Corporate Banking

During the course of 2005, the activity of the Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato in the field of consultancy for enterprises was furthe consildated.

Our Bank provides for this imporatnt area of activity not only with the internal structures of the Credits Area, but also with a specific office, the Investment Banking and Shareholding Office, whose aim is to offer enterprises a series of services, from technological evaluation of industrial plans to the possibility of raising venture capital to sustain their development, though this is generally reserved by banks of larger dimensions for customers of greater standing.

Substantially, the Bank's aim is to become increasingly a professional operator, close to the requirements of the enterprises present in the traditional territory of operations, and to propose itself as a competitive interlocutor for the corporate customers of the new area of operations.

Our strategy, theerfore, continued also last year, in accordance with the guidelines already defined in the previous industrial plan, and found its fulfilment in the realisation of practical solutions to finance new projects and/or situations of generational transition in customer enterprises, with the technical definition of loans, such as the participative load, created in response to these requirements.

In view of the practical application of the parameters laid down by Basle 2, our Bank has concentrated, and is continuing to concentrate its efforts on the definition of informational and professional models, in order to make the most of the potential that these new regulations may offer.

In this perspective, our company rating project is continuing: this is divided into three parts, trends, statistics and quality, and will allow us to monitor objectively the trend of relationship with our customers, and their correct pricing.

The Credits Area of the Bank has continued to work for the implementation of the regulations contained in Basle 2, and the underlying rating project, in order to obtain evaluations of credit merit as close as possible to the reality of enterprises, and decide the trend of economic conditions, while respecting the customers' 'real target'.

We also wish to promote a greater visbility of the Bank for its own customers, and to succeed in achieving a function of 'global consultancy' for all problems, of enterprises or otherwise, as well as extending sales, in purely commerical terms, by helping customers to see the typical quality of our offer, pointing out its key factors of differentiation with respect to competitors.

In the segment of enterpises, opportunities for business have been linked to recently launched innovative products, such as 'Carismi Impresa', Carismi Green' and the 'Corporate Promotions' and to traditional products (leasing, factoring and co-guaranteed loads), which still have ample possilibities of distribution, both of the web and on the market.