Italy's Intesa sees no benefit in seeking a European merger

Italy's Intesa sees no benefit in seeking a European merger
FILE PHOTO: The Intesa Sanpaolo logo is seen in Milan, Italy, January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini Copyright Stefano Rellandini(Reuters)
Copyright Stefano Rellandini(Reuters)
By Reuters
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TURIN, Italy (Reuters) - Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, does not see any possible benefit from a merger with another European bank, Chief Executive Carlo Messina said on Tuesday.

Messina made the comment to reporters when asked about last week's collapse of merger talks between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, a breakdown that has sparked talk that other banks could now be interested in Commerzbank.

"We don't have any proposal on the table because we don't see any possible synergies from a merger with another European banking group," he said after Intesa's annual meeting in Turin.

Messina said he did not believe in a new wave of banking consolidation in Europe because "it will not be easy to create cost synergies that are the real issue of this kind of deals".

He also dismissed the idea of a merger in Italy.

"In Italy we have a big market share so we can't take any advantage from a merger with other banks," Messina added.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; Editing by Giulio Piovaccari and Martk Bendeich)

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