Dark day in Piazza Affari for Bank Ifis. At the opening, the stock struggled to price, with a theoretical decrease of 10%. Subsequently, the bank's shares entered trading, only to be suspended in the volatility auction due to excessive downtrend (-12,21%, at 15,68 euros).
The announcement of the stock triggered the wave of sales failure to confirm Giovanni Bossi at the helm of the group. This news has caused quite a stir on the market.
Over the weekend, the Bank's majority shareholder – Sebastien Egon Furstenberg – communicated that the name of the current managing director, in the saddle for over 20 years, will not be included in the list of new candidates for the board which will be presented at the shareholders' meeting on 19 April.
In the evening, the group announced the name of the new CEO, who will be Luigi Colombini, former CEO of the Veneto-based Banca Finint. The majority shareholder defines him as a manager with "long and varied experience in the sector, both within major commercial banks and in investment banking".
Under Bossi's leadership, Banca Ifis experienced a path of growth and diversification which also took place through a campaign of small and targeted acquisitions which led the institute – which started out as a factoring company – to enter new business segments such as that of Npl management.
After the initial surge which led the share value to increase by more than 200% between January 2015 and October 2017 (from 14,24 to 49,26 euros), stocks reversed course returning to the starting levels. The last quotation on Friday 8 March was equal to 17,86 euros. And it was precisely the Npl sector that led to some losses for Ifis in 2018.
Over the next three years, the majority shareholder aims to consolidate and at the same time rationalize the companies acquired, with a particular focus on the management and recovery of non-performing loans. The new managing director will be called upon to continue along the path of internationalization and to increase investments in new technologies and in the development of credit products. Finally, the manager will need to optimize costs and review recent acquisitions to reduce concentration risk.
