Italian Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg’s commitment to Luxembourg should soon be further strengthened: 50 years after the European Banking Society was founded by Banca Commerciale Italiane (on 2 June 1976) in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg entity is said to have finalised the merger by acquisition and integration of its Irish “sister,” multiple sources confirm.
This clearly marks the Italian group’s commitment to continuing its growth in Luxembourg and consolidating Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg’s role as a European centre of competence for international investment banking activities, with a high level of specialisation, among other things, in project finance, structured export finance, fund finance, complex corporate loans and other banking and financial services to its international corporate customers.
Historically, in January 2002, Société Européenne de Banque incorporated the activities of Banca Intesa International Luxembourg and, since 1 January 2007, it has been part of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, which was formed by the merger of two major Italian banks, Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI. It was finally on 5 October 2015 that Société Européenne de Banque changed its name to Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg.
The bank has grown steadily and consistently in recent years, in line with its strategy of offering banking and financial services to the international corporate clients of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, focusing mainly on Europe. Most recently, it has also provided strong support for artistic and cultural activities.
Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg has more than €22bn in assets under management, €2.6bn in equity and achieved a net operating margin of €285m.
According to our information, the transaction is expected to be finalised at the end of the year. Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Ireland would then cease operations and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg, with around 200 staff today, would have more than €31bn in credit assets, around €3.7bn in equity and an operating margin of around €380m, making it one of the top banking players in Luxembourg.
This article was originally published in French.
