MILAN, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has no tie-up options on the table at the moment even though a merger with UBI Banca would make sense industrially, the Monte dei Paschi CEO said in a newspaper interview on Friday. “From a purely industrial point of view the idea of (merging) with UBI presents positive aspects based in particular on the virtual lack of geographical overlap,” Fabrizio Viola told La Repubblica. Speaking about a possible three-way tie up with UBI and cooperative lender Banca Popolare di Milano, Viola said multiple mergers were very complex from an organisation point of view. “So I look at them with a degree of caution,” Viola said. Reporting by Stephen Jewkes
The CEO of Viola dei Paschi di Siena , Fabrizio Viola , has said that it is not interested or looking for acquisitions, even though he admits that a merger with UBI Banca would make sense. Banca Monte also suggested that any potential three -way merger would be difficult, given the inherent complexities of such a move. Italian banks are under increasing pressure to merge, to help them alleviate some of the problems associated with the € Fabrizio Viola of bad loans they collectively have on their books.