Crédit Agricole has proposed to Banco Bpm to start negotiations regarding a merger between Banco Bpm and Crédit Agricole Italia. We read it in a note. The merged entity would be centered around Banco Bpm and would continue to be listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
Crediti Agricole explains that the proposal towards Banco Bpm is a “friendly proposal”, “subject to the evaluation of the board of directors” of Piazza Meda, and “represents a natural extension of the long-term partnership between Banco Bpm and Credit Agricole and of the mutual trust established between the two groups”. This can be read in the French group’s ntoa.
Banco Bpm confirms that it has received the proposal from Credit Agricole for an aggregation with its Italian activities while no other indications from the Piazza Meda institution have filtered out for now, waiting for the integration hypothesis to be examined by the bank’s bodies.
Last week, during the conference call on the accounts, CEO Giuseppe Castagna defined the possibility of a marriage with the French as “an opportunity that we will examine”, underlining that Agricole should have been the one to “make the first move”. “Our task – he said – is to make this transaction positive, satisfying and convenient for our shareholders”, including that 70% of the Banco’s capital in the hands of shareholders other than Banque Verte.
Banco Bpm, 1,400 branches and 3.6 million customers
Banco Bpm, the group that Credit Agricole asked to start negotiations for a friendly merger, was born on January 1, 2017 when two large cooperative banks, Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano, merged and transformed into joint stock companies. For the Milanese institute, over the months, the ops launched by Unicredit (also due to the golden power established by the government), the marriage between equals that Piazza Meda had proposed to MPS and subsequently the ops that Siena had launched on the Piazza Meda group foundered. Banco Bpm closed 2025 with profit above targets at 2.1 billion euros. The group, according to what can be seen from the bank’s institutional website, has 1,400 branches, including those of Azimut, Banca Aletti, Banca Akros and Webank. Customers stand at 3.6 million of which 87% are people, 13% companies and professionals (of which 1% are non-profit).
The strength of the group shines through “the numbers that distinguish its development, a constantly growing reality made up above all of people and small-medium sized businesses”, explains the bank. The group has 19,000 employees of which 47% women and 53% men. The bank is present in many Italian regions including Lombardy (491 branches), Veneto (157), Piedmont (150), Emilia Romagna (149), Tuscany (126), Liguria (72), Lazio (64), Sicily (53), Campania (34), Puglia (32), Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige (7 each), Molise, Umbria and Valle D’Aosta (5 each), Basilicata (2), Abruzzo, Calabria, Marche and Sardinia (1). The bank’s largest shareholder is Credit Agricole with 29.6% of the capital. Just in recent weeks the French have made their voice heard by underlining that their preferred option in the context of banking risk would be a merger between Banco Bpm and Credit Agricole Italia. The second largest shareholder is Blackrock, with just over 5%, while 5.9% of the shares refer to the consultation agreement to which some foundations and social security institutions are members.
Crédit Agricole has been present in Italy for more than 50 years
Crédit Agricole has been present in Italy for more than 50 years, and is one of the companies that has 2.9 million customers, 12,400 collaborators and 1,000 points of sale. The support for the economy and families is demonstrated by 300 thousand home loans in 10 years, for a value of 37 billion euros, and 68 billion euros in loans to customers, with leadership in Agri Agro. It is among the Italian banks most “recommended by its customers and the attention to sustainability and communities is also demonstrated by the Territorial Committees, made up of entrepreneurs and representatives of the productive world”, explains Credit Agricole. The bank has carried out initiatives in the social, art, culture and sport sectors, for over 26 million euros since 2020. The presence of some banking foundations in the bank’s capital constitutes an even closer link with the territories. The bank also supports innovation through the “Villages”, with more than 200 startups and 100 partners. Since 2022, the institute has hired over 2,000 collaborators, of which over 80% are under 35. The Crédit Agricole Group in Italy is made up of the bank and more than 10 companies specialized in various financial and insurance services.