New era in Banca Ifis. The board of directors of the company, after the ok of the ordinary meeting held on Thursday morning under the chairmanship of Sebastien Egon Fürstenberg, has officially appointed in the role of managing director Frederik Geertman. The Dutch engineer, already co-opted as a director on 11 February 2021 and strongly desired by the first shareholder Fürstenberg, will be called upon to lead the new course of the bank specializing in NPLs, accelerating on the path of development and digitization of the group and developing synergies between the bank's various business lines.
Geertman, 50, takes over from Luciano Colombini, who resigned as CEO on 21 December. Graduated in chemical engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, from 2016 to today the manager has held the position of deputy general manager and Chief Commercial Officer of Ubi Banca. Previously he spent almost ten years at UniCredit, among others as Head of Global Marketing and Segment Management for several European countries and as Head of the Italian branch network for Families and SMEs. He began his career at a leading strategic consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., first in the Netherlands and then in Italy. "During his career, Geertman has led the digitization of customer relations from an omnichannel perspective, while increasing the commercial productivity of the companies in which he operated through the redesign of the organization and commercial processes", underlines Banca Ifis .
MERGER AND SECURITIZATION
The new CEO anticipated the presentation of a new industrial plan during 2021 which will replace the plan presented by its predecessor in January 2020 which the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has made obsolete.
During the press conference following the meeting, Geertman clarified that Banca Ifis does not look at large M&A operations that change the dimensional profile of the group but is instead “open and attentive to possible tactical operations in attractive sectors in which it can bring its expertise by increasing in value and paying attention to the return on capital".
“We are not looking for economies of scale – he specified – e we are not interested in operations that transform the group. Instead, we are thinking of strengthening, if the opportunity arises, our presence in the two key sectors in which we operate, namely that of SMEs and NPLs”. Regarding the transactions explored in the past and which have not reached a positive solution, such as the one with Credito Fondiario, Geetman explained that "transactions evaluated and not made are to be considered concluded". “I don't foresee an overseas expansion or a foreign acquisition outside our business perimeter in Italy,” she added.
Regarding the recent Npl securitization transaction, the new CEO said: “I have to congratulate those who preceded me because it was an intelligent operation of benign financial engineering. The market reaction has shown that there is demand for valid financial instruments even with a non-performing underlying and I believe that this instrument will be widely used, not only on our part, because it also allows us to address the problem of funding and the calendar provisioning. Npl securitizations make it possible to attract co-investors and to operate a credit transfer to the listed vehicle. In this field, Banca Ifis has assumed leadership of thought but I believe that in the coming months we will see many similar operations”.
Finally, Geertman ruled out the possibility of resorting to a capital increase to compensate for the significant increase in NPLs triggered by the crisis.
BALANCE SHEET AND DIVIDEND
In addition to approving the 2020 financial statements, which closed with a net profit of 59,5 million euros, the shareholders' meeting gave the go-ahead for the distribution of a dividend equal to 47 cents per share deducted from Own Funds as at 31 December 2020. The coupon detachment is scheduled for 24 May 2021, while the payment will be made on the 26th, with the record date set for 25 May.
"Banca Ifis' goal is to ensure stable shareholder remuneration", explained the deputy chairman Furstenberg, who announced the arrival within the end of the year of a second dividend, relating to 2019 earnings, equal to 1,10 euro per share.
After the announcement, in Piazza Affari, the Banca Ifis share earns 2,19% to 11,19 euros.
REGAZZI INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
On the proposal of the majority shareholder, La Scogliara, Monica Regazzi is the new independent director of Banca Ifis, replacing the outgoing director Luciano Colombini. With the entry of Regazzi, the representation of women on the board rises to 41% (5 out of 12 members).
Lastly, the shareholders' meeting approved the "Report on the Remuneration Policy", as well as the integration of the fees of the independent auditors for the years 2019 and 2020.
