Banca Popolare di Vicenza closed the first half with a net loss of 795 million euros which compares with a red of 1,05 billion in the same period of 2015.
The bank was affected by the contested decision of Cattolica Assicurazione to withdraw from the partnership agreement, the increase in loan coverage also due to the implementation of value adjustments on loans resulting from the preliminary results of the ECB inspection and further adjustments And provisions on investments in Luxembourg funds and on legal risks for complaints and disputes initiated by customers.
The bank, however, after the 1,5 billion capital increase subscribed by the Atlante Fund strengthened its capital requirements with a Cet1 of 10,75%, higher than the 10,25% required by the ECB.
The Board of Popolare di Vicenza is also working on the revision of the business plan to be launched by mid-October. That's what he indicated CEO Francesco Iorio in the press conference to present the half-yearly. “It is a plan – explained Iorio – which will be based on three pillars: reduction of the cost of credit, improvement of the cost-income and the full commercial relaunch to recover the relationship of trust with the reference territory. On time, within about 40 days, in the first half of October. In terms of labor cost cuts, the staff redundancies already foreseen in approximately 550 employees may not be sufficient".
Popolare di Vicenza closes the half-year with a loss of 795 million euros but according to the managing director an important premise is necessary: “Some phenomena have affected this result and go to resize this sum: in net terms 313 million are explained by Cattolica's unexpected right of withdrawal from your trade agreements with us; the second aspect, more managerial, concerns value adjustments on loans; the third aspect concerns coverage for litigation with shareholders. Net of all this, the negative net management is 84 million. The positive news is that since the end of May, customer deposits have started to grow again while operating costs have decreased. The relaunch of the Group continues – continued Iorio during the press conference to present the half-yearly report – especially after the intervention of the Atlante Fund. Furthermore, the network and branch strategy was partially redefined with a new model”.
