Cathal McElroy

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA believes its €30.6 billion bid for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA can help it become Italy's version of Swiss wealth management giant UBS Group AG, CEO Carlo Messina said. Intesa is targeting €2 trillion of customer financial assets by 2029 if the deal succeeds. The bank currently manages assets of €1.46 billion. UBS's balance sheet grew by almost half when it acquired collapsed rival Credit Suisse Group AG in 2023.

Italy's largest banks are upbeat about their prospects for 2026 after a first quarter in which all five of the country's largest lenders surpassed profit expectations. UniCredit SpA led the pack with an almost 17% year-over-year increase in profit to €3.17 billion. This beat analysts' consensus estimates by 17.4%, the biggest surprise among the five lenders, according to Visible Alpha data. Revenue increased 4.9% to €6.87 billion, beating the consensus by 3.1%.

Pressure on European banks to enhance efficiency through greater AI adoption appears to have intensified in the early months of 2026, based on executive commentary during conference calls.