MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Intesa Sanpaolo's dominant position in Italy would not be in danger if reported tie-ups among peers were to materialise, the bank's CEO said on Monday after weekend headlines
Intesa CEO Dismisses Concerns Over UniCredit and Generali Talks
Intesa's Position in the Italian Banking Market
MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Intesa Sanpaolo's dominant position in Italy would not be in danger if reported tie-ups among peers were to materialise, the bank's CEO said on Monday after weekend headlines about UniCredit and Generali.
Concerns Over Rival Consolidation
Addressing analysts after the bank published a strategy through 2029, CEO Carlo Messina said Intesa had no concerns about potential tie-ups between rivals.
Current Partnerships and Stake Changes
Intesa, which controls a fifth of the domestic banking market, has kept out of a consolidation wave in Italy and denied it is looking at the asset management business of Generali, Italy's biggest insurer.
Future Outlook and Strategy
Generali in December dropped a deal to combine its asset management operations with France's Natixis, fuelling speculation in the Italian press that both Intesa and UniCredit could be interested in the business.
Intesa has an in-house asset manager while UniCredit sold its fund business in 2017 to raise capital.
La Stampa daily reported that UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel would meet Generali CEO Philippe Donnet on Tuesday to restart conversations about potential partnerships.
UniCredit and Generali are already partners in some eastern European markets and Donnet said last April that they could explore further collaboration after UniCredit became an investor in Generali.
However, UniCredit failed to support Donnet in a shareholder vote last April and said in June it would gradually exit Generali's capital.
UniCredit has since cut its stake in Generali to just above 2% from 6.7% and Orcel said in November the bank was "observing the situation" at Generali.
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Susan Fenton)
