Italy's Numia appoints former SIA CEO Cordone as chairman

MILAN (Reuters) -Numia, a payments firm backed by Italy's third-largest bank Banco BPM, said on Monday it had appointed Nicola Cordone as chairman.

Cordone, 59, was chief executive of payment infrastructure provider SIA between 2018 and 2020, before it merged with rival Nexi in 2021. 

He has since held board and risk committee roles at major financial institutions.

He succeeds Massimo Arrighetti, who becomes honorary chairman.

Numia, led by CEO Fabio Pugini, was born in 2024 as a partnership between Banco BPM, which contributed its merchant payments business to the venture, and unlisted cooperative group Iccrea Banca, which had already joined forces in the payments business with domestic private equity group FSI.

The group said at the time it ranked as the second largest player in Italy, handling around 100 billion euros worth of transactions a year, with some 8 million cards and payment services for around 400,000 retail outlets.

FSI holds just under 43% of Numia, while Iccrea and Banco BPM each have 28.6%.  

(Reporting by Valentina ZaEditing by Keith Weir)