Identification of other systemically important institutions authorized to operate in Italy

In its statement issued last November, and based on data as of the end of 2024, Banca d'Italia identified the banking groups Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM, ICCREA and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro as Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) authorized to operate in Italy. Starting from January 1, 2026, Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM, ICCREA and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro are required to hold an O-SII capital buffer equal to 1.25, 1.25, 0.50, 0.25 and 0.25 per cent respectively of their total risk-weighted exposures. The identification procedure conducted last November was unable to consider the consolidation operations carried out last year involving the BPER Banca and Banca Popolare di Sondrio groups, as well as the Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Mediobanca groups, since the related identification procedure had been initiated before these transactions were completed.

Once the aforementioned transactions had been completed, Banca d'Italia initiated a new procedure concerning the BPER Banca and Monte dei Paschi di Siena groups in their new forms. Both groups have been identified as O-SIIs authorized to operate in Italy and, starting from April 1 2026, they will be required to maintain an O-SII buffer equal to 0.50 per cent of their total risk-weighted exposures (see Table 1).

Table 1

The decision on the O-SII buffers was taken pursuant to Banca d'Italia's Circular No. 285/2013 (prudential regulations for banks), which implements Directive 2013/36/EU and specifies the criteria on which the methodology for identifying O-SIIs is based. The assessment was conducted in accordance with the European Banking Authority Guidelines (EBA/GL/2014/10), which set out the criteria and data required to identify O-SIIs in EU Member States.

The assessment covered all banking groups and stand-alone banks operating in Italy. For each bank/banking group, the identification considered the four categories established by the EBA guidelines, i.e. size, importance for the Italian economy, complexity and interconnectedness with the financial system.

The overall score indicating the national systemic importance of Monte dei Paschi di Siena and BPER Banca, in their new configuration, exceeds the threshold of 300 basis points (bps) used by Banca d'Italia (see Table 2).

table 2

To support the calibration of the O-SII buffer, an eight-bucket scheme of systemic importance is used; each bucket is associated with a higher buffer (see Table 3).

table 3

Pursuant to the regulations, the decisions on identifying O-SIIs and on the level of the O-SII buffers will be reviewed at least once a year.