Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUniCredit's Banco BPM acquisition is poised for EU approval after agreeing to branch sales to address competition concerns. Italy's 'golden powers' invoked.
By Foo Yun Chee, Andrea Mandala and Valentina Za
BRUSSELS/MILAN (Reuters) -Italian bank UniCredit is expected to win European Union antitrust approval for its Banco BPM takeover bid after offering to divest 206 branches to ease competition concerns, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
The European Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer for the 27-country EU, is keen on banking consolidation to create strong lenders in the bloc, one of the people said.
The majority of branches to be divested are in northern and north-eastern Italy and will be Banco BPM's, the sources said.
The EU executive, due to rule on the bid by June 19, declined to comment.
UniCredit's bid prompted Italy to invoke its "golden powers" on the grounds of national security concerns and to set the terms of UniCredit's offer, which include keeping Banco BPM's loan-to-deposit ratio unchanged for five years post-acquisition.
Another condition is that UniCredit must not reduce Banco BPM's holdings of Italian securities tied to Anima Holding, a fund manager Banco BPM acquired earlier this year.
UniCredit has challenged the government-imposed conditions, with a court hearing set on July 9.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Andrea Mandala and Valentina Za in MilanEditing by David Goodman and Tomasz Janowski)
UniCredit plans to acquire Banco BPM and is expected to gain EU antitrust approval after agreeing to divest 206 branches to alleviate competition concerns.
The Italian government invoked its 'golden powers' to impose conditions on UniCredit's bid, including maintaining Banco BPM's loan-to-deposit ratio and its holdings of Italian securities tied to Anima Holding.
The European Commission is expected to rule on UniCredit's bid for Banco BPM by June 19.
The majority of the branches to be divested are located in northern and north-eastern Italy.
UniCredit has challenged the conditions imposed by the government, with a court hearing scheduled for July 9.
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