The persistence of the situation of general uncertainty, caused by the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic and accentuated by the recent and dramatic developments in international politics, also represented a particularly important challenge for Banco Bpm. This is how the president of the bank, Massimo Tononi, made his debut at the shareholders’ meeting in Novara (2,311 shareholders, owners of 674,840,468 shares equal to 44.538571% of the share capital) who approved the 2021 financial statements with the 99.18% of the votes in favor, the distribution of profits for the year with 99.7% and the remuneration policy with over 94%.
The year 2021 closed with a significant net profit: € 569 million (710 if we consider the Adjusted data) which, excluding the non-recurring components, reached levels higher than the pre-pandemic ones (2019 adjusted). These results have allowed the board of directors to propose, in line with the ECB’s indications, the distribution of a dividend of 19 cents per share which Tononi has defined as “a just recognition for our shareholders, trusted travel companions”.
2021 results “excellent and above market expectations”, even “better than the pre-pandemic ones, confirming the validity of the strategy implemented”, underlined the CEO, Giuseppe Castagna, noting the proposal for a dividend of 19 cents per share representative a payout of 50%, higher than the objectives set out in the strategic plan and with a dividend yield of 7% (based on the closing price as of April 6).
With regard to issues specifically related to the health emergency, the group’s entry into the phase of coexistence with the virus involved the study and consolidation of further operational and commercial innovations “which made it possible to better serve and support the customers and to adapt promptly and effectively to the new scenarios outlined by the pandemic. In this sense, the bank’s investment in the enhancement and renewal of digital services has proved to be a forward-looking and winning choice, which will be further strengthened in the near future ” , Tononi continued.
Even the recent war events, which fortunately did not have a direct impact on the bank, “saw our group play a proactive role right from the start, organizing, in collaboration with Caritas Italiana, the” Una mano per la Pace “initiative: a project designed to go beyond simple fundraising with the aim of sustaining and wide-ranging the refugees arriving in Italy “, recalled the president. Looking ahead, Banco Bpm is ready to fully commit to further and more specific measures in favor of businesses and households, “also in support of possible government measures, should the short-medium term consequences require it”, said Castagna, specifying that currently the
The positive accounts for 2021 result from a solid balance sheet structure that sees operating income rise to 4,511 million (+ 8.6% year on year), and the operating result to reach 1,995 million (+ 15.9% year on year). ) and the cost / income drop to 55.8% (from 58.5% in 2020). On the non-performing loans front, the de-risking strategy continued, which led to a reduction in gross non-performing loans from 3.6 billion at 31 December 2020 to 2.2 billion at the end of 2021 (-38.8%) and the decrease of gross Npls to a total of 6.4 billion compared to 8.6 billion in 2020 (-25.7%). The gross NPE ratio clearly benefited from this, which fell from 7.5% to 5.6% (4.3% according to the Eba calculation method).
“These indicators are expected to improve again in 2022, thanks to the continuation of the de-risking activity for about 1 billion euro. If we also consider this further derisking, the gross NPE ratio would be 4.8%, equal to about 3.7% according to the Eba calculation methodology “, Castagna pointed out, adding, with reference to the quality of the assets, that the moratoriums granted as part of the measures to support the economy for the Covid emergency (Banco Bpm ne had granted up to 16 billion), “have, for the most part, begun to be progressively repaid on a regular basis, showing a very low default rate of 1.5% at the beginning of the year. At the same time, he added,the capital position remained very solid with the Cet 1 Ratio Phased-In equal to 14.7%, while the Cet 1 Fully Phased stood at 13.4%, despite having recorded important regulatory headwinds in 2021 (-95 basis points) “.
In November last year, Banco Bpm presented the new 2021-2024 strategic plan to the market, which also capitalizes on the numerous opportunities provided by the NRP. “It provides for the progressive evolution of the service model in a digitalization key aimed at the growth of the core business; the enhancement of the product factories, and in particular of bancassurance, also in light of the review of the partnerships with Cattolica and Covea implemented in 2021; the normalization of the cost of risk, made possible by the improvement of the asset quality already higher than the objectives set for 2023 by the group in the framework of the old strategic plan; the contribution to cost containment deriving from the recent agreement on the redundancy fund and the rationalization of the branches “.
No surprise, therefore, from the shareholders’ meeting given that all the proxy advisors have expressed themselves favorably on the points relating to the remuneration policies, and on the stock market at the moment Banco Bpm stock rises by 1.88% to € 2.762. MF-Milano Finanza reported that the agreement that currently brings together 6.17% of Banco Bpm’s capital and composed of Inarcassa and five foundations (Enpam Foundation, Crt Foundation, CariLucca, Trento and Rovereto Foundation, Alessandria Foundation) would be of interest to include new subjects in order to further increase the shareholding structure, in view of the renewal of the Banco Bpm board, expected in 2023. The agreement between the foundations is now the first shareholder nucleus of the bank and acts as the main interlocutor in the event of transactions of M&A that may involve the bank. Several times there has been talk of a merger with Unicredit, but then, thanks to the war in Ukraine, everything ran aground. (All rights reserved)
