequate reporting lines to expedite the flow of information.
This system is a fundamental element of Poste Italiane’s Corporate Governance system, as it enables the Board of Directors to guide the Company in its pursuit of long-term value creation, defining the nature and level of risk compatible with its strategic objectives, and including in its assessments all elements that may be relevant to sustainable success. In particular, in line with the main leading practices that place specific emphasis on the integration of sustainability into strategies, risk management and remuneration policies, Poste Italiane’s SCIGR aims to contribute to the Company’s sustainable success by defining ESG roles and responsibilities, information flows among the players involved in the internal control system and towards corporate bodies, and the methods of managing the related risks. Moreover, in order to achieve this objective, the Company has decided to promote dialogue with the relevant stakeholders ensuring a constant exchange of views on business strategies and their implementation.
Risk Management and Risk Assessment model Poste Italiane has adopted a Risk Management model based on the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework, with the aim of providing an organic, integrated vision and an effective, standardised response to the risks to which the Group is exposed. The Group Sustainable Development, Risk and Compliance function (SSRCG), which forms part of the Corporate Affairs function, is responsible for ensuring that these objectives are met. This is primarily done through the definition of an integrated risk management process that relies on the coordinated involvement of all the actors in the Internal Control and Risk Management System, above all the specialist forms of second-level control, the use of standardised models and metrics based on Group-wide criteria, the design and implementation of shared tools for assessing and managing risk. In this latter regard, the Group implemented an integrated Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) platform in 2018 to support the integrated risk management process. This IT tool assesses and manages operational risks, in accordance with Legislative Decree no. 231/01 and the various fraud, IT security, strategic, ESG and reputational risks, as well as ensuring compliance with the statutory requirements applicable to financial and payment services. In addition, during 2020, the platform was further expanded through evolutionary implementations and migration of new risk areas (tax, physical security, Integrated Compliance, privacy, IT security, corruption). This is the tool that has enabled the Group to maximise integration of the risk management process, ensuring that risk assessment methods are shared across all the specialist second-level control functions. At the same time, it has improved communication with senior management and corporate bodies and between the various control functions, minimising the risk of inadequate or redundant information.
The principal risks to which the Poste Italiane Group is exposed are described below.
This category of risk could influence achievement of the goals set out in the Strategic Plan and are identified, classified and monitored with the involvement of management from the SSRCG function. This process describes the key nature of the risks, the triggers and the potential consequences or effects, in both financial terms (e.g. losses, increased costs due to delays or the failure to implement restructuring plans and efficiencies, reduced revenue), and in other terms (e.g. customer satisfaction).
Financial risks that are regulated and overseen by supervisory authorities (the Bank of Italy and IVASS, the insurance industry regulator) and the responsibility of the Risk Management units belonging to the various business units, coordinated by the function responsible for Sustainable Development, Risk and Compliance at Group level. Financial risk primarily relates to the operations of BancoPosta and PostePay’s ring-fenced EMI (the active management of the liquidity deriving from postal current account deposits, and of collections and payments carried out in the name of and on behalf of third parties), asset financing and the investment of liquidity and, as regards the Poste Vita Insurance Group, investments designed to cover contractual obligations to policyholders. Insurance risks derive from the stipulation of insurance contracts and the terms and conditions contained therein (technical bases adopted, premium calculation, the terms and conditions of redemption, etc.). In technical terms, mortality is one of the main risk factors for Poste Vita, i.e. any risk associated with the uncertainty of a policyholder’s life expectancy, alongside the risk associated with redemptions.
In addition to the usual analysis of the internal environment, this year Poste Italiane’s assessment of the main risks focused particular attention on the external environment, partly in view of the country’s general objectives for sustainable economic recovery, as defined in the guidelines of the Next Generation EU plan. In particular, the following were considered in the identification and assessment of risks: The analysis of Poste Italiane’s principal risks was also conducted by adopting the common metrics defined by the WEF in consideration of their impact on the achievement of the SDGs. In particular, each risk was categorised on the basis of these metrics, also highlighting the correlation with Poste Italiane’s Sustainability Pillars. An example of such assessment activity is given in the paragraph on emerging risks.
Pandemic risk assessment the potential impact of the pandemic on the effective achievement of the plan’s objectives, also in consideration of the actions implemented by the Company in response to the health emergency (ref. Management of the Covid-19 Pandemic)
Emerging risks emerging risks that have potential impacts both on Poste Italiane’s strategies over a long time horizon (10-20 years) and on the sectors in which the Group operates (ref. Outlook: emerging Risk Management)
Poste Italiane is unique in Italy in terms of its size, recognition, capillarity and customer trust, and it is an integral part of the economic, social and productive fabric of the country. Its role in relation to the entire nation makes the Group responsible for the well-being of the communities in which it operates, in the conviction that in such a critical period of Italian history its contribution can represent a valuable tool at the service of citizens and institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has been part of everyday life for a long time, has taken the whole world by surprise, requiring great efforts from all economic operators to identify solutions aimed at ensuring people’s health and, at the same time, continuity of their business. Poste Italiane, in compliance with Government measures on virus containment and interpersonal distancing, has implemented various initiatives and made them possible thanks to the commitment of the entire organisation, making its contribution to the entire country. The Group has reshaped the way in which it provides its services, constantly taking into account the evolution of the current epidemiological situation and the consequent Government measures on the subject. First of all, the Company has considered of fundamental importance to guarantee the protection of its employees’ health , adopting flexible forms of work (remote working) and providing personnel with all the tools and equipment they need to work in complete safety (e.g. PPEs, plexiglass panels, etc.), in cases of activities that are incompatible with the remote working model, such as postal and logistics activities.
The actions undertaken by the Group are consistent with the values recognised by Poste Italiane in relation to the sustainability strategy, based on eight Pillars, and in line with the recommendations of the Global Compact Network Italy, the UN PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) guidelines and the additional indications provided by the United Nations in relation to the impact of the Covid-19 emergency on SDGs41.
Simplification of succession claims in order to avoid customers having to go to the Post Office several times
New channels for reporting incidents in addition to the paper channel already available
Close collaboration with Labour Unions and constant updating with respect to the strengthening of measures to limit contagions and measures aimed at ensuring service continuity
UNI ISO 26000 certification, international standard for the adoption of sustainable development strategies, issued by DNV GL– Business Assurance
Collaboration with the Italian government on the disbursement of the Inps bonus and the advance payment of ordinary and special redundancy payments to BancoPosta and Postepay Evolution customers
Continuous communication activities to national and local institutions aimed at raising awareness
Creation of a cycle of meetings “Atlas of Territories”, in order to discuss the aspirations and possibilities for change starting from the themes of health, solidarity, housing and territorial fragilities of the internal areas
Introduction of solutions for the assignment of tax credits for companies and BancoPosta account holders (110% Superbonus and other tax bonuses)
Launch of “Smart Screening”, a service to help citizens with massive selfcollection health screening programmes
Sustainability themes relevant to Poste Italiane In order to gain a better understanding of non-financial issues that may entail risks and opportunities in the achievement of the Company’s objectives, Poste Italiane has developed a materiality analysis process that is consistent with the provisions of Legislative Decree no. 254/16 and with the reporting standards. This process has led to the identification of the economic, social and environmental material issues that may have a substantial impact on the decision-making phases of the Group’s stakeholders, which play a decisive role in defining the Group’s strategy, taking into account its structure, the extension of the network served and the diversification of the market sectors it operates in.
Specifically, the process of defining Poste Italiane’s material issues was structured into three main phases and conducted in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards): In order to confirm the universe of potentially relevant issues for the sector and to guide Poste Italiane in its materiality analysis, an internal and external analysis was carried out that took into account input from a number of sources. In particular, the scope of the internal analysis involved the Strategic Plan and the Group’s risk management model, the results that emerged from the materiality analysis carried out for the purposes of the 2019 Integrated Financial Statements and the stakeholder engagement activities conducted in 2020; the external analysis, on the other hand, took into consideration the provisions from regulatory sources and the main sustainability guidelines on the international scene, the requests from the main questionnaires drawn up by sustainability rating agencies and the analyses of current trends in the Group’s various operating sectors.
The relevance of the topics identified was defined thanks to the direct involvement of internal and external stakeholders in specific listening and engagement initiatives.
Elaboration of the Materiality Matrix with the themes that reflect the relevant social and environmental impacts
Stakeholder engagement Poste Italiane has always been careful to take into consideration the changing perspectives and priorities of its stakeholders, making them an integral part of the process of defining and managing its sustainability strategy, in order to build solid bonds of trust and transparency with them. This contributes to the creation of value for all those directly and indirectly involved in Poste Italiane, enabling the Group to develop a good reputation in the social context in which it operates.
The macro-categories of stakeholders identified are listed below, indicating the specific methods of engagement and communication for each of them.
Participants were called to express their assessment on material issues potentially relevant to the Company through a digital tool accessible from smartphones and PCs that favoured an instant and dynamic display of the results.
At the end of the fourth Multi-stakeholder Forum held in November 2020, a final public event was held in February 2021, live streaming on repubblica.it, featuring the Top Management and a debate with relevant representatives from the world of institutions, businesses, academia and associations, on some of the main topics discussed in the preparatory focus groups. The event was also attended by Maurizio Molinari, Director of La Repubblica and Fabio Bogo, Director of Green & Blue, the latter as moderator. The initiative represented a useful opportunity to talk about the role of sustainability and its centrality, in its environmental, social and governance aspects, within Poste Italiane’s strategy, and to discuss the fundamental role that the Group has played and continues to play in the combat against Covid-19, opening the debate to the various stakeholders.
Guarantee our employees ongoing development of their knowledge and skills and the opportunity to reach their full potential through training courses aimed at ensuring growth and strengthening of know-how in line with the needs they and the market have expressed, also with a view to better managing business and organisational changes.
Promote systematic and transparent dialogue with national and local authorities, based on a quest for shared solutions that enables responding to communities’ social needs, positively affecting the social fabric in the areas in which the Company operates and, at the same time, increasing competitiveness and business continuity.
Incorporate ESG aspects within the investment process in order to better manage non-financial risks and consider new investment opportunities that also support sustainable development and a low-carbon future.
Incorporate ESG aspects within insurance policies, insurance product development strategies and customer communications.
Extend the financial products and services offering to traditionally excluded categories, in order to guarantee access to services that are essential for economic livelihoods, and make the customer purchasing experience more aware via financial education initiatives, especially with regard to savings, investment, payments, pensions and insurance.
In order to ensure that the environmental, social and governance aspects are integrated into the Group’s strategy and processes, a process of correlating the material issues identified with potential risks has been implemented, specifying the stakeholders involved, the impact on Poste Italiane and its stakeholders and the main management methods adopted by the Group.
Poste Italiane people y Economic y Strategic y Reputational y Operational y Health and safety y Analysis and optimisation of occupational health and safety organisational models y Extension of production models to operational sites (e.g. lean manufacturing)
y Support for the implementation and certification of OHSMS in the production units of Poste Italiane SpA and other Group companies
Customers; independent regulatory and/or supervisory authorities; financial community y Economic y Strategic y Reputational y Operational y Quality of service y Economic y Strengthening of Company initiatives regarding specific issues (e.g. quality)
Financial Community; Customers; Community and Territory y Strategic y Quality of service y Economic y Specific organisational responsibility for digital development y Launch of digital initiatives y Partnerships and collaborations with first mover realities in the digital and technological sector
Lack of transparency in communication and application of objective assessment drivers in employees' career paths
Poste Italiane people; Labour Unions; Nonrecognised workers' organisations y Strategic y Reputational y Human rights y Quality of life, well-being y Introduction of control mechanisms for the protection of human rights, equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion
Independent regulatory and/or supervisory authorities; European and international authorities; national authorities; consumer and trade associations y Strategic y Reputational y Economicc y Constant structured dialogue with bodies and authorities and agreed local community engagement initiatives
Tensions with local communities due to redefinition of the business model
Local authorities y Strategic y Reputational y Quality of service y Economic y Constant structured dialogue with bodies and authorities and agreed local community engagement initiatives
Suppliers and Business partners; the environment y ESG y Health and safety y Making the Postal, Communications and Logistics fleet green, partly with the aim of increasing load capacity y Redesign and development of the delivery network (e.g. increase in the number of afternoon delivery lines, introduction of deliveries to lockers, Post Offices and thirdparty networks)
y Specific organisational responsibility for the management of the company fleet
y Economic y Human rights y Management of risks and opportunities relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors within traditional investment processes
y Economic y Human rights y Management of risks and opportunities relating to ESG factors within traditional insurance processes
y Health and safety y Quality of life, well-being y Personnel engagement programmes (e.g. employee engagement programme, activation of a welfare platform, an absenteeism competence centre, etc.)
Suppliers and Business partners y Strategic y Operational y Reputational y ESG
• Monetary contributions related to activities with the ability to influence public policies
• Number of digital services offered • Number of digital transactions
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY GRI 403 Occupational Health and Safety •
FS11 Percentage of assets subject • to positive and negative environmental or social screening regarding social/environmental aspects
• Quality of Universal Service • Customer experience in Post Offices • Customer complaints by type • Customer satisfaction • Settlements
In order to encourage the development of a business culture based on respect for and appreciation of diversity and with the intention of outlining a clear and structured focus on this issue, Poste Italiane, in line with what has been outlined in the Code of Ethics and the Group Policy for the protection of Human Rights, has adopted a specific Group Policy on Diversity and Inclusion. The objective is to promote diversity in all its aspects in order to generate value within the workplace, allowing better assessment and monitoring of the risk associated with the occurrence of discrimination in the Company.
In line with the policies adopted, the Group’s risk management model periodically provides for identification of corporate activities and organisational areas in which a human right violation risk might occur, by applying risk assessment procedures. In particular, the risks associated with human rights have been identified and analysed by considering various drivers - in relation to Poste Italiane (employees) and third parties (suppliers, sub-suppliers, customers, local communities, the financial community) - which are shown below. In addition, Poste Italiane provides for specific mitigation measures to respond to the risks identified and associated with each driver.
1. Dignity and respect z Group Code of Ethics z 231 Model z Whistleblowing Guidelines z Whistleblowing Portal 2. Freedom of association and protection of the right to organise z Constant preventive dialogue with social partners z Dissemination of national agreements at local level z Study and monitoring of regulatory and doctrinal developments in the field of labour law z Whistleblowing Guidelines z Whistleblowing Portal 3. Freedom of association and collective bargaining 4. Discrimination z Group Code of Ethics z Equal opportunities initiatives (e.g. percentage of women in positions of responsibility)
The management and reporting of climate change risks according to the indications of the Task Force on Climaterelated Financial Disclosures
This section complements and supplements the information on the commitment, approach and initiatives to reduce environmental impact provided within the Pillar Decarbonisation of real estate facilities and logistics.
The organisational and corporate governance structure includes specific roles and responsibilities for the management of environmental issues.
z The Board of Directors of Poste Italiane SpA approves the sustainability strategies and guidelines, based on assessments that take into account, among other things, risks and opportunities related to climate change that may be relevant to the Poste Italiane Group’s most effective reputational positioning.
Specifically, as part of its functions, CSost carries out an activity specifically dedicated to climate change. In particular, the Committee examines, evaluates and formulates proposals concerning the Group’s environmental, social and governance (the latter with reference to sustainability) strategy, including strategies concerning climate change, annual objectives and targets to be achieved, taking into consideration potential projects on these issues and monitoring their implementation over time. In addition, in coordination with the Control and Risk Committee, the CSost monitors the risks and opportunities related to the climate as well as all the initiatives undertaken by the Company to address these issues, reporting to the Board of Directors. At managerial level, the main specific roles on environmental issues are covered by the Chief Executive Officer and the Group Sustainable Development, Risk and Compliance function: the CEO of Poste Italiane SpA is responsible for the establishment, maintenance and effectiveness of the Internal Control and Risk Management System (SCIGR), formulating sustainability strategies related to environmental issues and overseeing their implementation by constantly checking their adequacy and effectiveness, always on the basis of the assessment of risks and related opportunities.
The Group Sustainable Development, Risk and Compliance function of Poste Italiane SpA, established within the Corporate Affairs function: z defines, in collaboration with the departments involved, the guidelines and objectives of sustainability and corporate social responsibility for the Group, identifying the set of indicators for monitoring sustainability performance, including specific metrics used to monitor environmental risks and opportunities, in line with best practices and international guidelines on the subject; z is the single point of reference for the governance and management of all risks from a Group perspective, availing itself to this end of the contribution of the specialist units directly reporting to the Group (direct controls), as well as other risk controls (indirect controls) present in Poste Italiane and in Group companies.
Lastly, the necessary controls have been established also for investment and insurance processes for the correct identification and management of climate-related risks and opportunities. In particular, regarding investments, BancoPosta Fondi SGR and Poste Vita have set up committees that are responsible for periodically reviewing and assessing the ESG (and therefore also environmental ) risk of portfolios and the criteria for assessing the ESG profiles of issuers. In the insurance field, on the other hand, it is the Risk Office function of Poste Vita that is responsible for identifying, analysing and evaluating the signs of change that come from the different aspects of the external environment and, in particular, factors related to climate change. The identification of such signals takes place in coordination with the “Product Committee - ESG Assessments” which is responsible for periodically reviewing and evaluating the criteria for the definition of ESG profiles and the Company’s product catalogue.
Given the pervasiveness of emerging risks, Poste Italiane considered it necessary to incorporate and manage them within its risk management processes. Emerging risks considered are exogenous, disruptive events that can threaten the business model over a long-term horizon (10-20 years) and are potential game changers for the industry and the context in which organisations operate. They are usually characterised by elements, such as: z uncertainty and visibility: lack of data to analyse the phenomenon and difficulty in finding skills, knowledge and awareness of the potential effects that emerging risks have on a business model; z timing of changes: changes derive from radical changes in the external context of reference (socio-environmental, legislative, technological, habits, etc.) altering routines in a destructive way on different fronts and with unpredictable time escalations; z management complexity: increasing complexity of management methods. There are no immediate response actions as the events are derived from highly interconnected exogenous factors with strong systemic dependencies and time accelerations.
AGEING POPULATION: Increased longevity combined with low birth rate resulting in a change in the generational distribution of customers
The process of ageing population is a phenomenon that is already clearly visible in the economies of the Eurozone and is destined to become more accentuated in the coming decades, with a reduction in the working-age population compared with the older population, which will instead tend to increase.
Ageing could also significantly affect economic growth and have a negative impact on productivity. This aspect is also accentuated by the change in the balance between the active population and the retired population as well as by the irregular and low income capacity of younger people with consequent unfavourable effects on the social security system.
SBUs impacted: y Insurance Service y Mail, Parcels and Distribution y Payments and Mobile y Financial Services
Aware of the opportunities linked to the ageing of the population and considering the strong impact of demographic trends on its services, the Group has developed specific products for segments of the population with evolving needs (e.g. in relation to the growing need for supplementary healthcare, accident coverage, etc.), such as, for example, the insurance product “Posteprotezione Infortuni Senior Più” specifically dedicated to people aged between 59 and 79. Each product offered by the Company is always accompanied by clear and usable information to all types of customers in order to allow them to always choose consciously.
Opportunities: y Increased business opportunities due to changes in consumer needs, based on meeting the needs of the more mature population y Increased demand for life and non-life insurance products
REGULATORY AMENDMENTS: Tightening of the reference legislation applicable to the business with particular reference to environmental variables
As part of the Integrated Compliance process, Poste Italiane continuously monitors the external regulations relevant to the Group and translates the set of regulatory principles into the body of rules required to ensure their application. The inventory of all regulations relevant to the Group is managed in an integrated manner on the dedicated GRC platform.
In an increasingly globalised world, the emergence or mutation of viruses and bacteria can have serious impacts on the macroeconomic environment, disrupting national economies and undermining the health of the population, with consequent impacts on business operations and consumer behaviour.
In addition, while managing the health emergency, Poste Italiane is focused on pursuing sustainable development by continuing to invest in projects aimed at strengthening ESG initiatives. In this regard, in its constant attention to Sustainability, the Group has decided to adhere, together with 110 other signatories among associations, entities and companies, to the Manifesto “Coming out of the pandemic with a new Green Deal for Italy”.
Opportunities: y Increased efficiency and productivity due to the adoption of remote working models and digital solutions to support the business y Acceleration of the transition to digitisation, with a consequent increase in demand for the digital products offered by Poste Italiane y Increased business opportunities due to changes in consumer needs, based on meeting the needs determined by the effects of the pandemic on the evolution of the socioeconomic context y Cost reduction (e.g. travel; property management)
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS: Adverse consequences for people, businesses and ecosystems due to the development of innovative technological solutions (e.g. digital inequalities, digital market concentration, etc.)
Moreover, in view of the activities carried out by Poste Italiane, it is necessary to consider that the e-substitution is drawing a new market perimeter, produced by the exceedance of the digital market (electronic communications) and the Parcels segment (especially due to the spread of e-commerce), as well as changes in the habits and behavioural patterns of the population.
Negative impacts: y Inability to maintain attractiveness, due to the excessive digitisation of the products and services offered, towards part of Poste Italiane’s traditional customers and/or potential target customers not reachable due to the digital divide y Inadequacy of standard products for changing consumer needs y Difficulty in responding in a timely manner to the digital drive in the sectors in which Poste Italiane operates y Interruption of digital services provided by Poste Italiane y Removal of sensitive information for Poste Italiane, with economic, reputational and compliance impacts (e.g. removal of biometric data of customers acquired for the management of payment systems)
Through a path of digitisation of services, Poste Italiane intends to make available integrated digital solutions. In particular, a “Digital Platform of Integrated Communication” will be realised to support the process of digital communication between citizens, companies and PA, safeguarding citizens in digital divide.
In the field of Cyber Security, Poste Italiane has adopted advanced systems and technologies, developing a constant commitment to the security of digital communications and the combat against cybercrime. To ensure better management, responsibility for the Group’s IT security has been assigned to a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). In order to ensure adequate levels of confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, information and services provided to customers, Poste Italiane has further developed and adopted a specific IT security framework.
y Higher IT infrastructure security levels than competitors y Increased demand for the products offered by Poste Italiane, thanks to customer confidence in its handling of privacy and sustainability issues
MAIN TRENDS POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS FOR POSTE ITALIANE MAIN RISK MANAGEMENT METHODS
Poste Italiane analyses, among others, the risks related to climate change also in relation to the long term.
In order to reduce the direct impact that the Group’s activities may have on climate, Poste Italiane is making constant progress in using energy sources that do not use fossil fuels (e.g. solar energy from photovoltaic panels on buildings) and in reducing energy consumption (e.g. replacing neon lights and using LEDs), partly in order to deal with potential sudden changes in energy prices. Among other things, Poste Italiane, in line with its adhesion to the Paris Agreement and the New Green Deal, has set itself the ambitious goal of making its contribution to the achievement of international carbon neutrality objectives by 2030, well ahead of the timeframe defined by the European Union.
EVOLUTION OF THE PAYMENT SYSTEM: Change in consumer purchasing behaviour in relation to the payment instruments to be used (e.g. cryptocurrencies, fintech, etc.) also due to the introduction of new payment methods
Internet access and the use of electronic payments is spreading worldwide. Consumers who shop online are also looking across borders for the products and services they want, and are developing new habits and needs geared towards the use of electronic payment solutions.
Negative impacts: y Poste Italiane’s untimely response to emerging payment trends resulting in loss of market share y Inability to maintain attractiveness to traditional customers, potentially more averse to digital channels, for Poste Italiane’s electronic payment services y Increase in Poste Italiane’s competitors in the payments sector (e.g. organisations introducing new payment systems)
y Creation of a specific offer for Poste Italiane’s digitally evolved customers y Launch of new products (e.g. platforms and instruments for cryptocurrency payments)
MOBILITY REVOLUTION: Need to review business models and delivery operations due to the introduction of new mobility models, technological evolution of vehicles, sharing mobility
Negative impacts: y Restrictions on Poste Italiane’s operations, with particular reference to deliveries, due to traffic restrictions (e.g. restrictions on polluting vehicles)
In addition, there are approximately 1,700 natural gas vehicles, more than 1,000 LPG vehicles and 41 hybrid vehicles.
y Reduction of emissions related to the use of the vehicles that make up the company fleet y Leaner and more efficient management of operations y Cost reduction
The emerging risks that could have an impact on Poste Italiane’s business are shown below, broken down in accordance with the common metrics defined by the WEF in relation to the achievement of the SDGs, and with reference to the time horizon over which the most significant effects of these risks are expected to occur.
The role of a company in protecting the planet, to support the needs of current and future generations
• Performance of Poste Italiane SpA and Report on Operations of BancoPosta RFC
• Support for local communities and the Country as a whole
The value of Poste Italiane shares in 2020 fell from €10.12 at the beginning of the year to €8.32 at the end of December, as a result of the restrictive measures adopted to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, the stock has reached an all-time high since it was listed at €11.51 in February. Over the same period, the FTSEMIB lost 5%.
From the date of listing on the stock exchange (27 October 2015) to 31 December 2020, Poste Italiane’s share price increased by 23% (while the FTSEMIB index decreased by 2%), guaranteeing an overall return for shareholders (TSR) of +63.8% while the main Italian stock exchange index recorded a loss of 15.8%.
On 11 November 2020, the Board of Directors of Poste Italiane SpA, in light of the operating and financial position of Poste Italiane SpA at 30 June 2020, the outlook for the following months and the outlook for operations, and in line with the Group’s dividend policy approved in 2019, resolved to bring forward, as an interim dividend, part of the ordinary dividend for 2020. To this end, the Company has prepared a Report and Financial Statements pursuant to article 2433-bis of the Italian Civil Code, which show that the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows allow such distribution. The opinion of the independent auditors was obtained on these documents. The interim dividend of €0.162 per share, gross of any legal withholding taxes, was made with effect from 25 November 2020, with “ex-dividend date” of coupon no. 7 coinciding with 23 November 2020 and record date (i.e. the date on which the dividend was entitled to be paid) coinciding with 24 November 2020.
Financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic 42. Public Statement ESMA 32-63-972 dated 20 May 2020 recalled by Consob on 16 July 2020, Public statement ESMA 32-63-1041 dated 28 October 2020 “European common enforcement priorities for 2020 annual financial reports”; Consob Attention Notice no. 1/21 dated 16 February 2021.
The economic impact on 2020 for the Group was significant both in terms of reduction in turnover, as a result of the slowdown in operations, coinciding to a significant extent with the lockdown period following the spread of Covid-19 in Italy, and in terms of margins as a result of the higher extraordinary costs generated by the pandemic. On the other hand, as a reflection of the reduction in operations and the use of smart working, there were some effects that had a significant impact on the variable component of the Group’s cost structure.
On the other hand, the health emergency has generated lower variable costs linked to the slowdown in activities and lower costs linked to the adoption of smart working for over 16,000 employees. The main service cost items that decreased in the year compared with 2019 and the reduction of which can be largely attributed to the effects of Covid-19 are the cost of personnel services (mainly for travel and canteen), fund handling expenses, energy and water utilities, etc.
The change in operational processes and working models (e.g. smart working) introduced by the emergency will make these cost savings structural, at least in part.
With reference to financial performance, the value of cash and cash equivalents is amply able to cover expected financial requirements. More specifically, at 31 December 2020, the Group’s free liquidity managed by the Mail, Parcels and Distribution SBU amounted to €2.3 billion (of which €2.2 billion relating to the Parent Company), while unused committed and uncommitted lines to support liquidity totalled approximately €2.5 billion. In 2020, in order to have additional liquidity and deal with any adverse scenarios related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Parent Company took out three medium-term loans of €750 million (two of
Regarding equity aspects, as a consequence of the particular context due to the Covid-19 emergency, the Group has revised its investment plan to verify its consistency with the peculiar characteristics of the “new normality” (e.g.: social distancing, preference for full digital solutions, etc.) and to take into account the reduced production capacity of suppliers. At €680 million, capital expenditures for the year were therefore about 7% lower than in the previous year.
In addition, the market environment characterised by the pandemic influenced customer behaviour by directing them towards more liquid products. Therefore, the year saw a significant increase in net deposits (€12.7 billion at 31 December 2020) and higher deposits on current accounts (+€5.5 billion compared to 31 December 2019) with a consequent increase in securities trading by the Financial Services SBU.
The Group constantly monitors the evolution of the macroeconomic scenario in order to promptly assess the potential effects on operations and adjust behaviour and lines of action. The resilience of its businesses, high financial integrity and capital strength, and substantial reputational capital ensure business continuity. This prerogative is also confirmed by the short and medium-term objectives and trends contained in the “2024 Sustain & Innovate” strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors on 18 March 2021.
The fourth quarter of the year confirmed the positive recovery trend seen in the third quarter with revenue that was up (+1.4% or +€40 million) compared to the same period in 2019. This change is due both to the exceptional growth in the parcels segment which, during the last quarter, more than offset the decline in mail, contributing to a 1.4% increase (equal to +€13 million) in revenue of the Mail, Parcels and Distribution Strategic Business Unit, and to the confirmation of the growth trend in revenue of the Payments and Mobile Strategic Business Unit (+15.2%, equal to +€28 million) which, during the period, benefited from the acceleration of digital payments. The Financial Services and Insurance segments reported substantially flat revenue during the fourth quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2019.
During 2020, total financial assets, which totalled €569 billion, increased by 6.1% (€33 billion ) compared to €536 billion at 31 December 2019, due to both net inflows (+€17.8 billion) and the performance effect (+€14.7 billion). In particular, the positive performance of net inflows from current accounts (+€12.7 billion) and the positive performance of the insurance segment (which partly reflects changes in the fair value of financial instruments) and postal savings are worthy of note. Inflows in 2020 benefited from the early payment of pensions decided by the government in response to the health emergency, which generated approximately €3 billion additional in postal current accounts and books of Group customers.
Total costs went from €9,186 million in 2019 to €9,002 million in 2020, a decrease of 2%, mainly due to lower personnel expenses, partly offset by higher costs for goods and services (+€235 million), mainly related to extraordinary expenses incurred to contain Covid-19 (€106 million), as well as the growth in variable costs related to business growth (+€190 million) linked to the Telco business and parcel delivery. Depreciation, amortisation and impairments decreased from €774 million in 2019 to €700 million in 2020. The change is affected by a reduction in amortisation and depreciation recorded in the period following the redefinition of the remaining useful life of the Group’s main corporate assets and the related residual value as of January 2020, consistent with the provisions of the relevant accounting standards (IAS 16, IAS 40). As a result of this revision, depreciation and amortisation expense for the Group was about €120 million less than in previous years. Other costs record a negative change of €86 million compared with 2019, primarily due to releases made to the provisions for risks of BancoPosta’s RFC in connection with an overall revision of the estimate of certain risks associated with the distribution of postal savings products issued in past years as well as, the conclusion of voluntary protection initiatives undertaken for real estate funds (“Europa Immobiliare I” and “Obelisco”).
Further information is provided in the Notes to Poste Italiane Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020.
The total personnel expenses decreased by €258 million (-4.4%) compared to 2019. This change is attributable to a reduction in the ordinary component from €5,561 million in 2019 to €5,204 million in 2020, mainly due to a reduction in average workforce during the period (about 4,500 FTE average less than in 2019), and the use of the Solidarity Fund (Cassa Integrazione Guadagni - CIG redundancy payments) to deal with the health emergency. The reduction in the ordinary component is also due to lower costs for MBO managerial incentives and other various indemnities, in particular extraordinary, as a result of reduced activity during the lockdown.
Ordinary personnel expenses 93342 434Early retirement incentives 5(6) (1)Disputes and other extraordinary items
The decrease in the ordinary component was partly offset by the increase in the cost of early retirement incentives, which went from €342 million in 2019 to €434 million in 2020 set aside in order to accelerate the Group’s industrial restructuring process.
Profit for the period amounted to €1,206 million, down 10.2% compared to 2019 (€1,342 million) and was positively impacted by the tax effects of participating in the “Patent box” scheme44 (€80 million) and the ACE45 (Aid to Economic Growth) tax relief of €16 million.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the Group posted net income of €308 million, up €49 million (+18.7%) compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Summary of operating results by Strategic Business Unit The main economic results by Strategic Business Unit are shown below.
External revenue of the Payments and Mobile Strategic Business Unit in 2020 amounted to €737 million and marked an increase of €74 million (+11.1%) compared to 2019. More specifically, both Telecommunications and Electronic Money reported revenue growth of €45 million (+18.6%) and €35 million (+10.5%), respectively, partly limited by lower revenue from Collection and Payment services due to the suspension of tax payments in connection with the health emergency.
External revenue of the Financial Services Strategic Business Unit amounted to €4,945 million, down €190 million from €5,135 million in 2019 (-3.7%). The distribution of financing products and collection and payment services are the categories that have recorded the greatest decrease in revenue compared with the previous year, with a reduction in volumes and unit distribution commissions for the former and a reduction in volumes on payment slips for the latter.
The Insurance Services Strategic Business Unit contributed €1,643 million to Group revenue in 2020, down 1.6% on the previous year, mainly attributable to the Life business, which contributed €1,500 million, while the P&C business contributed €132 million.
For more detailed information on the performance of the individual Strategic Business Units, please refer to the dedicated paragraphs later in the chapter.
New Punto Poste Network (number of lockers and alternative collection points)
External revenue went from €3,492 million in 2019 to €3,201 million in 2020 and show lower revenue from traditional mail (-€558 million, equal to -22.7% compared to 2019), and higher revenue of the parcels segment (+€307 million, equal to +36.1%, compared to the previous year), above all thanks to the positive performance of the B2C segment.
Recorded Mail: Delivery to the person with proof of delivery and tracking for retail and business customers. This category includes in particular: registered mail, insured mail and judicial documents.
Direct Marketing: Service for the sending by companies and Public Administration entities of communications with advertising, promotional or informative content.
Integrated services: Integrated and customised offers for specific customer segments, in particular Public Administration, large companies and professional firms. The most relevant integrated service is the Integrated Notification Service, for the management of the entire process of notification of administrative and judicial documents (e.g. violations of the Highway Code).
Other: Services for publishers, multi-channel services, printing, document management, other basic services. This item also includes tariff subsidies relating to external revenue earned on products and services discounted in accordance with the law and the Universal Postal Service Compensation (also includes compensation relating to ordinary parcels).
B2B: acronym for Business to Business. Company to company shipping services. Offer that focuses on quality and reliability, with delivery options with defined delivery times, mainly multi parcel shipments.
B2C: acronym for Business to Consumer. A modular offer created for e-commerce with a choice of additional services.
C2X: identifies Consumer-to-Consumer/Business parcels i.e. parcels sent by consumers both to other consumers and to businesses.
OTHER: includes international mailings, partnerships with logistics operators, dedicated services (for specific needs of P.A., Insurance companies, Banks and Large Customers), integrated logistics orders, and other revenue.
The exceptional revenue performance in the fourth quarter of the year (+55.8%, or +€141 million compared to the same quarter of 2019) across all segments, with a daily average of 1 million parcels delivered and a peak of around 1.3 million average items in December, made it possible to overcome the decline recorded in the mail segment in the same period, generating revenue growth for the Strategic Business Unit compared to the same period in 2019 (+€13 million, +1.4%).
Costs of goods and services (+€178 million compared to 2019), were affected both by higher expenses incurred to ensure the safety of customers and employees engaged in operating activities in the territory and to deal with the health emergency (+€106 million), and by the growth in variable costs mainly related to the development of the parcels business. This growth was partially offset by lower costs mainly related to personnel services (mainly travel and canteen expenses), cash handling expenses for post offices, energy and water utility expenses, etc.
Finally, there was a decrease in amortisation, depreciation and impairments of approximately €58 million (-8% compared with 2019), mainly due to a review of the useful life and residual value of certain Group assets, as described in the paragraph commenting on the Group’s operating results and further outlined in the Notes to the Poste Italiane Financial Statements at 31 December 2020.
46. PagoPA is a new way to perform, through the Payment Service Providers (PostePay SpA), payments to the Public Administration in a standardised way. 47. Transactions “not on us”.
Telecom: mobile phones (revenue from traffic, and the sale of mobile phones and routers from PO corners) and fixed line (PosteMobile Casa offer).
External revenue stood at €737 million, up €74 million compared to the previous year (+11.1%).
In detail, Electronic money revenue of €374 million in December 2020 showed a positive change of €35 million compared to December 2019 (+10.5%). This rise is attributable to the increased operations and higher fees for prepaid cards and to the higher revenue from the sale of acquiring services and the related growth in transactions.
External revenue from collections and payments amounted to €79 million, a decrease of 7.5% (-€6 million) compared with last year. The decrease is mainly attributable to lower revenue from F23/F24 as a result of the postponement of some tax deadlines introduced by Relaunch Law Decree (as converted by Law no. 77 of 17 July 2020). This change is only partly offset by higher revenue from transfers issued by Postepay Evolution and the new PagoPA payments service46.
The revenue trend relating to the fourth quarter of 2020 alone reflects External revenue up by €28 million (+15.2%) due to the positive contribution of the Electronic money segment (+€18 million or +20.1% compared to the same quarter of 2019) with revenue related to the use of payment cards up mainly due to the increase in transaction volumes. The excellent performance already recorded in previous quarters by the telecommunications sector (+€7 million, or +10.3%) linked to the loyalty of the customer base, and the recovery of revenue from collection and payment services (+€3 million, or +10.6%) were also confirmed.
At 31 December 2020, the total stock of Prepaid Cards and Debit Cards amounted to 28.9 million, a slight increase compared to 31 December 2019 (+0.9%) with total transactions up by approximately €5.547 billion (+16.6%), thanks to the driving effect of Prepaid Cards.
In detail, Postepay cards amounted to 21.7 million at the end of 2020 (+1% compared to 21.5 million in 2019); of these, Postepay Evolution cards, amounting to around 7.7 million in December 2020, showed growth of 6.9% compared to the previous year. During 2020, Postepay cards developed a total payment transaction48 of approximately €22.1 billion (+27% compared to €17.4 billion in 2019).
In the Acquiring segment, with approximately 151.1 thousand POS installed at 31 December 2020 (+18%, or +22.9 thousand POS compared to 31 December 2019), transactions in the year amounted to €18.9 billion (+6% or +€1 billion compared to 2019).
Total costs, including amortisation, depreciation and impairments, amounted to €820 million, an increase of 2.8% compared with €798 million in 2019. In particular, costs from third parties for goods and services increased by €55 million compared to the previous year, due to higher variable traffic costs related to fixed-mobile telecommunications services and those related to card transactions.
Although financial management for the year was positive (€8 million), it fell by €91 million compared to the previous year, when the result benefited from €88 million in income from the revaluation of the investment in SIA SpA, already held by FSIA Investimenti, following the step-up acquisition, and from the income deriving from the exercise of the purchase options for 7.934% of the shares in SIA SpA held by UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo.
Financial Services Strategic Business Unit The SBU’s operating results for the year continued to be solid, albeit slightly lower than in the previous year. The revenue recovery that began in June continued steadily into the second half of the year with last quarter revenue in line with the same quarter in 2019.
Current accounts (average deposits for the period in €bn) 61.9 67.4 5.5 8.9%
Collection and payment services: Slips, collections and payments PP.AA., transfer of funds and ancillary services for current accounts.
External revenue for 2020 amounted to €4,945 million, down €190 million from €5,135 million in 2019 (-3.7%). In detail, the year under review shows: (i) Net interest income slightly down compared to 2019 (-3.1%), essentially due to lower yields caused by the market scenario with falling rates and only partially mitigated by the increase in loans due to a higher balance on customer deposits; (ii) Net gains of €365 million up €26 million compared to €339 million in 2019 (+7.7%).
The fourth quarter of 2020 of the Financial Services SBU showed External revenue essentially in line with the fourth quarter of 2019 (-€2 million), due to the combined effect of the growth in the value of net capital gains (+€48 million), offset by the decline in both revenue from the distribution of financing products (-€37 million), mainly attributable to lower disbursements of personal loans, and net interest income (-€15 million), due to lower interest rates only partially mitigated by the increase in loans.
49. RE.PO (Repurchase Agreement) consist of a spot sale of securities and a simultaneous forward repurchase commitment (for the counterparty, in a symmetrical commitment of spot purchase and forward sale).
+5.5 * Includes liquidity on the Buffer and excludes the liquidity of Poste Italiane.
Net inflows from Interest-bearing Postal Certificates were lower than in the previous year, due to the high level of redemptions of maturing Interest-bearing Postal Certificates, although gross inflows were €5.5 billion higher than in 2019. Compared with the previous year, the average balance of Interest-bearing Postal Certificates rose significantly due to the capitalisation of interest, which more than offset the decrease in the average balance of Postal Savings Books.
Taking into account financial management (negative by €9 million) and taxes for the period of €210 million (the latter benefiting from the effect of opting for the Patent Box regime for €23 million), the sector closed with a net profit of €647 million, an increase of 1.1% (+€7 million) compared with the previous year.
With regard to BancoPosta’s capital structure, following the positive development of funding volumes, primarily due to the effect of the pandemic, there was an increase in account balances. In addition, the change in the market scenario (decrease in the spread) also had an impact on the amount of assets, increasing the relative value of securities measured at fair value.
The SBU’s EBIT for the year was solid, even though down slightly compared with the previous year, reflecting a similar trend in revenue. The Solvency Ratio of 267% at the end of the year confirms the solvency of the insurance Group.
The performance of premium revenue for the Life and P&C business is shown below: GROSS PREMIUM REVENUE (€m)
Life and P&C gross inflows were affected in March and April 2020 by restrictions related to the health emergency.
Life gross inflows amounted to €16.7 billion, down 6% (-€1,071 million) compared to 2019, with the product mix remaining stable compared to the previous year and with multi-class and build-up products contributing respectively 34% and 66% of total life gross inflows. In the fourth quarter, gross inflows benefited from the easing of restrictions on the movement of persons, recording premiums of €4.4 billion, €0.4 billion higher than in the same quarter of 2019.
52. The Internal Fund represents a type of investment management within a company in which the premiums invested flow into the company’s assets (shares). The premiums, net of costs, are converted into units, invested in shares or bonds.
Life net inflows amounted to €5.6 billion and remained positive on all the separately managed account51 and internal fund52 portfolios.
In 2020 in line with the Company’s latest approved asset allocation, a process of portfolio diversification that was started in 2019 continued. It sees a reduction in the concentration of risk in Italy, and has taken the form of the sale of Italian government bonds53, in favour of asset classes with a lower correlation to this risk (Investment Grade corporate bonds).
Within multi-asset funds, diversification has been evident in a reduction in the concentration of risk associated with global government bonds.
Total costs amounted to €656 million, down €8 million compared to the previous year. The sale of the Poste Vita, Poste Assicura and Poste Welfare Servizi businesses, relating to ICT management activities to Poste Italiane, which took effect on 1 March 2020, resulted in a reduction in personnel costs, amortisation and depreciation and other operating expenses in favour of an increase in costs in other segments for IT services provided by the Parent Company. The change in costs incurred by other segments was also affected by the reduction in commissions paid to BancoPosta for distribution, collection and maintenance activities following the reduction in gross funding.
The net profit for the year of €784 million, or €737 million more than in the previous year, reflects the positive tax effect of adopting the “Patent Box” system (€57 million).
The inclusion of the transitional measures on technical provisions approved in 2019 has resulted in an increase in eligible own funds allowing an increase in the Solvency Ratio to 299% at 31 December 2020 (312% at 31 December 2019).
SOLVENCY RATIO PERFORMANCE IN FOURTH QUARTER 2020 55. The figure takes into account the dividend that the Company will pay to the Parent Company following the annual audit process and that will be communicated to IVASS by 20 May 2021.
z assumption of dividend payments in 2021 in favour of the Parent Company of €429 million z reduction in the Solvency Capital Requirement (+2 p.p.) due to lower market, counterparty and operational risks, partially offset by the increase in life underwriting risks.
90 million transactions on digital channels and 115 million on third-party networks in 2020
Notes: * IOS and Android users who downloaded the APP; for the PM app, it also includes Windows users. ** PdA©/IRI 01/2020 research on 12,000 Italian consumers, on selection of products sold in Italy. BancoPosta APP for expense management services - Salvadanaio
Number of digital - consumer transactions (m) 90.3 57.1 33.2 58.1%
At 31 December 2020, the web recorded higher traffic volumes than in the pre-pandemic period, going from an average of around 0.7 million daily visitors in January and February 2020 to an average of around 1.04 million in the period March-December 2020; the apps also showed increasing volumes, going from 1.65 to 2.06 million daily visitors. The average number of transactions carried out on digital channels is about 8 million transactions per month (+42% compared to the period before the health emergency), while the value of transactions increased from an average of €1.4 billion in January and February 2020 to an average of €1.9 billion in March-December 2020.
Net debt/(funds) of the Mail, Parcels and Distribution SBU 815 1,874 +1,059 +130%
The Poste Italiane Group’s non-current assets at 31 December 2020 amount to €4,735 million, an increase of €157 million compared with the end of 2019. Investments of €680 million and an increase of €201 million in rights of use for the stipulation of new contracts within the scope of application of IFRS 16, partially offset by amortisation and depreciation of €700 million, contributed to the formation of non-current assets. This item includes investments accounted for using the equity method totalling €615 million almost entirely related to the investments in Anima Holding SpA and FSIA Investimenti Srl.
With reference to the investment in Anima Holding SpA, on the basis of the results of the test, there was no need for further impairment losses, in addition to the negative effect of €19 million on the consolidated result already recognised in 2020.
In particular, within this Strategic Business Unit, the modernisation of the delivery facilities, the automation of the sorting centres and the renewal of the parcels and mail sorting plants continued.
In addition, a new “small parcels” sorting centre was opened at Milan Malpensa, fully managed by the subsidiary SDA.
With regard to IT activities, the following activities continued the innovation and transformation of application and infrastructure architectures for the provision of services, including the “Cloud” project, with the aim of migrating the technology platforms of the Mail, Parcels and Distribution segment to Cloud infrastructures.
Details of additional investments made during the year are provided in the section of the Report on Operations that reviews the performance of the Financial Services SBU.
Investments in the Payments and Mobile Strategic Business Unit Services amounted to €58 million and were aimed at increasing competitiveness in the market, improving the quality of the offer and the user experience for customers. In the area of Electronic Money and Payments, the migration of the entire stock of cards managed by PostePay to the new 3DS 2.0 authentication standard, introduced as part of the PSD2 directive, was completed. The new protocol makes it possible to improve the user experience of customers making online purchases with their cards, making authentication more dynamic and secure because it is based on the use of Strong Customer Authentication58. The new commercial front-end was also released, enabling the sale of the product Postepay Code59 according to a multi-channel logic (physical sales, Post Office and online sales). In the area of collections and payments, developments have been completed for the extension of the paperless service to the Group’s online channels, to allow paperless payment of slips by entering only the bill’s unique identification code.
57. Time of year when the volume of parcels delivered peaked. 58. Strong Customer Authentication requires that all electronic payment transactions, and some remote transactions that carry a risk of fraud, be confirmed and authorised by combining two or more authentication factors, chosen from something that only the person making the transaction possesses (an app on a mobile device or a key that generates OTP codes), or an element of inherence, i.e. something that uniquely distinguishes the user (a fingerprint, facial geometry, or another biometric feature).
59. Postepay Code is a new digital payment service via QR Code integrated in the Postepay App. The customer can pay quickly and easily by simply framing the Postepay code and authorising the payment directly in the app.
Net working capital at 31 December 2020 amounted to €2,484 million and increased by €990 million compared to the end of 2019. The following mainly contributed to this change: z Other receivables and assets increased by €261 million, including €111 million for an increase in withholding tax credits attributable to the operations of the Insurance Services and Financial Services SBUs and €82 million for an increase in amounts due from social security agencies and pension funds (including amounts owed by the Solidarity Fund of the Italian social security administration (INPS) for advances paid to employees during periods of suspension or reduction of work due to Covid-19); z Other liabilities with a decrease of €314 million, mainly related to lower amounts due to staff and social security agencies of €154 million (includes the payment of early retirement incentives and the payment to all employees of the one-off payment to cover the vacancy in the 2019 National Collective Labour Contract), a reduction of €69 million in tax payables (largely due to a reduction in taxes due on insurance provisions, partially offset by an increase in stamp duty payables) and a reduction of €76 million in payables relating to BancoPosta’s operations following the final discharge of prior year items; z an increase in Trade receivables of €204 million (largely attributable to the increase in receivables related to the growth of the parcels business), offset by an increase in Trade payables of €210 million; z Net current tax assets increased by €396 million, due mainly to the payment of the balance for the previous year and the advance payment for the current year, the positive impact of opting for the “Patent Box” regime and the tax benefit related to the Aid to Economic Growth (ACE).
Equity amounted to €11,507 million at 31 December 2020, an increase of €1,809 million compared with 31 December 2019. The change that occurred during the period reflected primarily the profit for the period of €1,206 million and an increase of €1,276 million in the fair value reserve, due to positive changes in the value of investments classified as FVTOCI, net of sales made during the period, held mainly by the Financial Services SBU, partially offset by the distribution of dividends totalling €613 million, of which €402 million for 2019 profit and advance of €211 million for the 2020 ordinary dividend.
With regard to financial instruments held by the Financial Services SBU, the overall fair value fluctuation during the year was positive by approximately €5.3 billion and was recognised in a specific equity reserve for positive €1.9 billion for the portion not hedged by fair value hedges, and through profit or loss for positive €3.4 billion for the portion hedged, offset by the negative fair value change of fair value hedging derivatives. At 31 December 2020, the total balance of derivatives in fair value hedge was negative for €8.1 billion (€5.4 billion at 31 December 2019). In addition, as part of these hedging transactions, as a result of the negative change in derivatives, the Parent Company increased its guarantee deposits in favour of counterparties by approximately €2.3 billion.
At 31 December 2020, the Financial Services SBU also included the following equity changes compared with 31 December 2019: z an increase in postal current account deposits of €10.5 billion; z an increase of €3.3 billion in amounts due to financial institutions, largely attributable to repurchase agreements payable and ordinary financing transactions, both aimed at investments in Italian fixed income government securities and as funding for incremental deposits used as collateral in collateralisation transactions; z a net increase of €8.2 billion in fixed income instruments measured at amortised cost (including the positive change of €1.7 billion in profit or loss relating to the portion hedged by fair value hedges); z a net increase in fixed income instruments classified as FVTOCI of €5.8 billion; the total fair value fluctuation of the period was positive for €3.6 billion; z a decrease in the deposit with the MEF of €0.3 billion.
The movement reflects: z a positive operating result of €512 million: the loss for the period of €419 million was more than offset by depreciation and amortisation for the period of €667 million and a positive change of €301 million in provisions for risks and charges; z an increase in net working capital of €681 million, mainly due to an increase in trade receivables (around €222 million) linked to the development of the parcels business and other amounts due from third parties (around €135 million), which include sums relating to the Solidarity Fund at INPS advanced to workers during periods of suspension or reduction of work for Covid-19. Finally, the change is also attributable to the decrease in amounts due to staff (approximately €155 million), which includes the payment of the one-off to cover the vacancy in the National Collective Labour Contract for 2019; z new investments for €658 million; z a net cash inflow of €76 million from dividends included in “Changes in altri dequity and other”: dividends received from other business units, totalling €689 million (no dividend was paid by Poste Vita during the period, in compliance with the recommendations of the Supervisory Authorities), were substantially offset by dividends paid to shareholders, totalling €613 million (including €211 million relating to the interim ordinary dividend planned for 2020); z other increases in debt of €308 million included in “Changes in equity and other items” due mainly to financial liabilities under new leases totalling €203 million that qualify for IFRS 16 treatment. Finally, the change includes the option to purchase the minority shares of MLK Deliveries SpA for €49 million.
Debt represented in the (net debt)/funds of the Mail, Parcel and Distribution SBU primarily relates to: z a medium-term bank loan of €250 million, repaid in January 2021; z use of an uncommitted credit line for short-term loan for a total of €250 million; z a loan through repurchase agreements on government securities for approximately €413 million; z an EIB loan of €173 million maturing in March 2026; z an EIB loan of €400 million maturing in October 2026; z private placement of about €50 million maturing in October 2023; z two senior unsecured bonds issued on 10 December 2020 with a total nominal value of €1 billion, the first of €500 million maturing in December 2024 and the second of €500 million maturing in December 2028.
Existing cash and credit lines are amply sufficient to cover expected financial requirements. More specifically, at 31 December 2020, the cash of the Mail, Parcels and Distribution SBU amounted to €2.3 billion (of which €2.2 billion relating to the Parent Company), while unused committed and uncommitted lines to support liquidity totalled approximately €2.5 billion.
* At 31 December 2020, borrowings (net of repurchase agreements) stood at approximately €2.1 billion.
Total costs, net of Depreciation, Amortisation and Impairments, went from €7,872 million in 2019 to €8,090 million in 2020, marking an increase of 2.8%, due to higher costs for goods and services (+€464 million) mainly related to extraordinary expenses incurred to contain Covid-19 (€106 million) and higher costs for services rendered by the subsidiary SDA Express Courier SpA for the development of the parcels business. These changes are partly offset by lower personnel expenses.
Depreciation, amortisation and impairments decreased by €52 million compared with the previous year due mainly to lower depreciation and amortisation recognised as a result of a review of the remaining useful lives and residual values of the main categories of fixed assets.
The total personnel expenses decreased by €256 million (-4.5%) compared to 2019. This change is attributable to the reduction in the ordinary component which is affected by the following factors: the reduction in the average workforce employed in the year compared to 2019, i.e. approximately 4.4 thousand FTE less, lower costs for MBO managerial incentives and other various indemnities, in particular overtime, as a result of the reduced activity during the lockdown, the use of the Solidarity Fund to deal
Income tax expense decreased from €162 million in 2019 to €8 million in 2020, benefiting from the positive non-recurring effect of €38 million relating, for €23 million, to the adoption of the “Patent box” regime for the years 2015-2019 and for €15 million to the tax benefit related to the ACE (Aid to Economic Growth) for the years 2015-2016.
Non-current assets amounted to €5,984 million, an increase of €169 million compared with the end of 2019. Investments in tangible and intangible assets of €613 million also contributed to the formation of non-current assets, partly offset by amortisation, depreciation and impairments of €422 million. The decrease of €85 million in Right-of-use assets reflects primarily purchases for the year for €135 million and depreciation for the period of €198 million. The value of investments shows an increase of €11 million compared to 31 December 2019 mainly due to the joint effect of the acquisition of the investments in MLK Deliveries SpA and Sennder Italia Srl and the impairment of the investment in Anima Holding SpA following the results of the impairment test performed on it.
Net working capital at 31 December 2020 amounted to €510 million and increased by €377 million compared to year-end 2019 mainly due to the decrease in amounts due to staff (includes incentives and other items related to the payment of the oneoff to cover the 2019 contractual vacancy) and due to the increase in the balance of current tax assets net of the related liabilities essentially attributable to the payment of the balance of the previous year and the advance payment for the current year, the
Annual Report 2020 Poste Italiane Group positive effects arising from the adhesion to the “Patent Box” regime and the tax benefit related to the Aid to Economic Growth (ACE), net of provisions for the year and the effects of the tax consolidation (increase in payables).
The balance of Provisions for risks and charges amounted to €1,309 million (€1,130 million at the end of December 2019) and mainly includes provisions for early retirement incentives of €574 million (€419 million at 31 December 2019); this reflects the estimate of liabilities that the Company committed to irrevocably incur, under the current arrangements agreed with the unions, as a result of a certain number of personnel taking voluntary early retirement by 31 December 2022.
The net negative balance of deferred tax assets/liabilities is equal to 403 million (net positive balance of 8 million at the end of 2019); the change is largely attributable to the net negative tax effect on the positive change in the fair value reserve for investments in available-for-sale securities (increase in deferred tax liabilities).
Corporate governance at BancoPosta RFC With regard to BancoPosta RFC’s governance, the rules governing the organisation, management and control of BancoPosta’s operations are contained in the specific BancoPosta RFC Regulation approved by the Extraordinary General Meeting of 14 April 2011 and recently amended by the Extraordinary General Meeting of 29 May 2018. As a result of the issuance by the Bank of Italy on 27 May 2014 of an update to the Prudential Supervisory Provisions for Banks, the provisions for banks on the organisational and governance structure, the accounting and control system and the capital adequacy and risk containment institutions apply to RFC.
BancoPosta also has an “Organisational and Operational Regulation” approved by the Board of Directors of Poste Italiane, the latest update of which dates back to 12 May 2020. These regulations describe BancoPosta’s operating model, its organisational structure and the related responsibilities assigned to the various functions, as well as the processes for assigning BancoPosta’s business functions to Poste Italiane and for outsourcing BancoPosta RFC. The process of “Governance of Assignments and Outsourcing” of BancoPosta RFC, already subject to review in 2018, was further strengthened in 2019 and 2020 with reference to the regulatory, organisational and monitoring of the activities assigned and/or outsourced, with a view to improving the quality of processes.
In 2020, Operating Committees continued, set up in 2019, on the functions assigned (Digital, Technology & Operations, Post Office Network, IT Security, Fund transactions, etc.) and those outsourced with BancoPosta Fondi SGR Group companies, which provides the Financial Management service for BancoPosta RFC and PostePay SpA, which manages products for BancoPosta such as slips, car tax returns, RAVs, transfers, money orders, direct debit receipts, Eurogiro, debit cards, Book cards and payment platform with the aim of strengthening the methods of monitoring and dialogue.
In March 2020, following the approval of the Audit Plan by the Board of Directors, an addendum to the Guidelines with Internal Auditing was signed and the updating of the Register of Outsourcing continued in parallel, which applies to both new agreements and existing agreements.
In May 2020, work began on the renewal for the two-year period 2021-2022 of the Operating Guidelines due to expire in December 2020. In October 2020, the documents relating to Operating Guidelines of essential or important functions were sent, in accordance with the terms of the regulations in force, to the Bank of Italy for prior communication.
For the two-year period 2021-2022, a new set of Guidelines was introduced regarding the assignment of BCM (Business Continuity Management) services to the Corporate Affairs function and a significant expansion of the activities entrusted to the Human Resources and Organisation function was put in place, the assignment of which was reclassified, starting from 2021, as an Essential or Important Function. In addition, KPIs were refined and new indicators were introduced, some of which were already subject to management monitoring in the Operating Committees with the entrusted functions.
In line with the company’s strategies, which envisage the gradual and complete extension of financial services to digital channels from a fully digital and multi-channel perspective, BancoPosta, together with the strengthening of its digital investment services projects (which include the acquisition in 2019 of a minority interest in MFM Holding Ltd, an independent asset management company specialising in ETF portfolios) developed digital services in the area of payments in order to activate new AISP (Account Information Service Providers) and PISP (Payment Initiation Service Providers) functions in accordance with PSD2 regulations.
The supply of the related technological services has been entrusted to the Digital Technology & Operations function by extending the related Guidelines. The latter company has outsourced part of its operations to the Swedish company, Tink AB (in which PostePay SpA holds a 5.03% interest). In addition, in September 2020, the Board of Directors of Poste Italiane approved the project to outsource cash processing for the new services, with start-up set for the first quarter of 2021.
Gains (losses) on sale of financial assets or liabilities 365 339 26 7.7%
Net interest income amounted to €1,498 million, a decrease of 4.3% (-€68 million), mainly due to the lower yield on securities lending and the lower return on interest-bearing deposits with the MEF. Interest income of €1,587 million, down 3.2% from €1,640 million of the previous year (-€53 million), also includes income from repurchase agreements and collateralisation of derivatives.
Interest expense, on the other hand, regards interest paid to current account holders, interest on repurchase agreements and collateralisation of derivatives, amounting to €89 million, up €15 million compared with the previous year (€74 million).
Net impairment losses/(reversals of impairment losses) due to credit risk of €22 million in 2020 (€9 million at 31 December 2019, -€13 million) reflect the impairment of loans and receivables and financial assets.
After taking account of taxation for the period, totalling €200 million, which, compared with the previous year (down €34 million), has benefited from the effect of opting for the Patent Box regime (€23 million), net profit for BancoPosta’s assets for the year amounted to €629 million, up 2.9% on the previous year (€611 million).
At 31 December 2020, the BancoPosta function has 11 second-level functions, including 3 Marketing functions: Affluent, Business and Public Administration, Mass Market; 1 function dedicated to classroom training of the sales network for the offer of financial and insurance services: Territorial Marketing; 4 personnel functions: Administration and Separate Reporting, BancoPosta HR Business Partner, Planning, Control and Data Analysis, Governance Outsourcing and Business Support; 3 Control functions: Compliance, Internal Auditing and Risk Management.
The year 2020 was characterised by some additional organisational adjustments consistent with the intermediary’s focus on the directing role in product development and distribution, in collaboration with Group companies, and in managing the sales network. These changes concerned the redefinition of the perimeters of responsibility of the Territorial Marketing function and the redefinition of the perimeters of responsibility within the Affluent function, with a view to greater synergy and focus in the analysis of customer characteristics and needs.
Following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Poste Italiane implemented significant measures aimed at protecting the health and safety of BancoPosta personnel (smart working for almost all personnel, constant supply of personal protection equipment, extraordinary sanitation of head office premises, etc.). For further information on the initiatives taken by THE Poste Italiane Group to protect its employees, please refer to the section “Management of the Covid-19 pandemic” in chapter 5 “Risks and opportunities”.
The item Financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income amount to €42,638 million (€36,799 million at 31 December 2019, +€5,839 million) and are attributable to investments in Italian government securities. The balance increased mainly as a result of the positive change in fair value relating to securities held in portfolio, as well as further transactions in securities during the year.
Financial assets measured at amortised cost amounted to €52,028 million (€39,792 million at 31 December 2019, +€12,236 million) and relate to investments in securities issued by the Italian government and those guaranteed by the Italian government, totalling €33,255 million (€25,064 million at 31 December 2019, +€8,191 million) and sundry receivables of €18,773 million (€14,728 million at 31 December 2019, +€4,045 million).
Financial assets represented by sundry receivables primarily include: (i) amounts deposited with the MEF of €9,327 million (€7,558 million at 31 December 2019, +€1,769 million); (ii) guarantee deposits of €7,494 million (€5,660 million at 31 December 2019, +€1,834 million); (iii) trade receivables of €987 million (€843 million at 31 December 2019); (iv) receivables relating to the balance of amounts resulting from the processing of payments to and from third parties via Poste Italiane for €901 million (€650 million at 31 December 2019, +€251 million).
Hedging derivatives with positive fair value at 31 December 2020 amounted to €78 million, up from €73 million at 31 December 2019.
Tax assets amounted to €130 million, a decrease of €182 million compared to €312 million recorded at 31 December 2019 as a result of changes in deferred tax assets in 2020 related to financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, as well as the provision for risks and charges.
Hedging derivatives relating to securities in portfolio with negative fair vale amounted to €8,243 million (€5,552 million at 31 December 2019, +€2,691 million).
Other liabilities amounted to €3,153 million (€2,953 million at 31 December 2019, +€200 million), mainly include items of a tax nature by way of substitute tax, items in progress and payables to Poste Italiane for rendered services regulated by Operating Guidelines.
The provision for employee termination benefits, amounting to approximately €3 million, is in line with the amount at 31 December 2019.
60. Represents one of the most relevant components of the internal control system, i.e. a body of rules, procedures and organisational structures, which aim to prevent or limit the consequences of unexpected events and enable the achievement of strategic, operating objectives, compliance with the relevant laws and regulations, and ensure the fairness and transparency of internal and external reporting.
In terms of BancoPosta RFC’s organisational structure, the existing organisational model envisages autonomous and independent control functions in compliance with the Bank of Italy’s supervisory requirements: Risk Management, Compliance and Internal Auditing. It is also planned that BancoPosta, also in the context of controls, will make use of the other functions of Poste Italiane, in line with the Regulation for the process of assigning and outsourcing BancoPosta RFC mentioned above.
In the early months of 2021, BancoPosta’s Internal Auditing prepared the 2020 Annual Report, a document designed to provide the Company’s governing bodies with regular information regarding the completeness, adequacy, functionality and reliability of BancoPosta’s overall control system.
The final audits were in part performed with reference to the findings of Poste Italiane’s Internal Auditing function, which is responsible, in accordance with the specific operating guidelines for the IT audit and the audit of the local units and distribution channels within Poste Italiane’s network, which are responsible for BancoPosta’s processes and products.
Risk management system BancoPosta RFC has an independent Risk Management unit, responsible for ensuring, among other things, in collaboration with the Group Risk Management function of Poste Italiane SpA, an integrated, retrospective and prospective view of the risk environment and of BancoPosta RFC’s capital and organisational adequacy. The function provides a detailed evaluation of the risk profile of the financial products sold to customers and provides the operational and business functions involved in product development and placement with advice and support. It is also responsible for periodic reporting. During 2020, the Risk Appetite Framework (RAF) was revised. The 2019 Annual Report and the programme of activities for 2020 were submitted to the Board of Statutory Auditors, the Control and Risk Committee and the Board of Directors, as were the ICAAP (Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process)61 report and the Public Risk Report for 2019. These bodies also received quarterly reports on the performance of the effective risk profile versus the determined risk appetite. The principal types of risk to which BancoPosta RFC is exposed in the course of its ordinary activities are described below: z credit risk (including counterparty risk); z market risk (including banking book rate risk); z liquidity risk; z operational risk.
In order to maintain the company’s target of a leverage ratio of 3%, assessments of the most appropriate measures for strengthening BancoPosta’s capital are underway.
The CET 1 ratio at December 2020 stood at 18.1%, confirming the capital solidity and recording a decline mainly related to the fall in interest rates, which led to an increase in collateral paid to counterparties in hedging derivative transactions.
Regarding the interest rate risk on the banking book in 2020, in terms of economic value, BancoPosta RFC was exposed to a flattening in the rate curve. The entity of the exposure, measured using an internal model, remained on average below 14% of supervisory capital, thus well within the risk appetite framework for the year.
61. Bank of Italy defines the internal processes for determining capital adequacy in the Supervisory Provisions for Banks Part One - Transposition of CRD IV Directive Title III - Prudential Control Process Chapter 1 - Prudential Control Process.
Lastly, with regard to operational risks, in 2020, Poste Italiane completed its initiatives to protect customers, which had a negative performance on the real estate funds subscribed in the period 2002-2005, and closely monitored disputes with customers relating to the return on certain series of Interest-bearing Postal Certificates placed in the past, adjusting prudential provisions to risk provisions.
BancoPosta RFC events after 31 December 2020 Events after the end of the reporting period to which the 2020 Annual Report refers are described in other sections of this document. Further information is provided in Poste Italiane Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020.
Outlook for BancoPosta RFC During 2021, the process of digitising the Postal Savings Products offering aimed at improving the customer experience will continue. In particular, initiatives will be launched to send personalised suggestions to the customer’s reserved web area with the possibility of subscribing to Postal Savings Products via the purchase process on digital web and app channels.
In line with the regulatory developments envisaged by PSD2, the Account Information Services Providers (AISP) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISP) services will be released during 2021, which will respectively enable accounts from different banks to be aggregated within Poste Italiane’s digital platforms and payments to be made from other current accounts held by customers.
For further information, please see the Business Outlook for the Financial Services SBU and Poste Italiane Group.
Separate financial statements Poste Italiane SpA’s statement of financial position includes the Supplementary Statement of BancoPosta RFC, prepared pursuant to art. 2, paragraph 17-undecies of Law 10 converting Law Decree no. 225 of 29 December 2010 which states that “the assets and relationships included in RFC are shown separately in the company’s statement of financial position”.
Intersegment transactions Intersegment transactions between BancoPosta and Poste Italiane functions outside the ring-fence are set out in Poste Italiane Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020 (BancoPosta RFC’s Separate Report, Part A of the notes).
Certify the main Group companies in accordance with the ISO 37001 standard
In order to clearly define the values and social role with which the Company contributes to the processes of cohesion, inclusion and sustainability of the country, as well as the rules of conduct in the performance of professional activities, Poste Italiane Group has adopted a Code of Ethics for directors, supervisory bodies, management, all employees and all those who work, directly or indirectly, permanently or temporarily, to pursue the objectives of Poste Italiane. The Code is disseminated to all levels of the organisation with the aim of spreading its values, including through training and information initiatives, as the Company requires that all persons to whom the document is addressed become aware of its contents.
The Code enshrines the principles that inspire the culture, behaviour and way of doing business of the Company and its stakeholders, such as the principle of legality, impartiality and fairness, respect and development of people, transparency and completeness, confidentiality, quality, diligence and professionalism. In this document, Poste Italiane affirms its commitment to adopting criteria of conduct that exclude conflicts of interest with the Group and promote the ability to make decisions that are consistent with the Company’s objectives; criteria that avoid corruption, money laundering and terrorism and that encourage conduct of integrity, while respecting the health and safety of workers and protecting the privacy of all the recipients of the Code.
In addition to the Code of Ethics, the Company adopted a Group Integrated Policy, which reflects and documents the commitment made to all Company’s stakeholders, to improve its performance and, at the same time, build and develop trusting relationships with them, as part of a process of generating and sharing value for the Company as well as for the communities in which it operates, with the idea of achieving continuity and reconciliation of the related interests.
Implementation of the new Integrated Anti-Fraud Platform (PIAF) that combines fraud prevention objectives with improved customer satisfaction
With the aim of ensuring the widest possible dissemination of annual results both within and outside the Company, an entire section of Poste Italiane’s website has been dedicated to the Report. In particular, it was decided to focus on an innovative multimedia tool, capable of presenting, through a fluid and immediate navigable graphic layout, the economic and financial results while emphasising the path of sustainability undertaken by the Group. The new portal is a means of expanding the target audience, using innovative communication methods and tools, promoting complementarity between the offline and online versions of the Annual Report and aligning the communication of CSR projects and policies with national and international digital communication best practices. The intention is to share with all stakeholders the evolution of the activities carried out to support the creation of value. A “full html” solution was chosen in which all the contents of the Report were transported in the online version with the utmost accuracy and attention to the customer’s user experience in navigation, with a clear and attractive user interface.
The integrated compliance model adopted by the Company fits into this context, creating operational synergies between the various compliance risk specialists and guaranteeing unified governance in the management of these risks, thanks also to a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of the players involved in the process.
As evidence of Poste Italiane’s commitment to the principles of integrity, preventing corruption and ensuring regulatory compliance, in 2020, the Company adopted a Group-wide Competition and Consumer Protection Compliance programme and drew up the “Competition and Consumer Protection Compliance Guidelines”, which is the cornerstone of the programme.
The document provides indications on the regulations for the protection of competition and the consumer and defines the rules of conduct that all members of corporate bodies, executives, employees and all those who work to achieve the Group’s purpose and objectives must observe. In particular, the objectives set out in the document concern: ensuring compliance with competition and consumer protection rules, of which no violation is tolerated; strengthening awareness and disseminating knowledge about the importance of competition and consumer protection regulations; consolidating an operating and control environment that mitigates the risk of commission of antitrust and anti-competitive offences as well as violation of consumer protection regulations; providing guidance to prevent actions, behaviours and omissions that violate competition and consumer protection regulations, and outlining monitoring tools to identify any violations.
In continuity with initiatives aimed at promoting growing attention to issues of transparency and legality, in 2020, Poste Italiane strengthened its collaboration with Guardia di Finanza (Finance Police), signing a Memorandum of Understanding to combat economic and financial crime. The agreement sees the Group concretely committed to the fight against tax evasion, avoidance and fraud, public spending offences, money laundering, forgery and payment fraud. In fact, the Company intends to make available to the Guardia di Finanza its wealth of information, in particular, the data in the “Identity Check” system, which is useful for combating offences. With this initiative, Poste Italiane once again acknowledges its role of responsibility towards the public interest and undertakes to protect the entire community by safeguarding legality.
Reporting Monito rin g an d contin uous i m pr ov em en t
Fiscal transparency policies In January 2020, both Poste Italiane and the subsidiary, Poste Vita, were admitted to the Collaborative Compliance regime with the tax authorities, an award granted following a positive assessment by the tax authorities of the system for identifying, managing, controlling and mitigating tax risk. This institution, provided for by the Delegated Law for the reform of the Italian tax system (Law 23/2014) and introduced in Italy by Legislative Decree no. 128/2015, establishes a relationship with the financial authorities, one built on trust and collaboration.
The Tax Control Risk Framework of Poste Italiane Poste Italiane has developed its own tax risk management and control system, which, as part of the wider Internal Control and Risk Management System (SCIGR), meets the following requirements in line with legislation and best practices: z the Tax Strategy in which the Group has defined its objectives and the approach adopted in managing the tax variable. The Tax Strategy is arranged as a set of principles and rules aimed at promoting dissemination of the values of honesty, fairness and compliance with tax regulations, thereby encouraging the development of collaborative and transparent conduct towards the tax authorities and third parties, in order to minimise any substantial impact in terms of either tax or reputational risk; z a system of delegated powers, roles and responsibilities regarding the processes of detecting, measuring, managing and monitoring tax risk, defined within a specific Guideline, as well as detailed in the relative operating procedures and in the tax risk map (i.e. Tax Risk Assessment); z adaptation to major changes affecting the company, including changes in tax legislation; z sending an annual report to the management bodies containing the results of the checks carried out and any action plans to be implemented to remedy the shortcomings that emerged from the monitoring. This report is also sent to the Revenue Agency for evaluation of the Tax Control Framework.
In line with its sustainability strategy and with the values set out in the Group’s Code of Ethics, Poste Italiane Group has always managed taxation in full compliance with the principles of honesty, fairness and compliance with tax regulations, characterised by cooperative and transparent conduct towards tax authorities and third parties, in order to minimise any substantial impact in terms of tax or reputational risk. To this end, the Group has adopted a Tax Strategy62 within which the Company has defined its objectives: z manage the tax variable by protecting the interests of all stakeholders, including the government, shareholders, employees and the community in which it operates, including at local level, being aware that tax revenue is one of the main sources of contribution to the economic and social development of the country; z always operate in compliance with tax regulations with regard to both the letter of the rules and the underlying rationale, monitoring and overseeing regulatory changes, including through continuous dialogue with the relevant institutions at national and international level; z make decisions on tax matters in line with national and international best practices and with the guidelines dictated by sector bodies, as well as in line with its own strategic objectives and risk appetite; z promote professional diligence in the management of tax-relevant activities and processes, and ensure that the related procedures are appropriate; z ensure adequate technical training for all employees involved in the management of tax-related obligations and activities; z establish complete and accurate information flows to management bodies and tax authorities; z encourage the development of constructive, professional and transparent relations with the Tax Authorities, based on the concepts of integrity, collaboration and mutual trust.
Poste Italiane also coordinates with its companies to ensure that they operate in compliance with current tax legislation and in line with the Group’s risk management and control system.
As previously stated when it entered the Collaborative Compliance regime, the Poste Italiane Group is committed to establishing relations with tax authorities that are based on the utmost transparency and cooperation, undertaking to: z communicate in a clear and transparent manner to the Revenue Agency any changes in the Tax Strategy, in the medium/long-term tax planning and the possible risks related to the most relevant transactions; z provide correct, accurate and timely information and respond promptly to questions and requests for information received by the Revenue Agency; z resolve any problems in a timely manner prior to the filing of tax returns, and, if differences subsequently arise, work out an agreement with the Revenue Agency to resolve them.
During 2020, the first monitoring activities were carried out on all the controls governing the risks envisaged within Poste Italiane’s tax risk management and control system.
Communication and training on tax issues During 2020, an information session was held for Poste Italiane’s senior management, as well as the heads of the functions responsible for carrying out tax-related activities and controls, aimed at illustrating the key aspects of the Collaborative Compliance regime. This initiative forms part of a series of actions designed to reinforce and continuously disseminate the values of honesty, fairness and compliance with tax regulations within Poste Italiane, thereby encouraging the development of collaborative and transparent behaviour towards tax authorities and third parties, in order to minimise any material impact in terms of tax or reputational risk, also in line with the standards defined by the Group’s Risk Management function.
During 2020, the courses delivered by personnel in the Tax function covered the following topics: z the fiscal way to the recovery of work credits after the Relaunch Decree; z basic training on the main VAT obligations in Poste Italiane; z the Value Added Tax in the system; z DAC 6 internal course; z “GRC-RSA Archer” platform presentation.
In 2021, however, consistent with the ongoing health emergency, training events are being planned in the following areas: z refresher courses on changes in tax regulations, aimed at the personnel of the departments responsible for fulfilling tax obligations and more generally for managing the tax variable; z basic taxation courses for new employees, aimed at developing and strengthening their tax skills; z training courses, both in the field of taxation and internal control systems, for personnel responsible for carrying out second level controls in order to increase their effectiveness.
Poste Italiane guarantees equal opportunities to all suppliers, and the opportunity to compete in contract awarding procedures. Suppliers involved are required to comply with the EU and Italian legislation on competition, refraining from anti-competitive or unethical conduct that is contrary to the rules that safeguard competition. Poste Italiane Group requires its suppliers, including any subcontractors, as well as its partners, to formally accept the inspiring principles and criteria of conduct of the Group, described in the Group’s Code of Ethics and Policies.
Poste Italiane requires its suppliers to adhere to the principles and standards of conduct set out in the Code of Ethics, and investigates the presence of requirements in line with ESG issues through sustainability audits
z Group companies operate in the free market when procuring goods and services for use in operations and in achieving their business objectives, in keeping with the Public Tenders Code z Contracts management z Checks on the goods and services provided with respect to what is declared z Supply of goods and services by the selected suppliers under contractually agreed terms and conditions
Supplier qualification procedures 63. In 2020, there are zero instances of supplier non-compliance with environmental and labour rights policies.
In line with the principles of transparency, Poste Italiane is committed to providing a high level of disclosure of its procurement process. Pursuant to Law no. 190/2012 entitled “Provisions for the prevention and suppression of corruption and illegality in the public administration”, the Group publishes, periodically, information relating the procurement procedures indicated by the law and, on a voluntary basis, also the procurement procedures not expressly mentioned in the legislation. To do so, the “Open and Transparent Contracts” portal was created and can be consulted on the Company’s website.
In this regard, specific environmental and social criteria are provided for in the supplier selection process, in the participation requirements, in the evaluation parameters of the technical offer and/or in the contractual conditions, of the tender procedures carried out during the year.
Thanks to the dematerialisation and digitisation of the liabilities cycle: 50,000 documents dematerialised. 25% of the time of crossing the tenders saved of suppliers have an ISO 14001 or EMAS certified environmental management system
The Group’s growing attention to ESG issues is shown by the numbers achieved. In 2020, in fact, there was an increase of 27 percentage points, compared to 2019, of tenders carried out on the basis of environmental criteria (75.9% vs 49.1%) and an increase of 16 percentage points, compared to the previous year, of procedures carried out on the basis of social criteria (74.1% vs 57.7%).
In line with the action of continuous strengthening of the procurement strategy based on the selection of products and suppliers capable of guaranteeing the best sustainability performance, with the establishment in December 2019 of the Green Procurement function, the process aimed at the stable integration of sustainability parameters in the technical evaluation of offers was started. In this context, the main reference parameters for evaluating offers were identified - and proposed at the 2020 Multistakeholder Forum - in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance aspects and sustainable innovation, with the aim of following up the definition of a structured process for monitoring the degree of sustainability of the supply chain, through the identification of specific indicators. Moreover, in continuity with previous years, Poste Italiane has implemented the criteria set out in Green Public Procurement (GPP) in order to combine sustainability in terms of reducing environmental impacts and cost rationalisation, applying, where required, the indications on the “Minimum Environmental Criteria” (MEC), established with specific Ministerial Decrees.
The path undertaken in the area of purchasing provides for the inclusion of environmental, social and governance aspects, investigating the possession of specific requirements through sustainability audits to which suppliers will be subjected. The methodology is characterised by the adoption of a highly personalised approach, which translates into the definition of an ad hoc questionnaire by sector and size, and the definition of a scoring process structured in three different levels, which provides for the attribution of a rating for each relevant risk, for each dimension analysed and a total ESG rating. These elements provide the following strengths to the model: z assessment focused on the supplier’s relevant ESG risks, thanks to the use of a specific questionnaire for each economic sector (risk-based approach); z robustness of the analysis deriving from the use of a quantitative algorithm, which guarantees the attribution of a rating strongly representative of the level of risk coverage guaranteed by the supplier; Social criteria
Aiming at increasing awareness of its suppliers over time and accompanying them on a path of sustainable growth, Poste Italiane plans to gradually introduce environmental and social parameters into its tenders over the years, thus ensuring a gradual expansion of the scope, coverage and weight of ESG criteria on the tender score.
• 5.9 million hours of training provided • Establishment of the “Poste Centro Medico”, center for the prevention, care and well-being of employees • Implementation of all initiatives necessary to ensure the protection of the health of employees during a health emergency
The Group sees in the continuous and innovative training of its personnel an important lever to achieve a competitive advantage on the market
In 2020, in the emergency context due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Corporate University reshaped its training plan by making available to employees a fully online training offer, made possible also thanks to the recent launch of the new training platform (HCM Oracle). At the same time, Poste Italiane adopted the Microsoft Office365 package throughout the Company, enabling the creation of training courses in Webinar or Virtual Classroom mode, ensuring the continuity of the training offered to employees. The Adoptions Office 365 training path has been provided to guarantee transversal knowledge of the Teams tool (and in general of the O365 suite). Thanks to the resilience shown by Poste Italiane Group in the difficult emergency context, a total of around 5.9 million hours of training were provided in 2020. The 2020 training actions include the Soft and Digital Skill training catalogue, the Business Continuity and Emergency Management training path, the Remote Working training path and the Financial Education training path.
During the period, in order to make the most of its internal wealth of knowledge, the Corporate University paid particular attention to the establishment and development of the internal Faculty, Poste Italiane’s teaching personnel made up of expert colleagues, carefully selected and qualified to become trainers and instructional designers and to make their skills and passion available for the training and development of other colleagues, which at the end of 2020 totalled 500 resources.
Increase the quota of middle managers and white-collar staff involved in the MLAB development plans (Managerial LAB for the development of middle managers who have further growth potential) and POP (Professional Orientation programme that identi�es and develops talented young people)
% of middle managers and % of employees involved in development plans 20% of middle managers and 25% of employees by 2022
Certify the main Group companies in accordance with the ISO 45001 standard
Maintenance of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems and related ISO 45001 certi�cations at Poste Italiane and the main Group companies
In order to monitor training activities and the reporting of mandatory training to the control functions, the Group has provided for periodic monitoring of the progress of the training plan in terms of hours, attendance, intervention areas, trends and monitoring of the use of specific training campaigns in progress, guaranteeing periodic information flows to internal and external company and control functions. In addition, Poste Italiane Group is paying particular attention to training on regulatory compliance, with a total of 3.250 million hours provided in 2020. The main initiatives implemented are mentioned below.
Sustainability and corporate policies Two courses are reported in this area: z “Documental Management”, launched in February 2020 and intended for all Poste Italiane Headquarters personnel, down to the third organisational levels, describes the “Document Management” procedure, which is fundamental to ensure that Poste Italiane’s Corporate Regulatory System achieves its objectives. The Regulatory System regulates on the one hand the reference principles, architecture and life cycle of regulatory documents and, on the other, the roles and responsibilities of the various players involved in the document management process. It is therefore essential that these players, when drafting or updating company documents, know and apply the rules defined by the “Document Management” procedure; z “Business and Human Rights Protection”, launched in September 2020 with the aim of promoting and disseminating the Guiding Principles adopted by the United Nations on Business and Human Rights. The initiative consisted of 11 modules and was aimed at all personnel, with the exception of letter carriers, to whom the course was presented in documentary form.
Dangerous goods (ADR legislation) In order to ensure the regulatory compliance of the services provided by Poste Italiane regarding the transport of dangerous good, the online course “ADR regulations: overview and application methods in Poste Italiane” is available from January 2020. The training initiative provides an overview of the European Agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road, known as ADR. Starting from an analysis of what the ADR agreement regulates, the methods by which this agreement is applied at Poste Italiane are described. The initiative is intended for the following figures: z distribution centre workers such as letter carriers, internal parcel handlers, distribution centre managers, emergency workers, transport workers, quality managers and supervisors; z figures working in sorting centres, such as manual and mechanised parcel sorting personnel, goods acceptance personnel, including those delivered by Large Customers, supervisors, sorting centre managers and emergency personnel; z post office workers, such as counter operators who accept parcels, internal parcel handlers, post office managers, supervisors and emergency workers.
Mail, Parcels and Distribution In addition to the training programmes to update and verify skills (in line with IVASS and ESMA regulations that enable the processes of consulting and sales), an important project was developed dedicated to improving the remote sales proposition for the new Distance Offer to customers in the Post Office Network. The Group has also invested heavily in developing front end digital skills on processes and new products offered to customers, in particular, with a focus on digital payments (Code). With regard to the logistics segment, training activities dedicated to letter carriers continued and training activities were launched to support the profound transformation of logistics processes, linked to the implementation and dissemination of lean production methods and tools, to support the development of a service culture based on continuous improvement. At the heart of its ongoing training programmes, the Group has ensured support in maintaining and strengthening technical skills and developing competencies in the various corporate roles.
Financial Services In the area of financial services, the Group is committed to ensuring the development of the skills of personnel working in the BancoPosta function in order to support the new requirements expressed by the market, with particular reference to the development of specialist technical skills and a significant strengthening of soft and digital skills. Training focused on regulatory issues in support of the business, specialised technical issues and managerial behavioural training, with the latter activity focusing in particular on strengthening organisational behaviours useful for dealing with the Coronavirus health emergency.
Insurance Services The objective pursued with regard to insurance services was to ensure the training and updating of the skills of the various professional personnel employed by the Poste Vita Group (Poste Vita, Poste Assicura and Poste Welfare Servizi), both in order to adapt to new remote working methods (collaboration tools and systems) and in compliance with specific industry regulations, as well as compulsory training (occupational safety).