Barclays takes stock of European banks by reiterating the preference for Intesa Sanpaolo which remains one of the favorite names on the continent. Looking at the Italian players, overweight rating confirmed on Intesa Sanpaolo as well as on Mediobanca, Banco Bpm and Bper. On Unicredit and Credem, the opinion is equal weight. Only underweight is on MPS.
Pending the presentation of the new business plans, expected in the coming months, Barclays believes, in particular for Unicredit, that greater value can be generated by a refocusing of the stand-alone strategy rather than by hypothetical M&A scenarios (with Mps or Banco BPM) .
In the medium term, the preferred stock is Intesa because its strong current and potential ROTEs are competitive advantages and allowing for higher returns for shareholders.