“Why do we and others not? Ask others. We were faster and took a conscious risk. After all, we knew what we were doing: we've been working with football clubs for twenty years". From the setting of Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, where the usual Ambrosetti workshop is underway which every year gathers the protagonists of the financial world on the shores of Lake Como, the CEO of Banca Ifis Giovanni Bossi returns to comment on the most discussed operation of summer transfer market: the passage of Bonucci and Biglia to Milan, made possible by the bank sureties that the Venetian bank has guaranteed, in a climate of maximum perplexity around the new ownership of the Rossoneri club.
Concerns that had led other banks, including Banco Bpm which is also a sponsor of Milan until 2019, to withdraw. “For us it's a good operation, otherwise we wouldn't have done it – explained Bossi, who heads a bank controlled with over 50% by Sebastian von Fürstenberg, son of Tassilo von Fürstenberg and Clara Agnelli, sister of the Avvocato -. After all, what was the risk? That they didn't sign up for the championship. And so you do…”. A question of timing, risk awareness and also experience: "Evidently we have been faster and we have a team that has made the correct assessments: we have been working in football for almost 20 years, even with important Serie A teams".
Although it is not its core business, the bank which operates mainly on the NPL market and in 2016 acquired the entire share package of Interbanca, is already familiar with the world of football. “We don't have a huge exposure in numerical terms, but every year we provide direct credit or guarantee sureties even for 5-6 clubs between Serie A and Serie B. The Bonucci-Biglia operation was highlighted because we are talking about a club like Milan , but it is worth a few tens of millions of euro out of the approximately 5,2 billion of loans disbursed by Banca Ifis”. According to official figures, Bonucci was valued at 42 million, Biglia 17 (plus 3 bonus) and the sureties cover 40% of the transaction value.
In short, a few percentage points, this is Banca Ifis' exposure to football. But the fact that it was precisely the Venetian bank that intervened in the operation in which the Elliott fund is also involved, which subscribed the bond to finance it, should make the Rossoneri fans sleep peacefully: "The cost of our credit risk is one of the lowest in the system, not to mention the credit quality which is among the highest”.
