The Iccrea shareholders' meeting unanimously gave the go-ahead for the 250 million euro capital increase and for the amendment of the statute which transforms it into the parent company of the cooperative banking giant.
According to the president, Giulio Magagni, today's “is another historic step in the path that will give birth to the Group. The demanding work carried out together with the 142 participating mutual banks was fundamental in projecting us towards the new needs that the market will express in the coming years".
For the general manager, Leonardo Rubattu, “in the next few hours we will sign the Cohesion Agreement with the adhering CCBs which have already approved the statutory changes. We aim to meet the deadlines we have set ourselves and receive authorization (from the Bank of Italy for registration in the register of groups, ed) by the end of the month”.
The Iccrea group has only to wait for the extraordinary assembly of Bcc Roma, the largest of its affiliates, scheduled for the next few days.
Iccrea Banca announced that the increase from 250 million which raises assets to almost 2 billion aims to “respond to the general increase, at European level, of the capitalization levels required of banks by stakeholders and market operators. In a few weeks, the bank led by general manager Leonardo Rubattu will be the fourth Italian banking group by assets, with around 148 billion and the third by number of branches, with around 2.650 branches in over 1.700 municipalities. Another reason for the increase is to guarantee the continuation of the support, including financial support, to the mutual banks that Iccrea has provided, also in light of its role as future parent company”. The increase is also used for the rationalization of the Iccrea group structure which will continue in the coming months.
THE TRADE UNION AGREEMENT
Meanwhile, an agreement was signed today on the renewal of the national collective labor agreement for cooperative credit between the unions and Federcasse.
The agreement establishes average monthly salary increases of 85 euros with effect from January 2019.
On the other hand, the taxable salary base for calculating severance indemnities (Tfr) was not reduced, as Federcasse also requested.
However, no solidarity interventions or other reductions in wages to finance the FOCC (Fund for Employment) will arrive either.
As for mobility, the distance within which the bank can order the transfer of staff (under the age of 30 and 50 years of service) without the worker's consent has increased from 45 to 22 kilometres.
The Agreement also provides that a day of 'ex public holiday' be allocated to the Time Bank to protect the personal needs of the worker as well as to support positive actions by the workers.
Furthermore, starting next year, young people hired with an induction contract between 2015 and 2018 will have a full paycheck in line with the economic tables of more experienced colleagues.
"We have signed a positive renewal of the work agreements in the Credit Cooperation sector - commented the national secretary of Fabi, Luca Bertinotti - which for too long has needed an adaptation of rules, protections and economic rewards for all male and female workers of this sector. The next stages will be equally demanding and challenging but having recovered a credible and attentive interlocutor like Federcasse allows us to reason and continue with more coherence and sharing on the strength and distinction of post-reform Cooperative Credit".
According to First Cisl national secretary Pier Paolo Merlini, the signing of the Bcc contract “puts a firm point in the troubled process of reforming the system and accompanies the launch and affirmation of banking groups in a new scenario for each individual Bcc. I hope that now the discussion will proceed expeditiously in the groups that have been set up to reach a univocal framework agreement also on mobility".
