Italy

Ryanair’s chief commercial officer on Thursday denied any interest in buying Air Italy after press reports linking his group to the loss-making airline, which was put into liquidation by its owners earlier this week, Reuters reported. Air Italy’s owners Qatar Airways and regional carrier Alisarda blamed “persistent and structural market problems” for the decision to pull the plug on Tuesday. Asked about Italian press reports that Ryanair was preparing an offer, chief commercial officer David O’Brien said his group was not interested and had not been approached. “Let’s clear the room ...

The head of Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit and the deputy chairman of No.2 lender Intesa Sanpaolo are among 21 people investigated by state prosecutors in an inquiry into the bankruptcy of flagship carrier Alitalia, a document sent to the people and their lawyers showed, Reuters reported. The document, seen by Reuters, said the investigation relates to the period between Jan. 1, 2015 and May 2, 2017 when the loss-making carrier asked to be put under special administration for the second time in less than a decade.

Air Italy’s investors agreed on Tuesday to place the struggling Italian carrier into liquidation, the airline said citing “persistent and structural market problems,” Reuters reported. The decision was taken “unanimously”, the carrier said, but in a separate statement Qatar Airways, which holds a 49% stake, said it would have been ready to support the relaunch and growth of the airline. “Qatar Airways was ready once again to play its part in supporting the growth of the airline, but this would only have been possible with the commitment of all shareholders,” Qatar said.

UniCredit confirmed plans to cut 6,000 jobs in Italy over the next four years as the country’s biggest bank began the negotiation process with unions on Monday over layoffs and branch closures, Reuters reported. In December UniCredit unveiled a new plan to 2023, under which it would cut 8,000 jobs and close 500 branches, angering Italian unions, which said then that they expected 5,500 layoffs in Italy and up to 450 branch closures.

Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s debt rating could be upgraded by Fitch if the lender manages to complete a planned sale of bad loans without eating into its capital base excessively, the ratings agency said on Monday, Reuters reported. Italy, which owns 68% of Monte dei Paschi after a 2017 bailout, has been in talks with EU competition authorities for months over a scheme to rid the bank of most its remaining impaired loans without subjecting it to heavy losses.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, the state-rescued Italian bank, missed income targets set out in its restructuring plan, which may force the bank to cut an additional 100 million euros ($110 million) of costs, Bloomberg News reported. The Siena-based bank swung to a fourth-quarter loss after it wrote down 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of deferred tax assets to comply with changes in Italy’s 2020 budget law, it said in a statement on Friday. Net operating income, which excludes the writedowns, totaled 23 million euros on higher revenue and cost reductions.

Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit on Thursday posted a lower-than-expected fourth quarter net loss driven by one-off costs and writedowns of problem loans, while meeting its full-year underlying net profit target, Reuters reported. UniCredit has undergone a major restructuring in the past three years under French boss Jean Pierre Mustier, who has slashed costs, dumped bad debts and sold assets, shrinking the bank’s international presence.

Italy’s UBI is set to extend an insurance partnership with Cattolica for a limited time, sources familiar with the matter said, delaying longer-term decisions while it waits to see how consolidation among mid-sized banks plays out, Reuters reported. Italy’s fifth-largest bank is seen playing a leading role in a new round of M&A between second-tier lenders grappling with negative rates, a stagnating economy and a digital revolution in the industry.

State-owned Monte dei Paschi joined fellow Italian banks in a start-of-year bond issuance rush on Wednesday, paying an 8% coupon to sell a junior bond to fulfil commitments under its bailout agreement, Reuters reported. Italian lenders, including UniCredit, Banco BPM and UBI Banca, have sold higher risk and relatively costlier debt this month, taking advantage of investors’ moves to start to spend their new year budgets.

In 2012 eurozone leaders vowed to break the “doom loop” by which national governments and their banking systems could drag each other down in a financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. This began the long journey towards a banking union in which taxpayers would no longer be on the hook for failing banks. Had the leaders fully understood what they were signing up for, they may not even have started.