Intesa Sanpaolo Receives ECB Approval for Monte dei Paschi Takeover

Intesa Sanpaolo received ECB approval to take control of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in a €31.4 billion ($34.93 billion) acquisition bid, including indirect control of Mediobanca, which Monte dei Paschi acquired in 2025. The deal still requires approval from Italian regulators, including Consob and the national antitrust authority. To address competition concerns, Intesa proposed selling about half of Monte dei Paschi’s branches to Unipol for a merger with BPER Banca. Monte dei Paschi is resisting the bid and has proposed acquiring Banco BPM and Banca Generali, with shareholders set to vote on those proposals Thursday.