ANFIR – Finlombarda Online event on the “Recovery Fund as opportunities for the revitalization of the territories”

On July 8 2021, ANFIR - the Italian National Association of Regional Financial Institutions and Finlombarda, organized an online event entitled "The Recovery Fund as an opportunity for the revitalization of the territories" in the presence of the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, and the Regional Councillor for Economic Development, Guido Guidesi, which was attended by more than 100 participants representing public institutions, the economic-financial sector, professional, industrial and craft associations, as well as media.

The webinar is part of the series of events organized by the regional financial institution in the year of its 50°anniversary to discuss the challenges for the relaunch of the economy with main players of the economic financial ecosystem.

President Fontana said: "The Recovery Fund is a great opportunity that must not be missed: we believe that the direct involvement of local authorities is essential in the implementation of the PNRR projects. We have always considered it fundamental that the regions and autonomies in general could be part of the decisions linked to the Plan".

Councillor Guidesi commented: "For debt to be transformed into induced activity, competitiveness, productivity multiplier, participation and enhancement of human capital, the fundamental conditions are synergy between public and private sectors and maximum involvement of regions and local authorities. Only on these bases we will be able to implement the government's projects in the PNRR with effective development and growth".

After the institutional greetings, the President of ANFIR and Finlombarda, Michele Vietti, intervened at the opening by stressing that "it is necessary to concretely help the manufactoring sector to recover and restart, playing each one its own role, while respecting its own institutional tasks and scope of activity. Fighting against the economic crisis, it is important to share best practices as well as public and private success stories at European, national and territorial level, to better manage the impact of PNRR investments on territories".

Round Table panelists, moderated by Alberto Magnani, journalist for Il Sole24Ore and author, discussed the Recovery Plan as an opportunity for the economic revival of territories and the role of European, national and regional financial institutions in the undertaking of investments according to the missions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP):

Riccardo Barbieri, member of the ANFIR Steering Committee and Vice President BPER Banca S.p.A., addressed the issue of the role of regional finance in the implementation of projects related to the NRRP alongside the Regions and, in particular, in stimulating the participation of private capital in addition to European and public capital through the use of alternative financial instruments (basket bonds and tranched cover).

Bernardo Mattarella, Managing Director of Mediocredito Centrale S.p.A., illustrated the role of financial institution for the development of Southern Italy, highlighting the need to make synergic use of funds and resources available for their effective allocation.

Andrea Bua, Head of Strategy, Coordination and Management Division DFI on behalf of Miguel Morgado, Director of Financing Operations, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Slovenia and Western Balkans of the European Investment Bank, spoke about the contribution of EIB to the design, implementation and co-financing of investments envisaged by the NRRP, highlighting the advantages of financial instruments co-financed by European funds.

Andrea Nuzzi, Head of Corporate and Financial Institutions of CDP explained the philosophy behind CDP's intervention in the context of NGEU and the 2021-2027 Multi-year Financial Framework, which follows the model of "blending" resources of financial and territorial, public and private stakeholders.

Finally, Marcel Roy, Secretary General of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB) presented the role and models of intervention of public banks in the implementation of instruments in the framework of the European Recovery Plan and InvestEU.

Sen. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Economic Development, concluded the day's work by recalling that "the Ministry of Economic Development has developed a set of projects, investments and reforms, which are specifically linked to the areas of intervention defined as priorities by the European Commission for the territorial economic development" and stressed that "NGEU is a country challenge that requires a qualitative leap to which know-how and tools contribute with the aim of ensuring financial, territorial, social and fiscal welfare as well as the revival of productivity and national competitiveness". 

moderator: Alberto Magnani, journalist at Il Sole24Ore

Link to the meeting documents: Click here