Design together | Poste Italiane

DESIGN

together

We are aware that only through a constant and concrete commitment to achieving common goals and shared values with our stakeholders can we grow together and face new challenges of sustainable development.

Stakeholder engagement

External environment - Risks, opportunities and integrated Risk management model

Poste Italiane has always been committed to listening to the needs of its stakeholders and to building solid bonds of trust and transparency with them in outlining and consolidating its sustainability strategy, aimed at preventing and minimising any negative impacts and promoting positive ones. This contributes to the achievement of a good reputation in the social context in which it operates, with a consequent increase in value and benefits for shareholders, customers and employees.

As a starting point, the Company carefully mapped the categories of stakeholder it relates with during the course of its activities, identifying in particular, those stakeholders mostly involved who may affect the achievement of strategic objectives and those who may be affected by them.

This mapping was carried out in accordance with the international AA1000-Stakeholder Engagement Standard (SES). As a result of this activity, seven macro-categories of stakeholder were identified: shareholders and investors, local communities (trade associations, media, academia), customers (consumer associations), the Public Sector and the authorities (regulators, Fondimpresa), suppliers (business partners), personnel (Poste Italiane people, labour unions) and the environment.

The following table shows the stakeholder macro-categories identified, with a brief description of engagement and communication methods provided for each category.

Poste Italiane’s stakeholder engagement methods

Stakeholder category	Principal engagement methods
Shareholders and investors	Shareholders’ meetings; Corporate Governance Report; Financial relations and Periodic presentations; Road shows and dedicated meetings; The Company’s corporate website; Press releases.
Customers	Customer experience systems; Periodic customer satisfaction surveys.
Personnel	Internal communication tools (intranet, newsletters, mailshots, Postenews, etc.); Internal and external events for staff; Periodic meetings; First- and second-level bargaining; Periodic staff satisfaction surveys.
Suppliers and business partners	Dedicated meetings.
The Public Sector and authorities	Conferences; Dedicated meetings; Corporate communication; Periodic communications; Organisation of events.
Local communities	Community projects; Partnerships; Press releases; Sponsorships; Donations; Dialogue with local authorities; Contacts during the launch of relevant projects, Publication of documents, Interviews, Events.
Environment	Press releases; Dedicated events; Partnerships; Collaborations; Conferences.

Materiality and impact

External environment - Risks, opportunities and integrated Risk management model

The materiality matrix represented below identifies the eighteen most relevant and necessary issues to ensure an understanding of the company’s activities, their performance and their economic, social and environmental impacts. The order of priority of the issues has been defined taking into account two aspects: strategic relevance for the Company and perceived relevance for stakeholders.

The impacts relating to the material topics identified are entirely generated by the organisation, with the exception of the “Environmental impacts of logistics” and “Occupational health and safety” topics, which also derive from the activities of suppliers who work on a significant portion of the Group’s operations on behalf of Poste Italiane.

Poste Italiane Group’s materiality matrix

Personal
- Staff welfare and wellbeing
- Relations with social partners
- Occupational health and safety
- Equal career development opportunities
- Staff training and development
Company
- Legality and incorporation of ESG criteria within procurement processes
- Financial inclusion
- Quality and customer experience
- Innovation and digitisation of products, services and processes
- Cybersecurity, IT security and privacy
- Support for the socio-economic development of local communities
- Dialogue and transparency in relations with the authorities
Human right
- Protection of human rights
Environment
- Environmental impacts of real estate facilities
- Environmental impacts of logistics
Corruption
- Integrity and transparency
Transversal
- Integration of ESG factors into investment policies
- Integration of ESG factors into insurance policies

Description of material topics

Material topics	What this means for Poste Italiane
Integrity and transparency	Prepare appropriate internal control measures and spread a corporate culture within the organisation based on integrity, professional ethics and honesty in order to build trusting relationships with its stakeholders and conduct its activities cor- rectly and transparently in every single operation, especially in combating active and passive corruption.
Quality and customer experience	Respect implementation deadlines and procedures for activities (level of service and performance) and provide customers with a quality experience that goes beyond making use of a traditional product or service. In addition, build a relationship of trust by activating customer engagement channels to be always informed on customers' expectations, needs and satis- faction regarding products and services offered, and the correct management of complaints.
Staff training and development	Guarantee our staff ongoing development of their knowledge and skills and the opportunity to reach their full potential through training courses aimed at ensuring growth and strengthening of know-how in line with the needs they and the market have expressed, also with a view to better managing business and organisational changes.
Support for the socioeconomic development of local communities	Contribute to Italy's socio-economic wellbeing through direct, indirect and induced impacts in local areas (e.g. in terms of GDP and employment), and initiate or support social activities that respond to the needs expressed by society, including those identified through dialogue and collaboration with the third sector.
Dialogue and transparency in relations with the authorities	Promote systematic and transparent dialogue with national and local authorities, based on a quest for shared solutions that enables responding to communities' social needs, positively affecting the social fabric in the areas in which the Company operates and, at the same time, increasing competitiveness and business continuity.
Occupational health and safety	Safeguard our people's health, safety and psychophysical integrity, also in terms of workplace quality, and foster the development of a robust in-company culture in compliance with the highest national and international standards in this regard.
Environmental impacts of logistics	Monitor the environmental impact of logistics activities and encourage a process of change aimed at safeguarding the environment by adopting lower-impact solutions regarding the provision of postal and logistics services, including: the use of hybrid/electric vehicles, rationalisation of distances travelled, correct waste management, and development of recharging infrastructure for customers' vehicles.
Integration of ESG factors into investment policies	Incorporate ESG aspects within the investment process in order to better manage non-financial risks and consider new investment opportunities that also support sustainable development and a low-carbon future.
Integration of ESG factors into insurance policies	Incorporate ESG aspects within insurance policies, insurance product development strategies and customer communications.
Innovation and digitisation of products, services and processes	Contribute to the modernisation of Italy and digital and technological evolution through the development of new products and services and the adoption of digital technologies to be incorporated into products, services and business processes, in order to be ready to respond to changes in scenario, new customer needs and opportunities offered by social and environmental changes.
Protection of human rights	Guarantee the protection of human rights and the promotion of non-discriminatory behaviours within the Group, including through compliance with recognised standards, incorporation of the risk of violation within the Group's risk assessment model, and valorisation of diversity elements (in terms of differences in age, gender, knowledge and experience) which foster the development of a "corporate culture" and a response to new challenges and market opportunities.
Staff welfare and wellbeing	Provide staff with modern, flexible working tools and models that respond to specific personal needs and ensure work-life balance (e.g. agile working initiatives, improved maternity and paternity arrangements, the provision of benefits in the field of healthcare, etc.).
Relations with social partners	Consider dialogue with staff and labour union representatives as essential in finding shared solutions relating to issues that can have significant impacts on the organisation, the business and above all human capital, a vital corporate asset for the Company.
Cybersecurity, IT security and privacy	Guarantee the privacy of customers' data, protect intellectual property and provide an effective management system for IT security and cybersecurity in order to ensure business continuity, protect the information assets of the Company, customers and other stakeholders, and the security of transactions.
Legality and incorporation of ESG criteria within the procurement processes	Procurement processes based on pre-contractual and contractual behaviours aimed at achieving complete respect of legality and transparency, and adoption of selection, assessment and monitoring criteria to measure the social and environmental performance of suppliers, in order to guarantee high levels of functionality and quality for supplies and mitigate ESG risks.
Environmental impacts of real estate facilities	Spread a culture of respect for the environment and adopt concrete solutions for the efficient management of energy resources, water resources and waste, from a circular economy standpoint. For example, procurement of renewable energy, installation of renewable energy production plants, building efficiency projects, organisation of separate waste collection, etc.
Financial inclusion	Extend the financial products and services offering to traditionally excluded categories, in order to guarantee access to services that are essential for economic livelihoods, and make the customer purchasing experience more aware via financial education initiatives, especially with regard to savings, investment, payments, pensions and insurance.
Equal career development opportunities	Ensure equal opportunities in the development of individual careers, by promoting career development paths for all employees regardless of their personal characteristics (age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, nationality, political opinions and religious beliefs) in accordance with the principles of impartiality and non-discrimination.

Poste Italiane Group’s impact matrix

Integrity and transparency

Sustainable finance

Support for local communities and the country

Diversity and inclusion

Decarbonisation of real estate and logistics

Innovation

Customer experience

People development

Strategy

Strategy and Business model

To be sustainable for Poste Italiane means defining a clear strategy on ESG issues and structurally incorporating them within the strategic objectives set in the Deliver 2022 Plan¹. Over the period of the plan, the Company has envisaged €2.8 billion of investment in strategic assets, in order to achieve financial objectives based on realistic assumptions, with limited execution risk.

¹ The financial and operating objectives shown in the tables refer to 2022.

MAIL, PARCELS AND DISTRIBUTION

The Mail, Parcels and Distribution segment has been reorganised to serve the growth of e-commerce. In order to increase the market share of Parcel delivery, the Company reached an agreement with labour unions regarding an innovative delivery operating model (Joint Delivery Model), which provides for afternoon and weekend deliveries. Furthermore, the partnership signed with Amazon in June 2018 marks another fundamental step in the implementation of the plan. Finally, investments will be made in new sorting and automation technologies to support the development of the division. In this context, Poste Italiane has also signed a framework collaboration agreement with the Italian Tobacconists’ Federation, which provides for tobacconists operating as pick-up points for mail and parcels. In addition, partnerships with innovative companies in the fields of logistics (sennder) and last mile delivery (Milkman) were finalised in 2019.

FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES	OPERATING OBJECTIVES
Revenue: €3.5 billion (2017: €3.6 billion), with an increase in revenue from the Parcels segment, and easing of the decline in the Mail segment. Parcels segment: €1.2 billion (2017: €0.7 billion). EBIT: operating break-even expected (down €0.1 billion).	Implementation of the new delivery operating model. Parcels delivered by letter carriers: over 100 million (2017: 35 million). B2C parcels market share: 40% (2017: 30%). CAPEX to support the transformation: approximately €0.5 billion in the period 2018-2022.

PAYMENTS, MOBILE AND DIGITAL

From October 2018, the Payments, Mobile and Digital segment, together with PostePay, has been authorised by the Bank of Italy to operate as an Electronic Money Institution in line with the Plan’s objectives. Operating as an internal fintech, it enables full advantage to be taken of the growing convergence between market segments. This division also serves as a competence centre for the implementation of the Group’s digital strategy.

FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES	OPERATING OBJECTIVES
Revenue: €0.8 billion (2017: €0.6 billion). Payment card revenue: €0.4 billion (2017: €0.2 billion). EBITDA: €0.2 billion (2017: €0.2 billion), with CAGR of 1%.	Total expected PostePay portfolio of 18.3 million cards issued. Expected card transactions as CAGR up 12%, to reach €1.6 billion.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Regarding Financial Services, the model focuses on the distribution of third-party products without credit risk, controlled by a distribution platform. The model aims at promoting sustainable growth, through a more efficient allocation of capital and a wider range of products. Important steps in the implementation of the Plan include the renewal of the postal savings agreement signed at the end of 2017 with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the three-year distribution agreement signed in April 2018 with Intesa Sanpaolo, the agreement with UniCredit regarding the distribution of loans, and reaching in March 2018 a series of agreements with the Anima Group regarding closer cooperation for savings management services. In 2019, reached an agreement with Moneyfarm for the distribution of PosteMoney Investimenti to customers of Poste Italiane. The agreement with Tink, on the other hand, supports Poste Italiane with opportunities from open banking, resulting from a constantly evolving context determined by the new PSD2 regulation.

FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES	OPERATING OBJECTIVES
Revenue: €4.9 billion (2017: €5.0 million), maintaining stable turnover and, at the same time, reducing the importance of capital gains (down to zero in 2022, from over €0.5 billion in 2017). EBIT: €0.7 billion (2017: €0.6 billion). Common Equity Tier 1 Capital: 19%.	Total financial assets: a rise to €581 billion from €506 billion in 2017, in line with market growth and increased penetration of life products and mutual funds. Customers followed by a dedicated consultant: 45-55% (2017: 7%).

INSURANCE SERVICES

In its Insurance Services, Poste Italiane aims to maintain its leadership in the life sector by rebalancing its customer portfolios and shifting from traditional life policies to unit-linked products. The objective is also to achieve significant growth in P&C and private pension plans.

FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES	OPERATING OBJECTIVES
Revenue: €1.9 billion (2017: €1.5 billion). EBIT: €0.9 billion (2017: €0.8 billion). Net profit: 4% CAGR in the period 2017-2022. Solvency ratio: 203%.	Gross premium revenue: €20.7 billion (2017: €20.3 billion). Distribution of P&C policies: over 2 million new contracts per year (2017: 0.4 million) as a result of a distribution model that completes the insurance product offering.

The structural integration of sustainability elements into corporate policies, processes and long-term strategy continued in 2019 and is an established feature of Poste Italiane’s business model.

Evidence of this approach, also in the 2020 incentive scheme, is the assignment of sustainability goals to the Chief Executive Officer/General Manager and consistently, to all key management personnel, the Head of BancoPosta, the Head of Internal Auditing and the heads of the various functions. Moreover, sustainability objectives are monitored and analysed as part of the Group’s risk management process using a specific Group GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) platform.

ESG Strategic Plan

Strategy and Business model

Poste Italiane’s ESG Strategic Plan is based on 8 key sustainability Pillars in the ESG areas relevant for the Group. This year, in consideration of the importance given during the Multi-stakeholder Forum to the issues related to innovation, diversity and inclusion, two new Pillars related to these issues were introduced. The Company is committed to achieving specific actions and objectives under each pillar for the proper management of material issues. These objectives have been identified also with reference to the targets set at global level by the United Nations in the Sustainable Development Objectives and the contribution offered by Poste Italiane for their achievement.