We work in the present so that tomorrow is better and can be confidently lived. I am convinced that in our sector, responsible management is also the premise on which long-term success is built.

I am referring, for example, to the relationship with the customer, which very often lasts a very long time, sometimes decades. The most authentic core of this daily work is to
support and advise current and potential customers when they choose us as their reference company, or approach us for their safety and protection needs.

But we also know that an increasing number of people are sensitive to the way in which, as an economic player, Cattolica conducts its business and makes its contribution to the development of society, the territory and to the protection of the environment.

The ultimate base of our action must therefore lie in a system of modern values and founding principles that are often, and rightly, referred to in the Non-Financial Statement; operating in a sustainable and responsible manner is only a natural corollary of this value structure.

Social responsibility must first and foremost be expressed in our core business: insurance products and solutions that help people and businesses implement their projects and make them feel safe and protected.

However, we want to go beyond this and take initiatives that go over and above the scope of institutional operations.

We do this by offering various forms of support to projects that promote the centrality of the person and his/her development, both inside and outside the Group.

Every year we compare ourselves to that which has been achieved in the past, and above all, what we are able to do: this is how we contribute to the common good with transparency, comparability and evaluability.

And once again the Sustainability Report is the synthetic but exhaustive representation of the initiatives that Cattolica has implemented, as well as the constant dialogue with stakeholders who have growing expectations of us.

Those who know me well know how much importance I have always given to the relationship and ties that Cattolica can and must establish with the reference territories.

I believe that the success of future models of society an business must be sought in innovation, in the ability to rethin products and services, but also in forms of social coexistence that are more attentive to people.

It is a concept of sustainability that is measured in the cohesion of a community and in the quality of life of all its members, no one excluded. I am convinced that a cooperative like Cattolica is in a privileged position and internally has all the ethical, human and managerial qualities to assume this responsibility.

Paolo Bedoni

It is an effort that focuses on the concepts of change and transformation, on the updating of products and services, but also on the ways in which individuals work and feel like part of a large organisation. I believe that the ability to inspire and motivate people is still one of the most important human and managerial qualities, decisive for anyone who wants to harmonise their individual ethics with the social responsibility of the company in which they operate.

I believe that trust - and therefore the ability to generate and spread trust - is one of the essential ingredients of a concept of sustainability that goes beyond the achievement of one or more measurable objectives, however important and worthwhile, and has the ambition instead of carrying out a cultural transformation within companies and civil society.

Almost all recent studies in the area of social responsibility show that people trust companies less and at the same time demand greater efforts and results from them. Sustainability becomes a non-negotiable aspect for customers and consumers, a value that an organisation must be quite able to demonstrate in the field.

The new Code of Corporate Governance of listed companies which will enter into force in 2021 has fully implemented the emerging issues on these topics, promoting companies’ adoption of strategies oriented towards sustainability and assigning top management with the task of pursuing “sustainable success”.

This is a real paradigm shift, and in this scenario the Group has the skills and energy to play a leading role. I have strongly supported Cattolica’s subscription to the
Principles for Responsible Investment promoted by the United Nations and its full support for the principles themselves and the philosophy that inspires them; a commitment that we will try to make evermore substantial and visible in future investment activities. The Non-Financial Statement also includes the trace of a path that has already been started and that we want to continue to the best of our ability.

If companies today have a growing responsibility in caring for and defending the planet, in preserving the social fabric and in people’s lives, the many initiatives that we are implementing this year also seek to reaffirm our idea of sustainability and the role that we continue to pursue as a responsible company, with that combination of ethical idealism and concrete and laborious entrepreneurial vision that distinguishes us.

Carlo Ferraresi