"It's a very strong hypothesis" and in any case "it's not our case". One of the first comments on the "warm invitation" received yesterday by Matteo Renzi during the Cernobbio workshop comes from Gian Maria Gros Pietro, president of Intesa Sanpaolo. Yesterday the prime minister stated that the sector must proceed with new mergers to reduce branches and armchairs, predicting that "within ten years the number of banks will be more than halved". In numerical terms it means a streamlining of 150 employees and 15 branches. "It is a statement that can find confirmation in the long term, there is a technological change and therefore the functions that were traditionally performed by the branches are partly performed directly by customers through telecommunication tools", explained Gros- Peter. “In our view – he added – there is room for new functions to be performed, to provide customers with new services that also require greater professionalism from our employees. In this way, our plan does not provide for redundancies. We have reabsorbed the surpluses that could derive from technological change in the development of new services".
And on the merger front, what role does Banca dei Territori play?” Intesa Sanpaolo presents itself as a bank that grows and we grow through the expansion of our business, both in credit and in asset management, we are not aggregating anyone. We are strengthening our Group”, replied Gian Maria Gros-Pietro. However, a negotiation with Unicredit on Pioneer was excluded by the banker. Lastly, in MPS, Gros Pietro noted that the MPS bailout plan is the most important problem among Italian banks and that banks of high standing are working towards its resolution.
MUSTIER'S PREMIERE ON LAKE COMO
Bankers have always been among the main visitors to the Ambrosetti Forum. Unicredit is also well represented: yesterday Alessandro Profumo, architect years ago of the bank's expansion phase, and his successor, Federico Ghizzoni, who instead had the task of rationalizing and tightening the belt, were around. Today he made his entrance, the new CEO of Piazza Cordusio Jean Pierre Mustier, at his "premiere" on Lake Como. "We are very focused on the development of the bank," the banker told reporters during one of the coffee breaks at the Ambrosetti workshop. "We are working very intensely on the strategic plan, which is the most important thing", added Mustier without satisfying the curiosity of those present on a few more details on the various and hot dossiers in the hands of Piazza Cordusio. The latest rumors, just this morning, speak of an IPO of Pioneer, after the failure of the merger project with the asset management activities of Santander, whose negotiations have been going on for over a year. Mustier also withdrew from the Mediobanca dossier. "I'm not commenting at all", he told journalists who asked him if the bank's stake in Mediobanca should still be considered strategic.: "I promise you that we will speak at the presentation of the strategic plan which will be by the end of the year" , he concluded.
BINI SMAGHI, YES TO CONSOLIDATION
To prove Renzi right is Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, now president of Société Générale and also of Banca Chianti, in the past a member of the ECB's governing council. "Renzi has grasped the right point: the Italian banking system must consolidate because it is too fragmented and not very profitable and therefore not very capable of attracting investments", said Bini Smaghi, again questioned on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum. “The problem – he added – is how to exploit synergies through costs”. For the banker, given the amount of redundancies that would occur with the consolidation, there would be a need for government economic policy action. “Italy and Germany – he concluded – are the only two countries in Europe where there is still an excessive number of banks which makes the system unprofitable”.
