Banking sector in turmoil. The popular banks are carrying out a series of preliminary talks for the choice of advisors who will follow the credit institutions in the merger processes. The first step is precisely the choice of advisors which will be followed by the real banking risk that will lead to the consolidation of cooperative banks. The selected consultants will have the task of advising and accompanying cooperative banks in choosing the most suitable partner.
During the weekend, a series of shareholders' meetings, which involved Banca Popolare, Bpm, Popolare di Vicenza and Creval, gave the go-ahead to dance. Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca actually already made their choice in March: the former assigned the mandate to Mediobanca and the latter to Rothschild. In addition to certainties, we can count on rumors. For Bpm, the most likely advisor seems to be Mediobanca, while Banco Popolare could turn to the Swiss bank Ubs. There are also rumors about Bper which could look favorably on Mediobanca, Citigroup or Jp Morgan.
Consultations are underway and the map of advisors for cooperative banks is constantly changing. Given the climate of total uncertainty, we cannot rule out a twist and the entry into the game of unexpected players, first and foremost Lazard, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.
Next weekend is also expected to be intense for the banking sector: in fact, the shareholders' meetings of Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Banca Popolare di Sondrio and Veneto Banca are scheduled. Then, after the long series of assemblies and informal meetings, in the coming weeks we will have to move on to more in-depth evaluations and the assignment of tasks. The final choice of advisors will give the go-ahead for the actual banking risk.
