Monte dei Paschi di Siena

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A.
Type Società per azioni
Traded as BIT: BMPS
Industry Financial services
Founded 1472
Headquarters Siena, Italy
Key people Antonio Vigni (CEO), Giuseppe Mussari (Chairman)
Products Retail and investment banking, insurance, investment management
Revenue €4.251 billion (2010)[1]
Profit €985.5 million (2010)[1]
Total assets €244.3 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity €17.16 billion (end 2010)[1]
Employees 31,880 (average, 2010)[1]
Subsidiaries MPS Finance, Banca Toscana, Antonveneta
Website mps.it

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (MPS) is the oldest surviving bank in the world. Founded in 1472 by the Magistrate of the city state of Siena, Italy, as a mount of piety, it has been operating ever since. Today it consists of approximately 3,000[2] branches, 33,000[2] employees and 4.5 million customers in Italy, as well as branches and businesses abroad. A subsidiary, MPS Finance, handles investment banking.[3]

Contents

Expansion

In 2007-2008 the bank acquired Banca Antonveneta from Grupo Santander for 9 billion Euro,[2] becoming Italy's third largest bank after UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo.[2] Some 400 of Antonveneta branches in north-eastern Italy will retain the old nameplate, others are, as of June 2009, being rebranded to MPS standards.[2] In 2007 MPS was also considering taking over Capitalia, which was eventually taken over by rival Unicredit.[4]

MPS made net profit of 953 million Euro in 2008, 30% less than in 2007.[2] In March 2009 it announced seeking 1.9 billion Euro capital infusion from the government of Italy, structured as non-voting convertible bonds.[2]

MPS headquarters in the Palazzo Salimbeni in Siena are host to an art collection and a large number of priceless historical documents spanning the centuries of its existence. However, this collection is not usually open to the public. Most recent publicly known acquisition of art, a gold-plated panel by Segna di Bonaventura, cost the bank nearly one million Euro.[5] It is also internationally known as the primary sponsor of Italian basketball club Mens Sana Basket of Siena, currently in Lega A and a regular participant in the Euroleague.

Major shareholders

Main shareholders of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, situation at 10/12/2009[6]:

Airport expansion

The bank is funding the expansion of a small airport to become an international airport at Ampugnano, in the heart of the Tuscan countryside

Both international and local groups have raised objections to this expansion on the grounds it will damage the natural beauty of the area, the environment and the attraction of the countryside to tourism.[7][8]

External links

References