«Since the autumn of last year, both the ministry and the bank have been active in the search for a partner for MPS. It is possible that the Mef will receive shares of the Unicredit group “against the sale of Montepaschi to the Milanese bank,” but any such participation in the capital should not alter the balance of governance. In any case, the State will participate in all the economic benefits in terms of value creation deriving from the operation “, clarified the Minister of Economy Daniele Franco, in a hearing at the closed Stock Exchange before the joint Finance Committees of the Chamber and Senate on the MPS dossier. The new industrial plan of Mps, he stressed, “presents objectives that do not comply with the requests of the European Commission, in particular the cost reduction set at 51% of revenues from Brussels, while according to the plan, 74% is expected in 2021 and again 61. % by 2025 “.
The clarification in the reply: we will not close with Unicredit at any cost
In the final reply to the interventions, regarding the possible aggregation with Unicredit, the minister then specified “we will not close with Unicredit at any cost”. For Montepaschi, he said, “we have a single counterpart that has come forward” but “we will propose a final package only if we are convinced that it will be adequate but if we think it is not, we will not try to close it at all costs”. “I hope it will close and I strongly hope it will – said Franco -, and I believe there is room for solutions but we will not close at any cost, neither we nor Unicredit”.
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Risk of well over 2,500 redundancies with EU stakes
“There are no conditions for a request to the EU on postponement of deadlines – explained the minister in his speech -. There is no risk of breaking up the bank. In the probable case in which the dialogue with the commission requires setting a more ambitious cost-revenue target, the redundancies could be considerably higher “compared to the 2,500 volunteers currently set”. Franco spoke of “maximum attention to 21 thousand employees with multiple tools”. “It will not be a sale of state property – he then assured -. Unicredit is a strategically superior solution for the country’s interest », he assured.
Need higher increase than the plan
“The outcome of the stress test – said Franco – confirms the need for a large-scale structural strengthening” for Mps and “to bring it to average values of European banks” would require “an increase well above that envisaged by the 2020 plan- 2025 “of 2.5 billion euros. “For the purposes of a possible increase in the capital of Banca Mps, which becomes necessary within the overall structure of the transaction, the resources allocated by article 66 of law decree 104 of 2020, the so-called August decree, can be used say up to 1.5 billion. The stand-alone plan – continued the head of the Economy – would be exposed to considerable risks and uncertainties and serious competitiveness problems ».
To date with Unicredit no stew risk
The minister clarified that “at the moment there are no indications that suggest the risk of dismemberment” of Montepaschi with a merger with Unicredit. “The excluded assets, to date, are identified in impaired loans for about four billion before adjustments”, said Franco, in addition to the outstanding judicial and extrajudicial litigation in progress, in disputes and risks related to the sale of loans to third parties deteriorated.