Credit Agricole, one of France’s largest banks, has expressed its interest in buying up extra Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo branches that could become available as a result of a planned merger between the two Italian lenders.
Around 800 branches are expected to be put on the market as a result of the merger, either for antitrust reasons or simply because of a superfluous number of branches in some areas, particularly in the Lombardy region, local press report.
Credit Agricole already owns an 18 per cent stake in Banca Intesa, and has given its approval for the deal to go ahead, under the condition that it includes measures that would “safeguard and strengthen the strategic interests of Credit Agricole in Italy”, according to an official statement.
In an effort to achieve this it is expected that a current deal allowing Credit Agricole to distribute financial products through the Nextra Investment Management unit run by Banca Intesa will be kept.