A 2017 to remember for Italian banks listed on the Stock Exchange. After three very difficult years, in the current year our institutions have raised their heads again, holding a mini-rally that has made it possible to recover, at least in part, the losses accumulated in the past and to look to the future with greater hope thanks also to the greater system solidity acquired with the measures endorsed by the Government to stabilize the sector.
To understand the performance of bank stocks on the Stock Exchange, just take a look at the percentages: from the beginning of the year to today, the banks gained more than 20% against the +10% brought home by the Ftse Mib. Extending the reference time horizon, the increase becomes even more significant: +63% in one year for shares in the banking sector, +32% for the main index of the Milan stock exchange.
Among the best titles we find Ubi Banca which from January to today has recorded an increase of more than 65%. The institution led by Victor Massiah, which recently successfully closed a 400 million euro capital increase, has undoubtedly attracted the attention of investors thanks to the symbolic purchase of three of the four Good Banks (Banca Etruria, Banca Marche and Carichieti) created in November 2015 following the resolution procedure established by Bank of Italy in relation to the three institutions in question and Cariferrara.
Ma the double-digit increases involve the entire banking sector, starting from the two big ones, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, which from January to today have gained respectively about 27,7% and 18,4%. Banco Bpm (+31,5%) and Banca IFIS (+37,3%) also performed well.
Investors in Piazza Affari have therefore returned to looking at (and buying) Italian bank securities, rewarding the efforts made to eliminate systemic risks. Among them, it is impossible not to mention the two most striking cases of the last one: the intervention of the State in the Monte dei Paschi, which in recent days has presented a business plan which "provides for a restructuring of the entire organizational structure of the bank", and that of Intesa Sanpaolo which has contributed to saving the Venetian banks on which the Antitrust expressed its opinion yesterday, July 10, giving the green light to the operation.
The success achieved by the largest capital increase in Italian history carried out by Unicredit last February. An injection of confidence, from which the entire sector benefited, which represented a sign of solidity and stability in a period in which global uncertainties have weighed down international lists, compromising their stability.
Looking abroad, it must also be taken into consideration the contagion effect deriving from the excellent performances achieved on Wall Street by the big banks Americans who, after grinding profits and having benefited from the rumors about the financial reform promised by Donald Trump, are heading towards transnational merger & acquisition operations.
Eventually they begin to manifest themselves too the first omens of tapering. The end of Quantitative Easing overshadowed by the ECB in the last few minutes has given new life to the banks. The progressive raising of interest rates by the Eurotower will allow the intermediation margin of credit institutions to return to surplus, thus increasing their profits.
In summary, although the difficulties have not yet been completely archived, the progress made during the year has allowed the banks to recover the ground lost on the stock market, beating the Ftse Mib two to one.
