AMCO for financial education for corporates
AMCO ALONGSIDE CONFINDUSTRIA VENETO EST AND UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION FOR CORPORATES
First event in Padova focused on optimal leverage management, new forms of financing, climate and transition risk. About 70 entrepreneurs attended.
Padova, 30 November 2023. The first event dedicated to financial education for corporates organised by AMCO – Asset Management Company in collaboration with Confindustria Veneto Est and the of the University of Padova – Department of Economic and Business Science “Marco Fanno” was held in Padova, in the “Antico Archivio” hall of Palazzo Bo. About 70 entrepreneurs from the Veneto region attended the event entitled “Corporate financing between Sustainability and Fintech”.
Increasing corporates’ financial information is a target of the GSSE Sustainability Strategy defined in AMCO’s Sustainability Plan. AMCO, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance is among the leading players in the management of impaired loans. Among its various Sustainability goals, AMCO is committed to promote financial education initiatives to strengthen entrepreneurs’ skills. Today’s event focused on the topics of optimal leverage management, new forms of financing and impacts of ESG transition on corporates’ financial structure.
According to a Bank of Italy1 survey, 12.4% of Italian corporates have financial skills: the level is lower especially among less educated entrepreneurs and among those heading companies with less than 5 employees.
As for the impacts of climate risks on economic activity and credit risk, research by Fondazione Nord Est2 shows a close correlation between corporates’ sustainability, their profitability and capital strength (debt/equity ratio). Being sustainable, in fact, reduces firms’ financial costs.
«Today we inaugurate, in Veneto, a journey of business training that we hope will be enriched with new occasions. I thank the partners who have supported us in this important goal. For AMCO, raising awareness among companies about good leverage management and the impacts of the ESG transition on businesses and corporate financial structure means contributing to debt sustainability in the Italian system» explains Andrea Munari, AMCO CEO.
«We thank AMCO for this opportunity to collaborate on the territory on a topic that our Association has considered a strategic area for many years. Our goal is continues to be to push the evolution of corporate financial culture, moving beyond the perception of the area from a merely “accounting” function to one with strategic, neuralgic, pulsating content, central to the optimal operation of the company. It is essential to understand its function as the “guardian” of the value and continuity of the company itself. Our mission is to work alongside members on this evolutionary journey, helping them on the one hand to be aware of their financial “health”, and on the other to accompany them in adopting increasingly innovative and advanced management tools and procedures» said Leopoldo Destro, President of Confindustria Veneto Est
«We joined with enthusiasm AMCO’s initiative aimed at enhancing financial literacy of small and medium-sized enterprises. These initiatives are important opportunities to foster an increasingly close dialogue between universities and business. In the Department of Economic and Business Sciences “Marco Fanno” we believe it is necessary to invest precisely in this direction; we are multiplying our efforts to favor a fruitful exchange between scientific research and management» said Paola Valbonesi, Director of the Department of Economic and Business Science “Marco Fanno” of the University of Padova. After the initial greetings by Andrea Munari CEO of AMCO, Paola Valbonesi, Director of the Department of Economic and Business Science “Marco Fanno” at the University of Padova and Leopoldo Destro President of Confindustria Veneto Est, the program of the day, included speeches by, in order, the following speakers: Luciano Giovanni Greco, professor of Financial Science at the University of Padova; Fabio Buttignon professor of Corporate Finance at the University of Padova; Patrizia Bussoli expert in Digital Finance for Sustainability and Inclusion, Partner of Bea Finance SCF; and Carlo Carraro, president (rector) emeritus, professor of Environmental Economics at Ca’ Foscari and IPCC vice-president. Among the topics addressed: the impacts of the macro-economic scenario on corporates’ financial structure, leverage and debt restructuring methods, innovative forms of financing and fintech, and the impacts of corporate ESG strategies in the interlocution with the bank and on the cost of debt.
1 “L’alfabetizzazione finanziaria degli italiani”, Bank of Italy 2020
2 “Strategie di sostenibilità ambientale e sociale: focus sulle imprese del Nordest”, Fondazione Nord Est December 2020
