By Alberto Chiumento
(Reuters) – Six leading Italian banks reported a 7.6% annual increase in combined net profit last year, reaching 24.3 billion euros ($25.5 billion), despite falling interest rates.
Combined revenue rose 5.8% year-on-year to 69 billion euros with 40 billion deriving from the net interest income, a measure of profit from the gap between lending and deposit rates.
Net fees for services and transactions totalled 23.5 billion euros.
The six banks are Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM, BPER Banca, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and Banca Popolare di Sondrio.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT?
Prospective pressure on revenues from declining interest rates, coupled with large capital reserves banks accumulated during years of record profits, is seen driving the current consolidation wave sweeping through Italian finance.
BY THE NUMBERS
($1 = 0.9526 euros)
(Reporting by Alberto Chiumento; Editing by Valentina Za and Keith Weir)
