UniCredit-Commerzbank deal should be judged on financial strength – Bank of Italy

(Reuters) – The European Central Bank should evaluate any deal between Italian lender UniCredit and Germany’s Commerzbank (ETR:CBKG) purely based on the solidity of the resulting bank rather than national interests, ECB policymaker and Governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta said on Wednesday.

UniCredit is pressing for a tie-up with Commerzbank that has met with political opposition in Berlin and will need approval from the ECB, the euro zone’s top banking watchdog.

“The assessment on that deal should be based only on the strength of the entity which would be formed through the merger,” Panetta told an event in Washington. “There should be no discussion on nationalities. There is no match between Italy and Germany. This is not soccer.”

He added that he was “sure” the ECB’s supervisory arm, which for now needs to decide whether UniCredit can raise its Commerzbank stake to 29.9%, will base its assessment on an “objective analysis.”

The ECB’s top supervisor Claudia Buch also said last week that such decisions are based on “the prospects for stability and resilience” of the banks involved.