A high-ranking business economist, Professor Marco Vitale has seen many industrial and financial battles, but he has come out with a clear rejection of the takeover bid launched in recent days by Bper on Banca Popolare di Sondrio, which for the scholar from Brescia is like a second creature. "It is a hostile and value-destroying operation, which has nothing good and which only responds to power schemes to enrich a few big managers and big shareholders" without respect for the territory and for the history of the Valtellina Bank and for this reason it must be rejected. Lapidary words that will cause discussion, but Vitale is an intellectual who goes against the grain, as lucid as he is frank and does not mince his words, as emerges from the interview he gave to FIRSTonline, where the strong conviction emerges that "the battle for the autonomy of Bps is not an end in itself but part of a national battle for economic democracy".
Professor Vitale, your love for Banca Popolare di Sondrio is long-standing and was also evident during the takeover bid launched by Bper: the judgment of the Committee for the autonomy and independence of Banca Popolare di Sondrio that you lead was very harsh. Regardless of the merits of the Offer, it seems that the Committee prefers to continue the Stand alone strategy in any case: is that so?
“My love for Banca Popolare di Sondrio is very old and is intertwined with my love for the territory, with great respect for the managerial style of Bps, and with the great awareness of the enormous importance of Bps, as it is, with its history, its culture, its commitment to the territory that is also embedded in its statute, its excellent results, a tradition of responsible management that respects customers, shareholder and saving families and the development needs of the territory. But my position is not based only on my love for Bps but on a deep-rooted and coherent vision of the development of the Italian banking system”.
What exactly does he mean?
"This system has already reached and probably already exceeded an exaggerated and harmful level of concentration for the needs of the production system. In many territories we are witnessing a desertification of the banking service and at the same time a growing difficulty of productive entrepreneurship to have normal and fluid access to credit. The operation under examination, like other similar ones underway, responds only and exclusively to power schemes and serves only to enrich a few big managers and big shareholders. I am comforted by this vision that is not isolated but supported by the opinion of the most serious and independent scholars of the subject".
Who is it about?
"We will talk about it next week at a meeting in Naples at the Federico II University where there will be a strong testimony of experts from the 'Federico Caffè Students and Appreciators Group' as part of two days of study dedicated to "From the Economy of Power to the Economy of Democracy". The session dedicated to the "Banking and Financial System and Territory" will be attended by Marco Onado, Rosa Cocozza, Stefano Zamagni, Pietro Poletto, Alfonso Scarano, all scholars who, for some time and in various places, have been raising alarm signals for an excessive concentration of banking power and the usefulness of a banking system that is articulated and differentiated by size, territory, and specializations. The very sad truth is that the development of the Italian banking system has long been devoid of any useful thought for the country's economy and has been abandoned to the financial Wild West. Therefore, the battle for the autonomy of BPS is not an end in itself. It is part of a national battle for economic democracy, a professional reaction to the dramatic absence of thought on the part of those who should institutionally take charge of this task."
Is it realistic to imagine the defense of the absolute independence of Popolare di Sondrio when the relative majority shareholder of the two banks in question is the same and is represented by Unipol?
"Shareholders are one thing and must be respected, but corporate choices and needs are another thing and in the long run they are those that are truly useful for shareholders too. To answer this question, it is enough to refer to the repeated public statements released, in the recent past, by the top management of Unipol, in which it was explained very well and with great clarity why it is in the interest of the two banks to remain autonomous even with a shareholder base, in part, common to support the autonomy of Bps in the face of other, for now non-existent, attacks".
On the merits, what do you think is wrong with Bper's industrial and financial proposal?
“In Bper’s industrial and financial proposal there is nothing, absolutely nothing that is good, that makes sense, that is useful for the common good. We subscribe 100 percent to the Declaration of the Committee for Autonomy and Independence of Banca Popolare di Sondrio. We are comforted by the opinion, among others, of Professor Vittorio Coda, Emeritus of Bocconi and one of the few independent business economists, who wrote to the Committee: “I agree 100%. It would be the end of Bps, of its values, of its culture of service to the territories”.
If the terms of the Bper takeover bid were to change for the better, could your opinion also change or are the independence of Popolare Sondrio and the refusal of any merger insurmountable?
"The answer would remain negative for the reasons explained in points 2, 3 and 4 and for all the statements made public in the past by Dr. Cimbri (Editor's note: the CEO of Unipol). Our position is not the rejection of any aggregation but of this aggregation, for its hostile content and methods. There are much more useful and creative alternatives rather than being destructive of value, based on a Governance agreed between the interested groups, safeguarding the needs of shareholders, the territory, management, employees, the brand and above all respecting and mutually enriching the corporate cultures of the subjects involved, and creating, at the same time, a solid base of diversified shareholders including adequate space for small shareholders".
Click on the image to download the complete communication in PDF.
