Another 10 days of high tension, with the aim of getting the capital increase of Bpm off the ground. And probably find a new managing director After the landslide victory for the Friends-sponsored listIn fact, the season of emergencies in Piazza Meda is far from over.
In fact, the Bank of Italy requires, "to oversee the sound and prudent management of Bpm", that "the members of the new management board are chosen from among external professionals who, among other things, have never held positions at Bpm or in its subsidiaries administration, management or control positions, so as to promote the definitive overcoming of past management logics". This is the latest directive issued by via Nazionale to the top management of the Milanese institute contained in the letter sent last Saturday to the president, Massimo Ponzellini. The go-ahead for publication, requested by Consob, came directly from the new chairman of the supervisory board, Filippo Annunziata. Ponzellini had expressed “my personal confidence and that of the Bank in the current general manager”, Enzo Chiesa. But the ultimatum from via Nazionale leaves no way out. And Filippo Annunziata has taken note of it.
Via Nazionale, moreover, had asked the members of the old board of directors for a "step back" so that they did not run again for the supervisory board (which led Giorgio Benvenuto to withdraw his candidacy). Now the same request has been extended to the management board: the discontinuity requires the removal of one of the strong characters of the past management, involved for example in the retail placement of the "convertendo" which has already cost him a conviction in Consob. Church in the last public appointment before the vote had expressed intolerance towards those who "want to come and put my house in order".
But who will take the place of Church? Already today Andrea Bonomi, who should be appointed president of the management board this week, will address the issue of the identikit of the new operational guide of the institute with the head of Supervision Anna Maria Tarantola. In recent weeks the name of Carlo Salvatori and Pietro Modiano had been mentioned. The latter, supported by Fisac-Cgil, one of the unions that supported the Amici list, could be the right name to convince the Bank of Italy and the market in view of the next capital increase. It is a matter of seeing whether the chair of managing director, alongside the chairman/shareholder Andrea Bonomi, can attract the current chairman of Tassara.
However, time is running out. To start the capital increase of Bpm by 31 October (last date fixed with the placement consortium headed by Mediobanca) it will in fact be necessary to define the price within the middle of the week, pending the Consob's OK for the integration to the prospectus, which must be completed with the new articles of association.
It was not easy to identify a more delicate moment for launching a recapitalization of a bank, especially if the amount, 800 million, is greater than the capitalization of the stock. But Bpm can count on two factors: the Investindustrial portfolio which will guarantee about a quarter of the operation by subscribing the probable unsubscribed; the same precariousness, paradoxically, of the structure that will be determined after the operation. The 800 million that
they will enter the Piazza Meda coffers (minus 100 to be paid to Credit Mutuel and other minorities before the takeover of Banca Legnano and Cassa Alessandria) they will bring the core tier 1 from 5,7% to 8,3%, in any case below the 9% required by the systemic rules under discussion in Brussels. Then there remains the crux of the Tremonti bonds whose interest weighs on the income statement. Also for this reason the work for the new governing bodies promises to be delicate and difficult: on the management front, in which efficiency must be recovered and the unbalanced portfolio of loans in the building sector (and many items at risk) must be requalified; in terms of strategies, the responsibility of the supervisory board, in view of possible alliances and mergers attempted several times, which never succeeded due to the hostility of the Friends, who more than ever have the reins of the bank in their hands, judging by the numbers that emerged on Saturday 22nd in the assembly of 7 thousand members.
