SAE and RAE are codes used by Italian banks to classify companies and define their level of creditworthiness. These numerical codes, necessary for example when applying for a loan from a bank, indicate some characteristics of the company, including the sector of economic activity. Unlike the Ateco code, however, SAE and RAE are not shown in the chamber of commerce report nor in the Business Register.

RAE and SAE codes: what they are and what they are for

RAE (Economic activity branch) and SAE (Sector or Subgroup of economic activity) are codes that banks use to record the economic activities of companies.

Both made up of three digits, the RAE and SAE codes identify entities based on economic activity and other objective parameters such as company structure or number of employees, which make it possible to determine their creditworthiness. Both codes are assigned by the Bank of Italy through specific circulars.

While SAE indicates the sector of economic activity (public or private company, non-financial company with more or less than 20 employees, non-profit institution, etc.), RAE identifies the activities of companies based on NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities in the European Community), the international classification that Istat translates into the better-known Ateco codes.

RAE, in essence, provides information on the type of activity carried out by the company just like the Ateco code does. The SAE code, on the other hand, refers to other types of objective data concerning the company form, the financial or non-financial nature of the activity, the number of employees and the geographical area of reference. Together, these two codes allow banks to classify entities uniformly and to define their credit reliability.

How to determine the SAE and RAE code of a company

The Ateco code has replaced SAE and RAE, but these codes are still valid at the national level. As mentioned earlier, they are essentially used by banks when they receive a loan request or start a commercial relationship with a new client.

Since they have been replaced by the Ateco code, the SAE and RAE codes are no longer included in the chamber of commerce report: to consult them, it is necessary to refer to documents provided by the Bank of Italy. The complete list of current SAE codes is found in circular no. 140/1991 of the Bank of Italy, last updated in 2021.

As for the RAE code, it is assigned by the Bank of Italy based on the Ateco code and SAE, but it is not directly derivable from them. Also in this case, therefore, the only option to know the code of your company is to contact the Bank of Italy. Although the list of RAE codes is available on various websites, knowing the Ateco code or the description of your activity is not enough to determine with certainty the Economic activity branch.

How to obtain the SAE and RAE codes of a company

Together with financial statements, financial reports and any negative event reports such as protests and proceedings, the RAE and SAE codes are among the data that allow a complete overview of a company’s performance and prospects. Therefore, as we have seen, they are used by banking institutions to assess a company’s creditworthiness, that is, its ability to repay any debts.

Such data can also be useful outside the banking context, serving as a useful analysis tool for all companies intending to carry out preliminary investigations on potential business partners or for analysts and investors wishing to assess the health status of Italian companies.

However, since they are tools essentially used for internal banking purposes, these classification codes are not among the public data included in the Business Register. To trace the RAE and SAE codes of a company it is therefore necessary to refer, once again, to the Bank of Italy or to a specialized service able to access the official data used by institutions.

Access to this official and always up-to-date data now makes it possible to obtain the RAE and SAE of Italian companies also via API: the codes are in fact among the more than 1300 company data included in the Openapi Company Full report and are also accessible through the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) service, which allows you to obtain in just a few seconds all certified data for the Anti-Money Laundering check of companies.