Veneto becomes Intesa: Acquisition expected to effect Albanian banking market

Intesa Sanpaolo Group in Italy formalized earlier this week the acquisition of two banks of the Veneto region, People’s Bank of Vicenza and Veneto Banca, which since two years have been in crisis and had been taken over by an Italian public equity fund.

This transaction also affects the Albanian banking market, given that among the assets acquired from Intesa Sanpaolo’s is Veneto Banka’s subsidiary in Albania.

Now, Veneto Banca Albania will become part of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, pending official approvals required by regulatory authorities, such as the Bank of Albania and the Competition Authority.

It is too early to say when the merger can occur between Intesa Sanpaolo and Veneto Banca in Albania, but, however, this will be the first merger between two banks in the banking market since 2008.

Even then, the merger was a result of a transaction between Italian banking groups.

Sanpaolo IMI Group, which had bought, one after the other, the Italian-Albanian Bank and the American Bank of Albania, was absorbed by the banking group Intesa, creating Banca Intesa Sanpaolo.

After the merger between the groups, the shareholders decided that the Italian-Albanian Bank should merge with the American Bank of Albania, which then took the name Intesa Sanpaolo Bank-Albania.

According to statistics from the Association of Albanian Banks, in 2016 Intesa Sanpaolo owned 10.86% of the total assets of the banking market in Albania, while Veneto Banca about 1.84%.

Taken together, the total value of both banks’ assets amounted to ALL 182 billion, or a total market share of 12.7%.

The expected merger will reduce the total number of banks in the Albanian market at 15, bringing the banking market towards a concentration and consolidation process, as has happened in many other European countries.

SCAN

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