Banking risk always in the foreground at Piazza Affari. To warm up today is the Bper stock which comes to score over + 4% at 2.076 euros, at the new annual tops. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has recorded more than + 42%. In the operating rooms there is a return to speculating on the next moves of M&A and today the possibility of a wedding between Bper and Banco BPM is back in the spotlight. According to KBW analysts, Banco BPM would make more sense to merge with BPER than a deal with UniCredit and they estimate a potential increase in EPS of 54%. Furthermore, KBW believes that a Banco-Bper combination would also be ideal for the Italian banking system, favoring a greater balance based on three large groups rather than two.
Last week, press rumors reported that Giuseppe Castagna, CEO of Banco BPM, recently updated the Board of Directors on the M&A issue, expressing his support for evaluating a combination with Bper in order to create a third banking hub.
Meanwhile, today Barclays took stock of the entire Italian banking sector, indicating Bper as the bank on which earnings per share were revised more upwards in the wake of the new guidance on the integration of the acquired branches. On Bper, the British investment bank has an overweight rating and in the current quarter sees the interest margin rise by 34% y / y to € 408 million, commissions jump by 47% to € 370 million, revenues by 34% to 838 million and net profit amounted to 178 million, or 80% more than a year earlier (adjusted net profit is expected at 128 million, + 263%).