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«We know that mergers can have beneficial effects on economies of scale and diversification. Whatever we can do within our mandate to make sure that cross-border activity is not hindered, we certainly do.” The President of Banking Supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB), Claudia Buch, does not directly mention the UniCredit-Commerzbank case. But from Riga, during an event organized by the Central Bank of Latvia, he thus indirectly answered a question on the dossier that has attracted the attention of investors for weeks. No specific comment on the matter, says Buch, who recalls that the Single Supervision on cross-border mergers has “the same standards as the national ones” and is aware that mergers can “also lead to risks” and “we will evaluate this carefully”. Words in tune with those pronounced by the ECB president, Christine Lagarde, who in recent days had expressed herself in favor of cross-border deals, which “create great advantages and are desirable”. “Either we create a banking union or Europe risks, I don’t mean to say, heading towards decline, a term that was fashionable a few years ago, but certainly stopping even further”, replies the president of Unicredit, Pier Carlo Padoan, in during an event organized by Deloitte in Milan. According to the former minister, Unicredit’s move on Commerzbank «can offer an example, not a prescription, of how the positive effects of monetary and banking integration can emerge from an active and dynamic policy of banking systems». And the president of Intesa Sanpaolo, Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, also spoke on the topic. Who reiterated that “the growth” of Intesa Sanpaolo “is internal. We are present in 25 countries, on 5 continents, and we have this International Subsidiary Banks division which gives us a lot of satisfaction and is growing well.” In short, “we are not yet pan-European, it is not excluded that we will become so in the future, but for now we are rooting for Unicredit.”
