{"id":12411,"date":"2026-03-17T19:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?p=12411"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:07:49","slug":"why-are-we-handing-banco-bpm-to-the-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2026\/03\/17\/why-are-we-handing-banco-bpm-to-the-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We Handing Banco BPM to the French?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past three years, the government has profoundly reshaped the Italian banking system through a combination of direct interventions and new rules. The use of the public stake in MPS and the effects of the Capital Markets Law have altered the competitive landscape, particularly in the case of Banco BPM. The ECB\u2019s authorization for Cr\u00e9dit Agricole to increase its stake, combined with statutory changes, risks granting the French bank de facto control without passing through traditional antitrust scrutiny. A paradox, especially after UniCredit was blocked in the name of competition. The new structure could strengthen a dominant position in lending\u2014especially in Northern Italy\u2014and reduce managerial autonomy. Questions remain about the government\u2019s true objectives and the trade-offs behind a strategy that risks placing a significant part of Italy\u2019s financial system under foreign influence. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In just three years, the Meloni government has reshaped Italy\u2019s banking market in two ways. First, by strategically using its stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena\u2014decisive in the Tuscan bank\u2019s decision to launch a takeover bid for Mediobanca (see also Angelo Baglioni\u2019s article in this issue). Second, by exploiting the effects of the \u201cCapital Markets Law\u201d (enacted in March 2024), combined with the statutory changes that several banks\u2014Banco BPM in particular\u2014are preparing to adopt.<\/p>\n

In the case of Banco BPM, this combination could have significant implications for market concentration and, therefore, for competition among banks.<\/p>\n

How Cr\u00e9dit Agricole Could Gain Control of Banco BPM<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The European Central Bank has recently authorized Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\u2014currently the largest shareholder of Banco BPM\u2014to increase its stake beyond 20 percent, up to just under 30 percent of the bank\u2019s capital. At the same time, the ECB has required that, at the next shareholders\u2019 meeting in April, the French bank present no more than seven candidates for the board of directors, to prevent it from gaining direct control by appointing a majority of the board, which currently consists of fifteen members.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Banco BPM has proposed amendments to its bylaws that, if approved, would increase the number of board seats reserved for minority shareholders from three to six.<\/p>\n

How does this affect Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\u2019s position? Under the rules introduced by the Capital Markets Law, if the outgoing board presents its own slate of candidates, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole will be able to present a minority slate. Thanks to this mechanism, combined with the increase in minority-designated board seats, the French bank would effectively gain a veto power over the election of each board member\u2014including the CEO, chair, and vice chair.<\/p>\n

In this way, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole would acquire decisive influence over Banco BPM\u2014amounting to de facto control\u2014without any formal review or authorization by Italian or European antitrust authorities.<\/p>\n

This would be a troubling outcome, considering that Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and Banco BPM are direct competitors in several market segments. Today, Banco BPM is Italy\u2019s third-largest bank, with a particularly strong presence in Lombardy, where it provides between \u20ac40 and \u20ac60 billion in loans annually, compared with \u20ac35\u201345 billion for UniCredit, the country\u2019s second-largest bank.<\/p>\n

An Outcome Contrary to the ECB\u2019s Intentions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just one year ago, the government invoked golden power<\/em> to block UniCredit\u2019s takeover bid for Banco BPM, arguing that the merger would create a dominant position in certain regions of Northern Italy. Today, however, the combined effect of the Capital Markets Law and the proposed statutory changes could allow Cr\u00e9dit Agricole to exercise de facto veto power over the bank\u2019s governance.<\/p>\n

The outcome would therefore be the opposite of what the ECB intended, as it had sought precisely to limit the influence of the French shareholder over the Italian bank.<\/p>\n

There is another important point to consider: together, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and Banco BPM could reach a lending volume between \u20ac65 and \u20ac95 billion\u2014potentially exceeding that of Intesa Sanpaolo, the market leader.<\/p>\n

In short, the current regulatory and corporate framework risks enabling Cr\u00e9dit Agricole to exert decisive influence over individual board appointments, given that votes are cast separately for each candidate.<\/p>\n

A Gift to the French<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At this point, it would be worth clarifying the objectives the government intended to pursue with such a far-reaching intervention as the Capital Markets Law in the financial sector. Oversight and competition policy fall within the remit of the relevant authorities, which so far do not appear to have fully considered the interaction between antitrust rules, corporate governance provisions, and the statutory changes proposed by Banco BPM, nor the implications of the new legislation.<\/p>\n

Unless new remedies are imposed by the Italian Competition Authority, the combined effect of these changes effectively hands Banco BPM to the French.<\/p>\n

This raises an obvious question: why is the bank\u2019s management actively supporting this process, and why does the government appear to endorse it? In exchange for what? One would hope that the Minister of Economy is not defending Banco BPM simply because it has historically been close to a particular political party.<\/p>\n

It is also curious that Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\u2014although not formally a cooperative bank, as its parent company is publicly listed\u2014retains a governance structure similar to that of Italy\u2019s former \u201cpopolari,\u201d which were reformed in 2015 to eliminate the \u201cone-shareholder, one-vote\u201d principle. In Cr\u00e9dit Agricole, this principle does not apply at the listed level but does govern the cooperatives that control the group.<\/p>\n

So why are we handing over a significant part of our financial system to the French\u2014apparently without any clear quid pro quo?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Francesco Giavazzi is Professor Emeritus at Bocconi University. He holds a degree in engineering from Politecnico di Milano and a PhD in economics from MIT. He has served in government twice: in the early 1990s at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and in 2021\u20132022 at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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