On Thursday, May 16, the shareholders’ meetings of Banca di Roma
and Bipop-Carire

gave official approval to the project that will result in Gruppo Banca di Roma becoming the fourth-largest Italian banking company, under the name of Capitalia.
It was a very important day for the Italian credit system, when, at the two ends of the Rome-Milan axis, stockholders of both banks were called on the same day to approve the figures for 2001 and then the merger project. The formal – and fundamental - go-ahead for this important operation was the last step required to complete the process of creating Gruppo Bancario Capitalia, after the integration of Banco di Sicilia.

In fact, Italian banks seem to have identified company dimensions and the integration of complementary structures as the two essential factors for future evolution, not just as a means for facing competition, but rather as a way for increasing the short- and medium-term value of the companies involved. Although Bipop-Carire has shown dynamism and incisiveness in dealing with its clients, especially in the less traditional fields, the project of merging with Banca di Roma promises to boost the dimensional, structural and legal development of the resulting company. The “traditional” organisation of the Brescia-based bank, with its 300 branches, will enjoy the benefits of reinforced operational structures, while maintaining autonomous management and preserving the unity of its network and its brand name. The integration will provide the new Group with a basis of four million customers who will find service at 2,000 sales outlets throughout Italy. The aggregate broking margin for 2001 is over Euro 5 billion, overall funds are Euro150 billion and client loans amount to Euro75 billion. The industrial “value” of the operation is well expressed by the stock exchange capitalization. The joint capitalization of Bipop-Carire and Banca di Roma, at current levels, is worth more that Euro 6.5 billion, which ranks the new group at 7th place among the Italian banks listed at the stock exchange. The primary motives behind the company and industrial integration of Bipop-Carire and Banca di Roma was the intention of creating an integrated multichannel service group that could compete for primary positions in Italy and, in due time, on the European market. The two Groups were highly complementary in distribution, production and operational aspects. Before the merger, Gruppo Banca di Roma operated a network of more than 1,730 branches, distributed chiefly in southern and central Italy, with direct
Traslation by Interpres