How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

Based on my experience, economic and political (or geo-political) crisis typically translates into business crisis, which, in turn, has always a legal dimension. Being aware of that, I tried to conceive a modus operandi for my team/organisation that works a crisis management plan (CMP): when a crisis occurs, it is in fact paramount to tackle it in orderly fashion and with a coordinated/planned approach. 

How do you measure the impact of ESG initiatives on the company’s overall performance and reputation? 

ESG initiatives are central to the strategy of the Crédit Agricole Group in Italy. This is true for the corporate and investment banking business (CIB) and for the commercial and retail banking business. On the CIB side, we measure the impact of ESG initiatives on the company’s overall performance and reputation via certain specific indexes, including: the number of ESG-linked transactions that our bank arranges, leads or supports (which has been growing steadily for years); the league table ranking for such kind of transactions (which has also been improving steadily for years); surveys on the reputation of our franchise for ESG-linked activities (including for the establishment of ESG frameworks and ESG-driven KPIs); and the level and reach of ESG skills among the relevant staff (for instance, I personally was encouraged by the bank to achieve my LL.M. in “Law & Sustainable Development” and to support the upskilling, in that ambit, of my staff).