The Parent Bank is the strategic unifying body which in the inte gration ensures the conservation of the values and cultures of the individual concerns; its mission is to defi ne strategic guidelines, to carry out strategic, management related and technical-operational control of all the Group companies, to co-ordinate activities according to a single business project and to guarantee the monitorage of the various risk elements originated in the areas of activity in which the Group operates, to provide common support services and to centralise the fi nance and treasury divisions.