Intesa Receives ECB Authorisation to Take Control of Monte dei Paschi

Intesa Sanpaolo has secured European Central Bank (ECB) approval to take control of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a key regulatory milestone in its 31.4 billion euro ($34.93 billion) acquisition bid. The ECB also granted approval for Intesa to assume indirect control of Mediobanca, which was acquired by Monte dei Paschi in 2025. While the ECB has cleared the transaction, Intesa still requires approval from Italian regulators, including Consob and the national antitrust authority. To address potential antitrust concerns, Intesa has proposed divesting approximately half of Monte dei Paschi's branches to Unipol, which would then merge them with BPER Banca. Meanwhile, Monte dei Paschi management has actively resisted the bid, recently proposing its own acquisition of Banco BPM and Banca Generali, with a shareholder vote on those counter-proposals scheduled for Thursday.