MILAN (Reuters) – The German embassy in Italy on Tuesday asked the country’s main banking union Fabi to explain the takeover battles rocking the sector, the union said.
During a meeting in Rome requested by the embassy, Fabi chief Lando Maria Sileoni and the embassy’s financial affairs advisor Benedikt Grodau discussed ongoing deals, banking regulation, the unions’ role and political implications, Fabi said in a statement.
Germany is closely monitoring the rapidly changing Italian financial sector and its cross-border implications, Fabi said.
Current M&A activity Italian banking includes UniCredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena bidding respectively for Banco BPM and Mediobanca.
In a move that angered the German government, last year UniCredit disclosed it had snapped un a hefty stake in Commerzbank and began pressing for a tie-up.
The Italian bank’s bid for Commerzbank was among the issues discussed at Tuesday’s embassy meeting, a source who attended the gathering said, without giving details.
UniCredit is awaiting European Central Bank approval for the 28% stake it has built in the German lender, for the most part using derivatives.
(Reporting by Andrea Mandala, editing by Gavin Jones)
