The Populars think about Good banks, the four banks (Banca Etruria, Banca delle Marche, Cariferrara and Carichieti) that went into resolution at the end of last year and providentially saved by the care of the new president Robert Nicastro which now assists the Bank of Italy for their transfer.
After flatly rejecting the downward offer for the block purchase of the 4 banks by international funds, the Bank of Italy hopes to find buyers in Italy by the September 30 deadline, a little too hastily fixed by the ECB.
And in fact there are two Popolari who are studying the dossiers. One is Bper (Banca dell'Emilia e Romagna) which will decide in the next board meeting on 30 August whether to pass from intentions to deeds and present a formal offer for the purchase of Banca Etruria and Banca delle Marche.
The other popular bank ready to take the field is Banca Popolare di Bari, fresh from the brilliant sale of a 480 million Npl portfolio with the first state guarantee (Gacs), which is evaluating whether there are conditions to move on Carichieti in order to strengthen its presence in Abruzzo where it is already active with Tercas which on 18 July was merged to all effects into the Bari parent company.
However, it cannot be ruled out that, given the moves of the Italian Popolari, the international funds will return to office either with a new offer en bloc or with targeted proposals for individual banks, but what is certain is that the Bank of Italy does not he will make discounts, even if the times for the sale are tight and even if the big banks that have lent 1,6 billion euros to save the Good banks are pressing to obtain repayments as soon as possible.
