By Ben Munster Francesca Micheletti
Both the EU executive and Milan prosecutors are now reportedly probing Rome’s handling of its sale of the MPS stake last November amid suggestions that it favored investors close to the government.
Vested interests and competitiveness concerns
The Commission鈥檚 frustration is due in part to the notion that banking consolidation, and the broader completion of a single market for financial services, is urgently needed to boost the bloc鈥檚 overall competitiveness. EU financial services chief Maria Lu铆s Albuquerque is taking every chance to emphasize that Europe needs bigger banks to compete with U.S. and Chinese rivals. Currently, JPMorgan alone is worth as much as the eurozone鈥檚 eight biggest banks put together. Any move to stop such consolidation must be 鈥減roportionate and based on legitimate public interests,鈥 spokesperson Gill said.
Rome鈥檚 three-party coalition may be keeping its cards close to its chest regarding its broader plans, but Spanish politicians haven鈥檛 even been trying to mask their motives. Jordi Turull, secretary-general of the Junts per Catalunya party that props up Pedro S谩nchez鈥 minority government in Madrid, complained to TV3 that the Spanish National Commission of Markets and Competition and European authorities had only presented 鈥渢echnical reasons鈥 for allowing BBVA to take over Sabadell.
鈥淣ow is the time for politics,鈥 he said, arguing that 鈥渢here are enough reasons鈥 for the government to get involved.
S谩nchez鈥 fragile minority government cannot pass legislation 鈥 nor a national budget 鈥 without the support of Catalan political parties that consider Sabadell鈥檚 independence a matter of regional pride. BBVA鈥檚 bid to take over the bank, which was founded in Barcelona over 100 years ago, has consistently faced broad political opposition in Catalonia. Separatist and unionist politicians have rallied around the bank, arguing the deal would reduce Sabadell鈥檚 presence in the region, particularly in already underserved rural area (they appear to have forgiven Sabadell鈥檚 rapid relocation of its domicile to the legal safety of Valencia when Catalonia pushed for independence back in 2017).
German roadblocks
Next in line for Commission scrutiny could be Germany, which is anything but keen for UniCredit to swallow Commerzbank, the country鈥檚 second-largest private sector bank. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel鈥檚 team received permission from the ECB in March to raise its stake to 29.9 percent. It currently holds 9.5 percent directly, and another 18.5 percent indirectly through derivatives, and has warned that converting those rights into physical shares still requires several other approvals, including from the German Federal Cartel Office.