Listen to the prudential recommendations of the Supervisory Authorities or respect the commitments made with the shareholders? Preserving resources on the eve of a great recession or sending a signal of confidence towards a return to normality through coupon distribution? These are the doubts on which the summit of the Generali has been reflecting for days and that today they could find a conclusion in the last one board of directors by teleconference before Easter.
On the one hand there are the calls for caution expressed by both the European and national authorities (IVASS for Italy) and on the other hand there are the expectations of the shareholders, first and foremost those of Mediobanca, Caltagirone and Del Vecchio, but also those of the thousands of small shareholders who have always been loyal to Generali and its generous dividends.
But there is also more than the CEO of the Lion, Philippe Donnet, and the entire top of the insurance company must consider, because insurance is not like banks and business is different. Distributing the coupon does not mean reducing resources to the real economy, as in the case of banks, but if anything launch a signal of confidence in the return to normality. On the other side of the scale, however, there is the need to further strengthen an already very solid balance sheet situation, but which has to deal with the imminence of a very deep recession.
Nor can it be ruled out that Generali will adopt a mixed solution, as it already did in 2009 under the guidance of the then CEO Giovanni Perissinotto, ie half the dividend paid in cash and the other half in shares. We will know more in the next few hours.
