BPER Banca S p A : 1H21 consolidated results approved - Communication concerning General Management

At its meeting today, the Board of Directors of BPER Banca examined and approved the Bank separate and Group consolidated results as at 30 June 2021, which are inclusive of the P&L contribution of the business unit acquired from Intesa Sanpaolo, consisting of 620 branches.

Bper's Chief Executive Officer Piero Luigi Montani commented: 'The first half of the year saw the completion of the major strategic project which has allowed the BPER Banca Group to make a significant leap in size thanks to the acquisition of 620 branches from Intesa Sanpaolo, whose integration process was successfully brought to a close. We have paid particular attention to the needs of our customers and the specificities of our footprint areas, as proven by the trust that new customers have continued to place in us since they joined our Group. Among other factors, the contribution of the acquired business unit enabled the Group to post very positive results for the period, which are reflective of an increase in core business profitability, driven primarily by the growth in commission income as a combined result of the recovery in transaction banking with customers and the placement of asset management and bancassurance products. The good operating performance also runs in parallel with a steadily improving credit quality, as reflected by the gross and net NPE ratios declining to 5.7% and 2.8% respectively. We are confident that our prudential approach to provisioning will enable us to benefit from a lower cost of credit in the future. As regards capital, results have confirmed the capital strength achieved by the Bank with the fully phased CET 1 ratio settling at 13.5%, comfortably in excess of the minimum SREP requirement. The integration has significantly strengthened the Group's competitive position and will now enable us to focus on a twofold objective: commercial growth, in response to increasingly higher expectations from customers, and actions to increase operational efficiency and rationalise the cost structure. These objectives will lie at the basis of our Business Plan for 2022-2024, which will outline the strategy for a new phase of growth for our Group, while at the same time contributing to sustaining the economic recovery of our country'.