Poste italiane
Poste Italiane S.p.A. is the Italian postal service provider. Besides providing postal services, Gruppo Poste Italiane offers integrated communication, postal savings products, logistics, financial and insurance services throughout Italy.
History
1862–1990
Law no. 604 of 5 May 1862,, created a national and centralised organisation for postal service by introducing a unique general fee to pay for services, postal stamps, throughout the entire territory of the newly formed kingdom of Italy. Subsequently, with Royal Decree 5973 of 10 March 1889, the Directorate General of Posts and Telegraphs was separated from the Ministry of Public Works and thus turned into the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. It was commissioned to create a network of offices in Italy to forward and receive mail and telegrams, make and receive telephone calls, carry out financial transactions and manage assets. It also worked as branch offices for the nascent electric services for a time.The giro service,, was founded in 1917. In 1924, during the Fascist period, the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs was renamed Ministry of Communications becoming an important centre of power. The services network was expanded with the acquisition and implementation of new logistics facilities. New buildings in Functionalist style were built in the major cities.
With the development of telephony and radio communications, the Ministry incorporated the State Company for Telephone Services and the nascent EIAR.
1990–2000
In the early 1990s, the Italian public administration and postal service were deemed irrecoverable in terms of efficiency and profitability. The budget deficit increased personnel costs, which in 1986 absorbed about 93% of the current revenue. From 1970 to 1985 employees’ productivity was reduced by 24% at the expense of the quality of services provided, generating an ever more critical deficit situation.In 1994, in, the regular average of delivered daily mail after dispatch was almost 80%, while in Italy the comparable statistic was less than 20%. In 1989, the average time for mail delivery was 8.5 days.
An attempt was made to contain the obvious gap in the quality of Italian postal service compared to the rest of Europe, with Decree-Law no. 487 of 1 December 1993, converted by law no. 71 of 29 January 1994. This led to the transformation of the Italian Post Office from an independent company into a public business, with the additional step to SpA being taken in 1996, by increasing revenues from the sale of services to the PA and by reordering the tariff system, thus achieving a net profit by 2001.
In February 1998, the Ministry of the Treasury appointed Corrado Passera, as the CEO of the newly formed Italian Poste SpA. The business plan implemented by Corrado Passera from 1998 to 2002 cut staff by 22,000 units.
On the other hand, according to some trade union leaders, there was a casualization of contracts for new recruits, cases of widespread harassment and resignation because of workload due to the excess staff cuts.
The Solidarity Fund was used for saving on labour costs as well as lowering the average age of the staff. The last two years of missing contributions from employees taking early retirement were paid for by a deduction in payroll for the new employees for 10 years. The company offsets these losses replacing them by recruiting many young workers under the age of under 24 and giving them three-year apprenticeship contracts.
2000–2010
In 2000, the Italian Post Office, through its subsidiary SDA Express Courier, acquired 20% of the share capital of the Bartolini company and officially formed the Consortium Logistics and Parcels with the three major companies for the sorting of parcels in the country. This agreement was also the subject of a challenge by the rival companies in court, but it ended in favour of the Consortium.Poste Italiane has also adopted a control system for monitoring in real time all the post offices, the logistics network and the security of digital communications and transactions working with the Italian government, international agencies, universities and research centres.
The importance of financial products and services, such as the Postepay prepaid card, has been increasing in the last few years. Postepay, first introduced in 2003, achieved great success, especially among young people, gaining and maintaining first position at European level in pre-paid cards sector.
2010–present
In 2011, Poste Italiane acquired UniCredit MedioCredito Centrale for €136 million.On 16 May 2014, the Italian government approved the stakes sale of up to 40 percent in Poste Italiane.
The company was forced to close 455 offices in 2015 due to low profit according to the Poste Italiane Spa CEO Francesco Caio’s decision. Today, as underlined by CEO Matteo Del Fante in November 2018, the company’s intention is to preserve post offices and take specific measures for smaller Italian cities].
The Ministry of Economy and Finance, which now owns 64.696% of Poste Italiane Spa, sold about 35% of shares on Borsa Italiana. On 25 May 2016, a further 35% stake was transferred from the ministry to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, making it the minority shareholder of the national investment bank. This has given it equity in stakes for Poste Italiane, but has also diluted its voting rights in CDP.
Financial services
One of the main business of the company is BancoPosta, a division within Poste Italiane SpA, which acts as a distribution platform providing postal savings services.The bank division, known as BancoPosta ring-fenced capital reserve, in the balance sheet, had total assets of €56,969,835,924 as at 31 December 2014. If BancoPosta was a separate company, it would see the bank ranked as the 10th largest bank by total assets. Cariparma, which ranked as the 10th in the survey by Ricerche e Studi, had total assets of €50,296,831,000 as at 31 December 2014, despite the fact that the list also omitted some banks before Cariparma.
BancoPosta is mainly engaged in the management of the banking book, promotion and management of the postal savings instruments issued by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, transaction banking services, promotion and distribution, through its own distribution platform, of financial products issued by third parties or other group companies.
As concerns asset management, BancoPosta Fondi SGR manages open-ended mutual investment funds, Eurozone sovereign bonds and corporate bonds.
Postal services
Mail delivery, logistics, parcels and express delivery, have always been a key part of Poste Italiane's identity and also includes Italy's Universal Postal Service. In 2018, Poste Italiane handled approximately 3 billion items of mail and 127 million parcels, In the Deliver 2022 Plan in 2018, the company launched the new Joint Delivery model, which has redesigned the service by introducing afternoon and weekend deliveries and focused on modernising the fleet, by making it more environmentally-friendly with the introduction of 345 fully electric, three-wheeled scooters, with greater load capacity to facilitate parcel delivery in cities and improve occupational safety. The evolution of e-commerce logistics has led to the creation of PuntoPoste, the new accessible network that complements the network of over 12,800 post offices, enabling the collection and return of online purchases and the sending of pre-franked or prepaid parcels. In 2018, 417 PuntoPoste points were already operating, and the network will be expanded to include 3,500 units in 2019.Payments, mobile and digital services
Following the new opportunities created by the European Payment Services Directive ], in force as of January 2018, Poste Italiane decided to bring together payment, mobile and digital services under a single unit. The new division takes over the mobile phone operations of PosteMobile] and continues to be a provider of digital services for the Public Sector as an Identity Provider through the PosteID digital identity service, accredited by the Public Digital Identity System. The Company is also a partner of PagoPA, the electronic payments system of the Public Sector.Insurance
Poste Italiane operates in the insurance business through PosteVita and Poste Assicura, offering life and casualty insurance products. Poste Vita additionally offers investment and savings products through BancoPosta distribution platform.Ethical Code
In April 2018, Poste Italiane defined its new Ethical Code, with a view to updating and extending the principles and rules of conduct to be followed in its relations with all of its stakeholders, with particular regard to its suppliers, partners, market, and shareholders.Sustainability
In 2018 Poste Italiane defined a new sustainability strategy by adopting an ESG strategic plan consisting of objectives that concern integrity and transparency, staff development, support for the region and the country, customer experience, decarbonisation of buildings and logistics and sustainable finance.Poste Italiane has adhered to the Principles for Responsible Investments and the Principles for Sustainable Insurance promoted by the United Nations for the dissemination of a sustainable culture in investment and insurance policies.
The company also obtained the ISO 37001: 2016 certification for anti-corruption.