(13 January 2017 – Italy) The country’s fifth largest bank by assets, UBI Banca has been given the green light to purchase three domestic lenders for just buy for one euro from the state.
The sale of Marche, Etruria and Carich banks will proceed only on the condition that the “good” banks are relieved of €2.2 billion in bad loans. A fourth rescued bank by the government, CariFerrara, was not included in the sale.
The bank stated that it will seek to raise an additional €400 million in capital.
The move by UBI follows an auction of the small banks rescued by the government of Matteo Renzi, former prime minister, in November 2015 and the nationalisation of Monte dei Paschi di Siena after Italy’s third-largest bank by assets failed to raise new capital demanded by regulators in December.
Italy’s finance minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, said he was “convinced” the deal was good for the bank and confidence in the country’s banking system.