Posted By Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on February 4, 2025

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo on Tuesday improved its profit outlook for 2025 as it reported a 6% drop in fourth quarter income driven by staff exit charges, which outweighed higher revenues.
Intesa, which at end of each year decides on additional shareholder rewards on top of its 70% cash payout ratio, said its board had approved a 2 billion euro ($2.1 billion) share buyback out of 2024 earnings, that will start in June.
Intesa said net income this year will be "well above" 9 billion euros, improving its earlier guidance for a 2025 net profit of "around" 9 billion. ($1 = 0.9686 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir)