All the latest voltages in Banco Bpm

The comparison continues but between many difficulties. Last week the credit unions met with Banco Bpm's top management at the behest of the same company which, as a common note of Fabi, First Cisl, Fisac ​​Cgil, Uilca Uil and Unisin Confsal informs, “had committed itself only two days before to provide comprehensive answers to the problems still open ”. But things did not go very well and the trade unions warned: "Precisely because of a sense of responsibility, we have accepted to continue a confrontation that never really started, to try to give convincing answers to those we represent. If we do not verify a total change of course, we will evaluate the most appropriate initiatives ".

BECAUSE THE TRADE UNIONS ARE LAMINATED

"We had yet another confirmation of the lack of consideration that this group has for its personnel", the trade unions explain in the statement that among the various problems they recall "the one that most of all measures and then translates the efforts and sacrifices that all the staff has lavished for the achievement of those results so bandy about the four winds from corporate propaganda: the VAP (company bonus) "to be paid next June 2020.
"We cannot and do not want to enter into the sophisticated technicalities, nor into philosophical or political evaluations with respect to these results – they add -, we only record the situation, which we know well, in which these have been achieved. We truly congratulate all our colleagues for the miracle they managed to do, considering the organizational, management and administrative chaos of this group. "

During 2018, they recall, a new network model was introduced and more than 600 branches were closed, the headquarters offices were restructured and strategic assets were sold. "To date we are still suffering from operational disorganization and completely improvised processes that only convey a lack of confidence and future prospects. Heavy workloads for undersized staff ”. Furthermore, "continuous commercial pressure exerted despite the national and company agreement, disciplinary measures imposed on the slightest infringement and finally the confused and non-transparent management of the" diamond "repayment phase, made completely fall on the shoulders of colleagues. These problems have been repeatedly and constantly represented by the Trade Unions, almost never finding adequate answers ".

The truth – comments Piero Marioli, coordinator of the Fabi group Banco Bpm – is that “when it comes to recognizing concretely and not in words the effort made by colleagues in a year of work, the answer is always the same: moderation and incompatible requests in the system".

THE DIAMOND SCANDAL

Just the diamond scandal mentioned in the note by the trade unions is another of the issues that weighs in the management of the group, born in 2017 from the merger between Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano: in the last year it has lost 57% of its stock. value also for this reason. Moreover, according to what emerges in the 2018 budget report, the scandal weighs on the group's accounts for 318.3 million (last year alone, 275.3 million were set aside). Moreover, from the same document we learn that the number of complaints has gone from 1,250 in 2017 to 13,300 and that the claims for compensation have increased considerably, from 43 to 430 million.

In the affair – of which the closure of the investigation by the Milan prosecutor's office began at the beginning of October – Montepaschi, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca Aletti and two brokerage companies are also involved. Among the victims, even well-known personalities such as the former president of Assolombarda Diana Bracco and Vasco Rossi

WEDDING WITH UBI?

Banco Bpm is considered by many to be one of the protagonists of the next risk to privilege the establishment of larger and stronger groups, given that in the Italian banking system there are numerous small institutions rendered more fragile by the burden of impaired loans. In this sense, pressure comes from European Supervision and from the Bank of Italy itself, which recently returned to the subject by the mouth of the general manager Fabio Panetta who, however, referred in particular to the banks of the South. "The theme of mergers will come and we shareholders intend to be ready to play a leading role, he said recently in an interview with Sole 24 Ore Giandomenico Genta, member of the presidential committee of the shareholders' agreement formed in September in Ubi Banca, the main protagonist of the aggregative hypothesis with Banco Bpm. "Certainly sensible" the hypothesis of merger with Ubi, had said a few weeks before the managing director of Banco Bpm, Giuseppe Castagna.

However, analysts and observers have pointed out that if the two groups came together they would risk robust staff cuts and would need capital increases, as indicated in a report by Morgan Stanley.

WHO MAY BE IF IT GOES

To enrich the picture also some possible illustrious output. It appears that for the office of managing director of Sace, a subsidiary of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, in the place of Alessandro Decio, the name of Banco Bpm's CFO, Edoardo Ginevra, manager with a past in the Bank of Italy and in McKinsey, circulates.