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☆ CORRECTED Italy's Meloni says on track to rebuild 'excellent' relations with UAE
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I think discussions this morning went very, very well and we're going back to a strategic partnership. Italy historically had very strong relations with UAE which in recent years experienced serious difficulties," Meloni told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Italy in 2021 halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, citing Rome's commitment to restoring peace in Yemen. "On all these matters Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has expressed his willingness to help," Meloni said. "I think there is a strong will on both sides to rebuild not just good but excellent relations, a friendship, which I think is very important for our national interest."

☆ Monte dei Paschi investor CariFirenze doesn't plan to sell stake
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FLORENCE, Italy, March 3 (Reuters) - A local banking foundation that invested in Monte dei Paschi's (BMPS.MI) new share issue last year said on Friday it had no plans to sell the stake it built under efforts to make the lender part of a larger banking group. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an event, the chairman of banking foundation CariFirenze, Luigi Salvadori, said the Monte dei Paschi (MPS) stake was not a purely financial investment but a strategic one "because we believe there is a need for another large banking group." CariFirenze was one of several banking foundations - traditionally investors in Italian lenders - that responded to an appeal by the Italian Treasury to back the make or break share sale. "We also liked CEO Luigi Lovaglio's plan," Salvadori said. Reporting by Silvia Ognibene, Wriring by Valentina Za; editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Monte dei Paschi (MPS), which raised capital last year, needs to merge with a stronger rival to cement its turnaround. Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna, who faces pressure from shareholders to reject an MPS deal, has repeatedly said the Tuscan bank is too large for Banco BPM to integrate. A Banco BPM spokesperson said nothing had changed in this respect. HURDLESA Banco BPM and MPS tie-up would pose major hurdles, another three sources said separately. Banco BPM investors are also concerned about an expansion into regions of the country where economic growth is much weaker compared with the bank's wealthy home base in the north, one of the sources said.

☆ Italy's Treasury sees AXA stake sale as way to simplify MPS governance - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of French Insurer Axa is seen outside a building in Montaigu, France, February 23, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane MaheMILAN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Italy's Treasury does not regard negatively a decision by French insurer AXA (AXAF.PA) to sell its 8% stake in Monte dei Paschi (BMPS.MI) because it boosts free float and simplifies the state-owned bank's governance structure, a person close to the matter said. The Treasury owns 64% of Monte dei Paschi following a 2017 bailout and must eventually exit the Tuscan lender. AXA on Monday sold virtually all of the stake it had acquired late last year when it bought into a 2.5 billion euro rights issue at Monte dei Paschi, becoming its second biggest investor after the government. A source told Reuters on Monday the stake was bought by several institutional investors.

Under the deal, Nexi will buy 80% of Paycomet, Sabadell's payments subsidiary, for 280 million euros, with the Spanish lender retaining a 20% stake for at least three years. The business that handles shopowners' payments is a source of stable income for banks, but the need for hefty investments has prompted an increasing number of banks to dispose of all or part of their payments operations. With the deal, Nexi will come to handle transactions worth around 48 billion euros for more than 380,000 Spanish shopowners, adding around 30 million euros of core profit based on 2023 data, it said. The sale is at an enterprise value for the unit of 11.5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Rothschild and Jefferies were financial advisers to Nexi which also worked with BCG, KPMG and Allen & Overy.

BARCELONA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Microsoft has unveiled previews of two AI-powered services designed to manage telecom networks, drawing on the same capabilities used to manage the tech giant's Azure cloud platform. Microsoft first entered the 5G arena after its acquisition of cloud networking companies Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch in 2020. “What we’re doing is taking our native cloud work and making it specific to this telecom operator network space. I think a really great example of that is all the AI ops work that we are introducing into the system," said Jason Zander, executive vice president of strategic missions and technologies at Microsoft. Monica Zethzon, a vice president at Ericsson, said the developments would allow operators to "transform their core networks while improving customer experiences".

☆ UniCredit may hike CEO's pay by up to 40% - newspaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - UniCredit is considering a pay rise of between 20% and 40% for Chief Executive Andrea Orcel, Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Saturday, citing market sources. Orcel's pay package would rise to 9.0-10.5 million euros ($9.5-11.1 billion) from 7.5 million euros at present. On his arrival at UniCredit in April 2021, Orcel narrowly dodged a shareholder revolt over his pay, which is double that of his predecessor. Orcel has focused UniCredit on businesses that maximise returns in relation to the capital allocated to such activities, in order to boost investor rewards through dividends and share buybacks. ($1 = 0.9482 euros)Reporting by Valentina Za Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Softbank-backed doValue to focus on M&A in 2023 - CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Italy's doValue (DOVA.MI) will focus on merger and acquisitions (M&A) in 2023, as it expects a wave of consolidation in the market of problem loan managers, its chief executive Andrea Mangoni said. "Our priority for this year is M&A," Mangoni told an analyst call. He added that the Verona-based debt management firm will look at deals in Italy and Spain, as both markets are fragmented. In Italy doValue competes with peers such as Elliott-backed Gardant or Prelios, owned by U.S. fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management. DK is currently discussing a possible sale of Prelios to Andrea Pignataro's ION Group, which in 2021 bought credit data and bad loan recovery firm Cerved.

Meloni's administration wants to secure public control of TIM's grid, but there is no common ground within the government on how to achieve this. KKR, which has already invested 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion)on TIM's grid, has now bid for a controlling stake in a unit comprising the entire TIM's domestic fixed access network and submarine cable business Sparkle. Ceding control of TIM's grid is a main plank of TIM Chief Executive Pietro Labriola's efforts to cut the former phone monopoly's 25 billion euro net debt and revamp its struggling domestic business. TIM's confirmed its board would meet on Friday to discuss KKR's offer and "take appropriate decisions". CDP's potential offer has been hampered in part by regulatory concerns given it is the main investor in TIM's fibre-optic rival Open Fiber, people familiar with the matter said.

☆ Italian private equity fund FSI fund raised Anima stake to 9%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Italian private equity fund Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI) held 9% of Anima Holding as of Feb. 17, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday, after beefing up an initial holding of just over 7% it built last week. Offering a premium of just 7.5% over the latest closing price, FSI reached only slightly more than its minimum target in the reverse ABB transaction. The filing showed FSI had then bought a further 1.7% stake on the market. Led by former Merrill Lynch banker Maurizio Tamagnini, FSI has not disclosed the reasons behind its investment in Anima. ($1 = 0.9376 euros)Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini and Keith WeirOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Egypt court to rule soon in case over Intesa's local unit - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It did not mention AlexBank, though a sale of its remaining stake to Intesa is a possibility, one of the sources said. The sale was challenged in court by activist group, the Egyptian Centre for Transparency, local media reported. Egypt's constitutional court in mid-January ruled to uphold that law rejecting a challenge brought against it. A number of cases, including that centred around the sale of AlexBank, had been put on hold pending the decision on the law. Reporting by Patrick Werr in Cairo and Valentina Za in Milan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Intesa staff to test new digital business from March
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) has told staff they can sign up to test from March 1 the app for the new digital lender it is setting up with British fintech Thought Machine, an internal document showed. Intesa last year unveiled plans to invest 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in technology under its 2022-2025 strategy, of which 650 million is destined to create its new digital arm called Isybank. Intesa has struck a five year partnership with Thought Machine, founder and CEO Paul Taylor told Reuters, making the Italian bank one of the biggest customers of the UK firm. Thought Machine will provide Isybank with the cloud infrastructure to serve 4 million customers under 40 who Intesa intends to migrate to online and mobile banking services. The trial phase would subsequently be expanded to include a wider group beyond staff members, the document reviewed by Reuters said.

☆ Italian banks to cut 27% of branches over next 7 years, Deloitte says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The number of bank branches in Italy is set to shrink to around 16,000 in 2029 from 22,000 last year, consultancy Deloitte said on Wednesday, as customers increasingly embrace digital banking. In a report on banks' digital progress, Deloitte forecast online banking would reach a penetration of 60% in Italy over the next seven years, from 45% in 2022. The company ranks lenders on a scale ranging from 'digital latecomers' to 'digital champions', based on its Digital Banking Maturity (DBM) score. Overall, Italian banks' DBM improved from the previous ranking in 2018 with two lenders, whose identity was not disclosed, classed as digital champions. Deloitte said this was thanks to a wide range of digital services which clients deem relevant and a better than peers' digital experience for users.

☆ Italian fund buys stake in asset manager Anima in play on bank M&A
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The 109 million euro ($116 million) stakebuilding strengthens the grip of Italian investors on a company in which France's Amundi (AMUN.PA) - Europe's biggest asset manager - has also taken a stake. Amundi has a strong presence in Italy having spent 3.6 billion euros in 2017 to buy peer Pioneer from UniCredit (CRDI.MI). Formerly backed by the state and focused on promoting national champions, private equity fund Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI) targeted a stake of up to 9%. Amundi acquired its Anima stake a month after Amundi's owner, French bank Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), bought 9.2% of Banco BPM, becoming its single largest investor. Of Anima's 177 billion euros of assets under management, some 100 billion euros are invested in Italian government bonds.

☆ Financial investor buying up to 9% of Italian asset manager Anima
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An investor document seen by Reuters showed Mediobanca, which did not name the investor, was buying Anima shares through an accelerated reverse bookbuilding at 4.35 euros a share. At the top of the targeted range, the investment would total 135.7 million euros ($145.7 million) while the minimum stake would cost the buyer 105.7 million euros, Reuters calculations showed. The investor is Italian and is neither a bank nor an insurance firm, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Anima is Italy's biggest independent asset manager and has often been seen as a potential takeover target. Last year, French asset manager Amundi (AMUN.PA) emerged as the third-biggest investor in Anima with a 5.2% stake.

However, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters that the cap did not apply to MPS, based on the Treasury's interpretation of the rule. The salary cap compares with Lovaglio's current pay of 466,000 euros a year with no variable compensation, which is already well below peers. The MPS rescue deal Italy agreed in 2017 with European Union authorities cost taxpayers 5.4 billion euros. In November he worked with Rome to pull off a make-or-break 2.5 billion euro new share issue that saw Italy pump another 1.6 billion euros into MPS. MPS already enforces EU-mandated caps to its top executives' pay, which cannot total more than 10 times the average employee salary.

☆ Snoop founder Gadhia quits UniCredit board after Moneyfarm chairmanship
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Jayne-Anne Gadhia, founder of money managing application Snoop and former Virgin Money chief executive, has stepped down from the board of UniCredit (CRDI.MI) with immediate effect, the Italian bank said on Friday. Gadhia last month took on the chairmanship of digital wealth manager Moneyfarm, replacing co-founder Paolo Galvani to work alongside CEO and co-founder Giovanni Daprà. Gadhia was at the helm of Virgin Money, the digital bank of Britain's Virgin group, for more than a decade until its listing in 2018. UniCredit said Gadhia had decided to step down "due to a new commitment" and would remain as an adviser to the bank. Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Italian banks' lending to firms stagnates in December
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A monthly report on the balance sheets of domestic banks showed loans to non-financial companies were flat year-on-year in December compared with a 2.7% expansion the previous month. Extraordinary government support measures during the pandemic and the energy crisis fuelled strong growth in corporate bank lending, but the trend has weakened as support measures have been gradually unwound. Banks' corporate loans totalled 649.2 billion euros at the end of December, down from 666.3 billion euros a month earlier. Thursday's data also showed Italian residents' deposits with domestic banks fell to 2.71 trillion euros ($2.92 trillion) compared with 2.74 trillion euros the previous month. Gross unpaid loans declined to 30.15 billion euros at the end of December from 34.01 billion euros a month earlier.

CDP is seeking to finalise its bid after U.S. investment firm KKR (KKR.N) last week filed its own offer for the same Telecom Italia (TIM) asset. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters KKR's approach valued the venture at about 20 billion euros ($21.4 billion). Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni repeatedly said her government wants to secure public control of TIM's network. But there is no common ground yet within her administration on how to reach such a goal and it was no clear whether a CDP bid would receive the blessing of the Treasury. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti believes Rome has "multiple options" to put TIM's network under strategic government control, a separate source said, without elaborating.

ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Visco, who is also the Bank of Italy's governor, warned that an excessive tightening would have "serious implications" for economic activity and financial stability. He reiterated that he saw this as a risk that carried the same weight as the danger of a too gradual tightening. "The policy tightening can now continue with the due caution, carefully assessing the implications for the economy and inflation prospects of the measures that have already been adopted," Visco told the annual conference of Italy's Assiom-Forex financial markets association. The ECB has kept its options open about subsequent steps after March, raising doubts among investors about its resolve to keep raising rates to tame inflation. Banking supervisors are monitoring specifically credit risks but also liquidity and refinancing risks, Visco said, adding there was a danger that higher rates fed into banks' funding costs more rapidly than in the past.

☆ Banco BPM wants to squeeze more long-term value from retailers' payment business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Italy's third-largest bank Banco BPM (BAMI.MI) is keen to generate greater value longer-term from its retailers' payment business as it explores strategic options for the unit, its chief executive said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Assiom-Forex conference in Milan, Chief Executive Giuseppe Castagna said Banco BPM was considering ways to boost profitability at its business that provides payment services to shopkeepers. "What we certainly won't do is be selling future P&L (profit and loss) inflows to get cash upfront," Castagna said. "Like with our other businesses, we're looking for ... a model that creates more value for the bank," Castagna said without elaborating. Banco BPM recently agreed to sell a majority stake in its non-life insurance business to Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), its single biggest investor with whom it already partnered in consumer credit.

☆ Intesa slashes assets to boost capital as profit tops forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) slashed its assets in the fourth quarter to boost its capital buffers in the face of regulatory hits, raising doubts over future profits despite exceeding expectations in the latest period. Moving to offset adverse regulatory changes kicking in from January, Intesa reduced its total assets by 47 billion euros ($51 billion) in the quarter, boosting its core capital ratio to 13.5% from 12.4% at the end of September. Intesa said it would proceed with a second 1.7 billion euro share buyback it had put on hold due to recession risks. It also said it would pay another 1.7 billion euros in cash dividends from 2022 profits, after an interim dividend payout of 1.4 billion. With earnings boosted like peers by rising interest rates, Intesa posted a fourth quarter profit of 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion), well above an 873 million euro estimate in an analysts' poll compiled by Reuters.

☆ BNP Paribas Italy names ex-Intesa banker Lattuada as CIB deputy head
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas Italy (BNPP.PA) said on Thursday it had named Marco Lattuada as deputy head of its corporate and institutional banking division in the country, reporting to CIB Italy Executive Chairman Vittorio Ogliengo. Lattuada was the former global head of investment banking and structured finance at Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), in whose CIB division he had previously headed the telecoms, media and technology sectors. Prior to that he was senior director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch global investment banking and vice president at Bank of America CIB. Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Francesca LandiniOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ION Group, the financial data firm's parent company, said in a statement on its website that the attack began on Tuesday. "The incident is contained to a specific environment, all the affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing," ION Group said, declining requests for further comment. ABN told clients on Wednesday that due to "technical disruption" from ION, some applications were unavailable and were expected to remain so for a "number of days". It added that its staff had to process trades directly with the exchange. Intesa Sanpaolo told clients that its brokerage and clearing operations on exchange-traded derivatives had been "severely hampered" by IT problems at ION and that it was not able to handle orders.

☆ Investors cheer after UniCredit lifts payout goal by 40%
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

However, the receding chances of a recession in the bloc as energy prices ease have boosted banking shares, with investors less wary of regulators hindering generous capital distribution plans. Shareholders, who have been promised more than 16 billion euros in dividends and buybacks by 2024, received 3.75 billion euros from 2021 earnings. Analysts calculate UniCredit could have at least 6 billion euros to spare after delivering on the 16 billion euro payout goal. STRONG PROFIT BEATUniCredit's net profit of 2.46 billion euros for the quarter to Dec. 31 was more than twice the 1.10 billion euros expected by analysts polled by the bank. The tax boost more than offset an increase in generic provisions against future loan losses, known as overlays, to 1.8 billion euros from 1.3 billion.

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