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To learn more about sustainable finance you can contact us at:
ESG@iccrea.bcc.it

 

Sustainable finance pursues economic growth through financing that reduces pressures on the environment and takes into account social and governance aspects.

The BCC Iccrea Group is strongly committed to this type of growth, in continuity with the identity and historical values of BCCs and with the choice of building the “common good”.

The Group’s purpose is to serve as a banking engine of sustainable and socially inclusive change in the development models of local communities, with the aim of strengthening its social role, promoting a positive social impact, and fostering an ecological transition that leaves no one behind.

Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Frame​​work

In January 2025, BCC Banca Iccrea successfully completed the placement of its first Senior Preferred ‘green’ bond, worth €500 million, intended for institutional investors. The bond was issued in accordance with the Group's Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Framework 2024, which follows the ICMA's Green Bond Principles 2021, Social Bond Principles and Sustainability Bond Guidelines, and supports BCC Banca Iccrea's commitment to ESG. The Second Party Opinion was provided by S&P Global.

This emission marks BCC Banca Iccrea's first Green Bond - after previously issuing three Social Bonds since 2021 -and strengthens its commitment to sustainable finance. The proceeds will be allocated to the refinancing of green mortgages within the Green Buildings project category.

See the Framework and the Second Party Opinion

Read more about the issue of the Group's first Social Bond here

Read more about the Group's second Social Bond issue here

Read more about the Group's third Social Bond issue here

Read more about the Group's first Green Bond Senior Preferred here

The Group's Sustainability Policies

With specific reference to the area of so-called ‘sustainable finance’, the Group's policies aimed at integrating sustainability into the provision of investment services currently in force are:

  • the Group's Sustainability Policy, which is based on the concept of sustainable development, defined as a growth model capable of addressing the needs of present generations wit​hout compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This policy defines the principles and guidelines aimed at promoting the integration of ESG factors into the Group's business processes and sets out, in detail, the governance structure and sustainability management model. See the extract from the Group Sustainability Policy
  • the Group Product Management Policy, which provides for the inclusion and integration of ESG factors in Product Approval processes. The Policy aims to define the general principles, guidelines, roles and responsibilities of the functions involved in the Product Management model adopted by the Group and defines the operational procedures, the allocation of responsibilities and the actions necessary to ensure compliance with the relevant regulations, the preliminary assessment of the risks associated with the creation of new products and services, the modification of existing products and services, their marketing, and the continuous monitoring of both its own and third-party products and services;
  • the Group's Remuneration and Incentive Policy aims to ensure optimal alignment between the interests of shareholders, management and other stakeholders, linking corporate performance to sustainability. The policy provides for the inclusion of ESG criteria in the incentive system for top management, strengthening the correlation between variable remuneration and strategic actions related to sustainability. This includes prudent management of ESG risks, the promotion of an inclusive and gender-neutral corporate culture and sustainable finance objectives such as the development of green lending lines. In addition, training programs are planned for staff in relevant roles within the Group, with the aim of strengthening the integration of sustainability into corporate policies. Information on the consistency of remuneration policies with the integration of sustainability risks is included in the document on “Remuneration and Incentive Policies”, published annually on this website.

Statement on the consideration of the principal adverse impacts on sustainability factors in investment advice.

On 9 December 2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 was published (so-called SFDR - Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation), as supplemented by Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of 18 June 2020 (the “Taxonomy Regulation”), containing harmonised rules on the integration of sustainability risks and the consideration of adverse sustainability effects in investment and insurance decision-making and advice processes in order to strengthen the protection of and improve disclosure to end investors. The Regulation is aimed at developers of insurance/pension products or portfolio managers (“Financial Market Participants” or “Participants”) and firms providing investment or insurance advice (“Financial Advisers” or “Advisers”) who must disclose to end-investors how they integrate sustainability factors into their activities.

Moreover, on 25 July 2022 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1288 of 6 April 2022 was published, supplementing the SFDR with regulatory technical standards specifying among others the details of the content and method of presentation of information relating to the "do no significant harm" principle, the content, methods and manner of presentation of information relating to PAI indicators, the content and manner of presentation of information relating to the promotion of environmental or social characteristics and sustainable investment objectives in pre-contractual documents, on websites and in periodic reports.

Article 4 of the SFDR requires Financial Advisers to publish information on their websites indicating whether – taking due account of their size, the nature and scope of their activities and the type of financial products on which they provide advice – they take into account the main adverse effects on sustainability factors in their investment advice.

Principal Adverse Impacts on Sustainability (PAI) are understood to refer to “negative externalities” of economic activities, i.e. the effects of investment decisions and investment advice that lead to negative impacts on sustainability factors. The PAIs are listed in Delegated Regulation (EU) 1288/2022 and are differentiated into environmental PAIs and social PAIs and are divided into mandatory and supplementary.

Each individual Bank affiliated with the Group qualifies as a "Financial Adviser" under the SFDR Regulation insofar as it provides the service of investment advice.

(learn more about the Definitions).

Principal Adverse Impacts in investment advice

In assessing the negative effects on sustainability, the Group makes use of the information provided in this regard by the relevant infoprovider.

The Group takes the following PAIs into consideration when providing its advisory service.

With regard to UCITS, Insurance Investment Products (IBIPs) and so-called corporate issuers:

  • PAI 4 - Exposure to fossil fuel companies
  • PAI 7 - Activities adversely affecting biodiversity-sensitive areas
  • PAI 10 - Violations of the principles of the UN Global Compact and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) guidelines for multinational enterprises
  • PAI 14 - Exposure to controversial weapons (anti-personnel mines, cluster bombs, chemical and biological weapons)

With regard to government issuers:

  • PAI 15 - GHG intensity (sovereign issuers and international organisations)
  • PAI 16 - Countries benefiting from investments subject to social violations

As a general principle adopted by the Group, note that where there is insufficient information – from the relevant infoprovider or due to a lack of details on the underlying financial products (typically in the case of UCITS and IBIPs) – a financial product does not consider the principal adverse impacts on sustainability factors.

Integration of sustainability risks in the provision of investment services

In compliance with the new regulatory framework, BCC Iccrea Group is committed to contributing to sustainable economic development by favouring companies in its investment choices that adopt virtuous practices centred on the use of environmentally friendly production methods, on the guarantee of inclusive working conditions and attention to human rights and on the adoption of the best corporate governance standards.

More specifically, the Group pursues the objective of promoting awareness of ESG investments among stakeholders, encouraging the application of responsible investment principles and processes and avoiding investments that are not in line with the principles of ethics and integrity that underpin the Group's way of operating.​​​

For more information, consult the Sustainable Investment Disclosures which complement the Group's Sustainability Policy and set out the Group's commitment and guidelines on the integration of environmental, social and governance factors into decision-making processes in the provision of investment services and investment or insurance advice.​​​​​​​

What is meant by “financial education”?

Financial, insurance and pension education refers to the process by which people improve their understanding of financial instruments and products and develop the skills necessary to become more aware of financial risks and opportunities

(Italian Conversion Law no. 15, 17 February 2017, Article 24 bis)


Financial education has always been at the heart of the Cooperative Credit Banks' mission, a founding principle expressed in Article 2 of our banks' Articles of Association:

​“The Bank’s goal is to support its members and the members of the local communities...promoting the development of cooperation, savings and welfare educational programmes, social cohesion, responsible growth, and sustainable development of the local area in which it operates...”.

For the BCC Iccrea Group, supporting and promoting financial education is relevant in order to:

  • facilitate the inclusion, not only financial, of people in the communities in which they live;
  • lead to greater financial literacy, with a consequent improvement in individual and collective conditions from an economic, social and civil point of view;
  • enable the principles of mutual cooperation and responsible credit to be promoted;
  • complement school education, bringing students closer to the labour market, administrators and collaborators. ​

The Foundation for Financial and Savings Education was set up under the direction of the ABI, becoming operational in November 2014, with the aim of promoting financial education as a core skill of the public indispensable for making informed, aware economic choices in life.

The Foundation collaborates with public entities such as regional governments, regional school offices, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and private entities, mainly banks, with a strong focus on partnerships, offering programmes for schools featuring an array of subjects:

  • Economy and sustainability
  • Economic legality
  • Financial planning and savings
  • Job and entrepreneurship guidance
  • Electronic payments, fintech and sustainable finance

For its financial education project, the parent company decided to join FEduF as an ordinary participant, so as to give BCCs – already very active in their communities in the field of financial education – the opportunity to access FEduF's services and support.


“Finanza Epica!” (Epic Finance!), the cooperative and mutualist financial education programme run by Fondazione del Credito Cooperativo ETS


BCC Banca Iccrea participates, together with other institutions in the Group, in Fondazione del Credito Cooperativo ETS

The Foundation is a philanthropic, non-profit organisation registered in the Single National Register of the Third Sector. Its aim is to promote the values of cooperative credit, mutuality and social solidarity, also through training projects for young people and the community, focusing on financial education.

Around eighty banks in the BCC Iccrea Group are members of the Foundation.

Among the various projects launched by the Foundation there is ‘Finanza Epica! – Cooperative and mutualistic financial education’, an original financial education programme primarily for upper secondary school students, which integrates basic economic knowledge with the principles and values of cooperative finance (education on the responsible use of money, social participation, ‘geo-circular’ finance, etc.).

‘Finanza Epica!’ is the evolution of the pilot project called ‘Metto in conto il mio futuro’ (I'm counting on my future), which was carried out in the 2022/2023 school year and then continued in subsequent years.

‘Finanza Epica’ has a modular structure and currently consists of six lessons covering the following topics:

  • Civil economy
  • Savings and personal budgeting
  • Community banking
  • Circular economy
  • Electronic money and digital payments
  • Fraud

The teaching materials and, where applicable, the teaching services of the Foundation are available free of charge to member BCCs of the Foundation, subject to signing the relevant regulations.

For the BCC Iccrea Group, Financial Education is an important part of its sustainability strategy, as it is a tool to empower society and bring people closer to the world of cooperative credit. For years, the BCCs belonging to the Group, each in its own area, have been promoting financial education for young people, shareholders, customers and communities in cooperation with schools, universities, associations and local authorities. It's about hundreds of initiatives that take place every year all over the country reported on a dedicated portal set up by the Group to help users make informed choices, explaining how payment instruments work and what to look out for before signing, as well as discussing pensions, insurance and sustainable finance.

Find out more​​​​

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