Innovation at Intesa Sanpaolo

Intesa Sanpaolo is nominated in the Transformative Innovator of the Year category at the Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2024. We asked the bank to present its strategy and actions in terms of innovation.

Why do you consider your company a Global Transformative Innovator?

Innovation plays a crucial role in our Industrial Plan (2022-2025), as key factor for Digital Transformation. An Innovation dedicated Department has started up in 2014. Innovation is pervasive and embedded in overall day by day Bank’s activities, impacting business and operational models, regulatory mandates and governance, till ESG customer’s business scoring and workplace (e.g.: reskilling internal resources to face the new technological challenges coming). We launched: 

• Isybank, an innovative Bank with fully digital customer experience, supported by a native in cloud technology, in partnership with a fintech company.

• AIxeleration a program to spread A.I. adoption across overall Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

Moreover, we established market standards in Balance Sheet ESG evaluation with Innovative approach (tools and processes). Currently Chief Transformation & Organisation Officer leverages upon “Innovation & Processes” Department to facilitate Bank’s digital transformation. So far “Global” for us is across our banking business and over.

How is a culture of innovation achieved across your company?

Innovation Culture is pervasive in our environment, flowing both directions: bottom-up and top-down. Top down we have a Committee coordinating strategy and innovation. Bottom down we have several tools and methodological approaches. We have active collaboration with Academic Organizations and manage with them Webinar and Workshops over different innovative topics. Bank has a cooperation agreement with foreign Embassy to share initiatives and ideas cross countries. We organize periodic meetings with Business Units C-levels and Government Areas, periodic meetings with Executives of Business Units and Government Areas, workshops dedicated to specific topics (e.g.: Gen. AI, Digital Attackers, Metaverse…), TRIBEs involving employees in discussing innovative topics, weekly Innovation Newsletter, events with Fintech companies to discover new innovative ideas in the market of Fintech. An internal Innovation Observatory provides periodical reports, painting a clear understanding of trends in technologies and business models, in order to spread Innovation Culture and Market Trends.

What are the major goals and results obtained from your ongoing innovation strategy?

AIxeleration program in a pervasive approach will release 150 use cases EOY 2025, involving all Business Owners and Governance Areas, creating a Unit of 300 A.I. specialists.

• Smart Knowledge Base Gen A.I. (Qorus June24 award winner): 1) 4.5/5 agents enthusiastic user; 2) 85% Minimum accuracy

• Digital Market Risk, with innovative AI, changed Risk Management parameters landscape; good errors avoiding and resources releasemployed better-quality job.

• eMail Dispatching Project, AI powered, increased response quality to customers queries and mistakes reduction with time savings and customer satisfaction.

• increase Innovation/Cybersecurity PODCASTS reached internal and external audience: >150K total listeners since go-live: average of 3K daily listeners. YouTube 153.690 streams. Audience 40% women; 60% men; age 25 - 44y. E2E Digital processes transformation activities released innovative new processes. (procurement processes, onboarding, hereditary succession, account closing, …). Activities leverage both on Artificial Intelligence / Robotic Process Automation and on traditional reengineering.

How does your company manage the overall innovation process?

We have an innovation management process that flow from our Innovation & Processes Dept to all our Business Owners through Bank’s Business Depts and back. It means that an “Innovation need” could flow from a Business Owner, having a need to solve a business need, asking Innovation Dept for screening possible solutions. Or vice versa a trend, a process a pure innovation could flow from Innovation Dept to Business Owners. From this idea we can propose to some BO to work together and through our Innovation Laboratory create a Sandbox for testing innovation implementation. We can translate an idea, from experimental phase to “live production project” supporting the whole process with a matrix organisation.