The tourism sector in South Tyrol attracts over 50 million visitors each year. Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano wants to support more businesses operating in this important sector. To help costumers remain competitive and comply with national and international sustainability standards, Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano offers a wide range of financial services in northeast Italy.

“Our goal is to help clients become sustainable, modernise their facilities and improve mobility in a sustainable way,” says Robert Negri, the financial srvices director for SMEs at Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano, one of the largest independent savings banks in Italy and the first bank in South Tyrol. An EIB loan for €80 million is enabling the Italian bank to open up finance to more SMEs by making it easier to get loans, adds Negri.

Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano serves private individuals and companies at more than 100 branches across northeast Italy, with over 1 200 employees. Negri and his team worked with EIB Advisory to devise a financial product that helps the tourism industry and other sectors in the region. The region also wants to make transport more sustainable and modernise infrastructure to make it safer to travel.

“We want to accompany entrepreneurs in their green transition with our green financial products that target energy efficiency, sustainable transport, waste collection and tourism services,” says Lorenzo Miola, a subsidised finance advisor at Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano.

After signing the loan with the EIB, Negri and his colleagues had a lot of questions about the Bank’s criteria for green investments, and about the EU taxonomy. To answer these questions, EIB Loan Officer Guido Vezzani put Negri in contact with EIB Advisory. “I recommend that all my intermediary clients work with my colleagues in EIB Advisory,” says Vezzani, “to better understand our eligibility requirements and to deploy loans faster to projects and companies.”

The advisory assistance Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano received under the Green Gateway initiative included workshops and bespoke training modules, as well as guidance materials. This helped Cassa di Risparmio staff identify eligible green investments, and then apply these green criteria across their portfolios. EIB Advisory also provided training on devising more financing products targeting green investments, such as loans for sustainable agriculture and energy efficiency in hotels and other sectors.

“Working with EIB Advisory helped us make sense of a complex regulatory environment related to climate action and environmental sustainability,” Negri says. “Being able to call up advisory experts, and having access to checklists for data collection, guidance materials and specific training on the Green Checker and the EIB’s green eligibility requirements, was invaluable. Our lending officers can now accurately identify green projects, faster.”

One of Negri’s clients is Simobil, a bus company operating in the Alto Adige region. Initially, Negri and his team didn’t think the company’s loan application for new buses was eligible for green EIB financing. During training by advisory experts, however, it became evident that this application could indeed qualify as green.

“Simobil was a great example of this type of collaboration,” says Erica Berta, a financial advisor in EIB Advisory. “We guided the staff of Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano in identifying and assessing data on the emission standards of Simobil’s buses and their planned usage, unlocking financing of over €4.5 million for the company’s green development.”