Equita strengthens its investment in the group’s corporate welfare plan

• The Group confirms its commitment to welfare initiatives to foster the education and wellbeing of its employees

Milan, 25th February 2021

Equita, the leading Italian independent investment bank, today unveiled its 2021 corporate welfare plan, confirming the Group’s commitment to invest in education and wellbeing initiatives for its employees as well as to attract new talents into the partnership.

Equita has always supported the development and wellbeing of its employees. The Group is strongly convinced that a stimulating work environment, supporting the wellbeing of all staff and their families, also facilitates a more productive and positive workplace, especially in the current circumstances. Equita is also incentivising staff loyalty and retention among all of its professionals, from the most senior to the most junior ones, by offering a competitive package of cash and non-cash benefits.

Stefania Milanesi, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer at Equita, commented: “At Equita, we are strongly committed to sustainable business practices. Corporate social responsibility is a cornerstone of our strategy and we will continue to put our people first, by investing in their competences and wellbeing”. Mrs Milanesi continued: “Our objective is to encourage Equita’s professionals to share the values and entrepreneurial spirit we have built over time, rewarding the most pro-active resources and supporting best talents”.

For the 2021 fiscal year, the Group renewed the “welfare”, “caring” and “education” initiatives that were put in place in the past. These initiatives include, inter alia:

Welfare

• A part of the Group’s Personnel Cost of approximately €1 million per year in the last two fiscal years is dedicated to non-cash services and benefits, allocated according to the individual needs of employees and in some cases available to the family members of the employee. These services include medical assistance and treatments, education and training, reimbursement of school expenses, recreational and leisure activities;
• Full diagnostic check-up for each employee, encouraging health prevention;
• Additional contribution to be paid by Equita in the event the employee has joined a supplementary pension scheme;
• One-to-one meetings and plenary sessions held by pension advisers to help Equita professionals, both junior and senior, to define their saving and retirement objectives and find the best pension solutions in light of their long-term objectives;
• Wide range of insurance cover, including policies for medical treatments and refunds of medical expenses incurred by employees and their close family, occupational and non-occupational accident policies, indemnities for employees in the event of serious illness and for family members in the event of death.

Caring

In 2021, the Group will continue to support its professionals to cope with the health emergency and prevent infections from Covid-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Equita has been very active to facilitate and support remote working and provide employees and their families with serological tests and rapid swabs to detect contagions. The Group has also entered into agreements with medical centres and clinics for the administration of pneumococcal and flu vaccines to its employees.

Education

The aim of education initiatives supported by Equita is to develop new skills and improve the efficiency and services offered by the Group. In the last three years, Equita provided more than 1,000 training hours in total to develop soft skills and career paths. In 2021, the education and training plan will include:

• Training programmes and in-house talks held by both Equita’s senior professionals and external consultants covering relevant topics in areas like legal, tax, accounting, regulation, fintech, financial markets and sustainability.
• Specific training programmes for each business unit, to develop vertical skills that are helpful to professionals to best serve clients;
• Training programmes to develop soft-skills, competences and methodologies to improve job efficiency;
• Job rotation programmes within the departments and divisions of the Group to enable young professionals to gain a better understanding of how the entire corporate machine works.

The initiatives and services mentioned above are only some of the key elements that make Equita stand out from the competition. The corporate welfare plan put in place by the Group is another clear evidence of Equita’s resolution to continue investing in the well-being of its employees, their education and professional growth.