An agreement to this effect has been signed between Mediobanca and Barclays.
Under the agreed terms, CheBanca! will acquire Barclays’ 89 branches, along with close to 550 commercial staff and 70 financial promoters.
The deal comes as Barclays is moving away from continental Europe, Bloomberg reported.
The acquisition will increase CheBanca’s clients by 40% to 770,000 and indirect funding from the current €3.1bn to €6.2bn.
It also includes 220,000 clients and residential mortgage loans totaling €2.9bn, with no non-performing items and aligned with CheBanca! quality standards.
CheBanca! CEO GianLuca Sichel said: "With this deal we wanted to provide some strong impetus to the CheBanca! growth plan.
"Acquisition of Barclays’ Italian retail activities will enable us to significantly enhance our client base while maintaining high quality levels, and to strengthen our capabilities and multi-channel business model which is unique on the market in terms of innovation and accessibility."
Subject to clearance from the authorities required by law, the acquisition is expected to be completed by 30 June 2016.
Mediobanca CEO Alberto Nagel said: "This deal confirms the Mediobanca Group’s desire to push CheBanca! to become the Italian householders’ asset management partner of choice through a material enhancement of both distribution platform and customer base.
"CheBanca! has confirmed its position as an important asset for us, both in terms of its contribution to Group revenues, and the innovativeness of its unique strategic and distribution model, which continues to anticipate developments in the macroeconomic and regulatory scenario of the financial services industry".
Barclays will, however, continue to operate its investment banking and corporate banking units in Italy, as reported by the publication.
Image: Barclays Bank HQ, Docklands, London. Photo: courtesy of Wikipedia.
