While the Italian financial circuit has been abuzz with UniCredit’s reported bid of taking a significant stake in Germany’s Commerzbank, the European country’s biggest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has ruled out takeover talks around Generali, despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Both UniCredit and Intesa, in Q1 2026, have gained from the positive trends in the Italian financial sector, such as a rise in net fees, while further consolidating income from their lending activities. Talking about Intesa, the latter stuck to its full-year outlook, with its CEO, Carlo Messina, saying he did not consider it wise to improve guidance just one quarter into the 2026-27 financial year.
In the January-March 2026 period, Intesa’s revenue rose 5% year-on-year to 7.15 billion euros (USD 8.4 billion), above an LSEG consensus estimate of 6.91 billion euros, with net fees setting a record for the Q1. Net income simultaneously topped expectations, rising 6% to 2.76 billion euros.
The venture also witnessed a trading income of 505 million euros, a 10-fold rise from the previous three months and nearly double that of a year ago, due to its 400-million-euro worth of gains from its securities portfolio and treasury-related operations.
“Net-net, our expectation is to continue to have a good trend for 2026,” Messina said, while indicating that costs and net lending income were likely to yield “positive surprises.”
The Intesa CEO further stated that antitrust limits stopped Intesa from considering any moves on Generali despite having a business model based on asset management and insurance.
“The future of Generali, Italy’s biggest insurer, has become a focus of interest in a consolidation wave sweeping Italian finance, and rival factions have long tussled over its governance. Monte dei Paschi has not ruled out selling its recently acquired Generali stake. Family investment vehicle Delfin, another major shareholder, is going through an internal reorganisation that may see it dispose of some holdings. Meanwhile, UniCredit has built a stake in the insurer,” reported Reuters.
Intesa, which became the Italian financial sector leader by securing a fifth of the market with its acquisition of UBI in 2020, has not joined the current round of banking consolidation.