Intesa Sanpaolo may buy large Russian bank

SOCHI, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo wants to buy a large Russian bank, Antonio Fallico, chairman of the board of directors of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Russian unit Banca Intesa, told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum.

“We will look at possibilities to buy another bank, and there will be a capital increase if it happens. We are now look for banks that are multi-purpose for us, banks with the bulk of clients coming from the corporate bloc,” he said.

“We think that a small bank in a large country is a big risk, so it means a lesser risk for us if we have a large bank in a large country.”

Intesa rated Russia’s 87 largest banks with assets of 61.6 billion rubles.

(57.9371 rubles – U.S. $1)

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