Intesa prepares Monte dei Paschi bid to block rival merger

Italy's biggest bank is mobilizing to torpedo a merger that would create a serious rival. Banco BPM unanimously approved a letter to Monte dei Paschi proposing an aggregation that would create Italy's second-largest banking group worth roughly €50 billion. Within hours, Intesa Sanpaolo convened its board to prepare a counter-bid for MPS, aiming to block the deal that would strengthen its main domestic competition. The stakes are clear: a successful BPM-MPS merger would create a national champion directly behind Intesa, while an Intesa-MPS combination would cement the market leader's dominance. With the Italian state still holding a major MPS stake and €1.1 billion in synergies on the table, this is shaping up as the biggest European banking consolidation play of 2026.