Overview
- Banco Bpm’s board unanimously decided to stop consultations with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and informed MPS of the halt, a step taken Friday after nearly two months of talks that began with Banco Bpm’s June 7 letter.
- Crédit Agricole, which holds about 29.3% of Banco Bpm, publicly opposed the proposed aggregation earlier the same day and its CEO said the group would not support moves done without its agreement.
- Banco Bpm said it still sees a strategic rationale in the idea but that the necessary conditions to reach a shared deal did not materialize and that the bank will remain focused on executing its Strategic Plan.
- The proposed merger had been presented as a near‑equal tie-up to create a leading Italian banking group and to offer an alternative to Intesa Sanpaolo’s takeover bid for MPS, but those defensive aims no longer drive the process.
- Crédit Agricole signaled a preferred alternative of closer consolidation with Crédit Agricole Italia, a shift that could reshape future consolidation in Italy and keep MPS’s fate linked to Intesa’s bid and market moves by large shareholders.