Unicredit has made a big move in Italian banks’ “Risiko”, launching a bid to conquer Banco Bpm, and becoming the third bank in Europe by market capitalization. Unicredit is willing also to reach an agreement in Germany, where in September – with a blitzkrieg – became the second largest shareholder of Commerzbank and would like to go on, taking over it and promoting the merger. Andrea Orcel, CEO of Unicredit, is daring to fly high and his moves are well appreciated by the financial community, despite today the price proposed for Banco Bpm is being considered a little too ungenerous.
On the political side, you could count on a negative reaction by the German government at the time of the blitz on Commerzbank, also because Unicredit has bought part of the shares put up for sale by the government itself without informing it until after the fact. But no one could imagine that a leader of the Italian government, Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, was so shocked today by the offer on Banco Bpm to declare – despite logic and truth – that “Unicredit has little or nothing Italian about it anymore: it is a foreign bank” and to attack Banca d’Italia (the Italian central bank) asking “What does it do? Does it exist? What does it say? Does it monitor? Since they are among the highest paid in Italy, as an Italian citizen I would like to know if everything is under control“.
The well-paid Italian Vice Premier probably does not know what everyone else knows: Unicredit – like every big bank in Europe – is regulated and supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB). Ignorance and prejudice are well-stoned in Italian politics, but Salvini is entering the Guinness.
Iroshizuku
