Intesa Sanpaolo H1 2026 Earnings Call - Upgrades 2026 Net Income Guidance Above EUR 10B on Record Profitability and MPS Acquisition Momentum

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of Intesa Sanpaolo for the presentation of the first half 2026 results, hosted today by Mr. Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer. My name is Nadia, I will be your coordinator for today’s conference. At the end of the presentation, there will be the question and answer session. To enter the queue for questions, please press star one one at any time. You will then hear an automatic message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw a question, please press star one and one again. You are kindly invited to ask no more than two questions as to leave room for other participants. In case of additional questions, the IR team will be at your disposal after the conference call. I remind you that today’s conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Carlo Messina, CEO. Sir, you may begin.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Welcome to our first half 2026 results conference call. This is Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, I’m here with Luca Bocca, our CFO, and Marco Delfrate and Andrea Tamagnini, Investor Relations officers. We have just delivered our best six months ever. With net income of EUR 5.6 billion, including EUR 2.8 billion in the second quarter, making it the best quarter ever. Our analyzed return on equity reached 20%, with return on tangible equity of 25%, while earnings per share increased by 9% year-on-year. These excellent results allow us to upgrade with confidence our 2026 net income guidance to more than EUR 10 billion, reflecting the quality and sustainability of our earnings. The execution of our business plan continues at full speed, with key initiatives well underway.

We are operating from a position of strength, thanks to our best-in-class asset quality and our resilient and well-balanced business model. The Monte Paschi di Siena transaction will further accelerate the execution of our business plan and create additional value. Italy’s resilient economy and strong SMEs continue to provide a supportive environment for our business. In the first half, our high-quality revenues were supported by all-time high commissions and insurance income. While customer financial assets grew to more than EUR 1.5 trillion, showing continued commercial momentum. Net interest income accelerated in the second quarter, also thanks to loan and deposit growth. We further reduced costs while investing in technology, accelerating the generational change of our workforce, and delivering significant efficiency gains. We maintain a rock-solid capital position with a common equity tier one ratio of 13.1%. Our offer for Monte Paschi di Siena is well on track.

The transaction is fully consistent with our business plan and with our disciplined approach to growth and value creation. It will further strengthen our leadership in Italy while reinforcing our position among Europe’s leading bank groups, with zero integration risk. Intesa Sanpaolo continues to offer one of the highest dividend yields in European banking. In 2026, we expect to return EUR 9.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. I’m proud of our results and thank our people for their excellent contribution. Now let’s turn to slide one for key achievements of the first half. In the first half, we delivered record high six-month and quarterly profitability with the lowest ever cost-income ratio, excellent asset quality, and high sustainable increasing value creation and distribution. Slide two. In this slide, you can see the impressive growth in net income that has more than doubled in six years. Slide number three.

In the first six months, we delivered a significant increase in earnings per share, dividend per share, and tangible book value per share. In November, we will pay a EUR 3.8 billion interim dividend. Slide number four. As you can see in this slide, we are on a solid growth path with loans and deposits accelerating in Q2. Loans to customers have grown for five consecutive quarters and are up 5% yearly. Customer financial assets are growing strongly, with deposits increasing by 7% and assets under management up EUR 49 billion. Slide number five. As said before, thanks to our excellent six-months performance, we are in a comfortable position to upgrade the 2026 net income guidance to above EUR 10 billion, leaving room for further improvements. Slide number six.

Our excellent profitability allow us to benefit all our stakeholders, sustain the real economy, and strongly support the fight against poverty and inequalities, something that I personally care about deeply. Slide number seven. In this slide, you have a recap of the three pillars of our business plan presented in February. The plan is proceeding at full speed, we have already launched all the initiatives. In the appendix, you have an update on the most significant ones. The Monte dei Paschi di Siena transaction will trigger additional growth with no integration risk. The industrial rationale is strong, as we have captured a unique strategic opportunity that can accelerate our business plan growth initiatives and create value for all stakeholders. In short, we will immediately exceed our business plan targets for wealth management, Corporate & Investment Banking, and consumer finance.

We will enlarge our customer base, and we will create and distribute significant value at no social cost, with a strong accretion in earnings per share, dividend per share, and capital distribution per share, while further strengthening our rock-solid capital base. Now let’s move to slide nine for a closer look at our first half results. In a nutshell, in the first six-months, net income was up 6% year-on-year. We delivered the best six-months ever for revenues, operating margin, and gross income. Costs were down, and asset quality remained top-notch, with high increased coverage and stable overlays. Slide number 10. In this slide, you have the detailed P&L for the first half, showing improved results across almost all the lines. The tax rate is two percentage points higher than last year, mainly due to Italy Budget Law. Slide 11.

Looking at the second quarter, net interest income strongly accelerated, up 6% quarterly. Revenues reached a record high, and net income was up 7% on a yearly basis. Slide 12. In the first half, revenues grew across all components, thanks to our well-diversified business model that drives growth. As usual, we managed revenues in an integrated manner. Slide 13. Net interest income in the first six months was up compared to last year, despite lower rates, and we can raise our guidance for this year to well above EUR 15 billion. Slide 14. This slide provides more details on the net interest income, and you can see that the strong quarter-on-quarter increase is mainly driven by the commercial component. Slide 15. Our wealth management and protection machine continued to deliver strong results. This was the best six months and Q2 ever for commissions, and the best result ever for insurance income.

Assets under management gross inflows were up 7%. Slide 16. In the first half, commissions were up 5%, driven by wealth management and protection despite market volatility. Our top-notch advisory services are a stabilizer for the impact of market volatility on fees, and our fully owned product factories are a clear competitive advantage. Slide 17. Non-Motor P&C was a driver of record high insurance income, and we still have significant upside potential. Slide 18. Customer financial assets exceeded EUR 1.5 trillion, with significant growth in assets under management and deposits. Slide 19. We can count on our unmatched client advisory network with over 19,000 people dedicated to fuel assets under management growth. In the first six months, we added 600 people. Slide 20. The contribution from commissions and insurance income to revenues is by far the highest in Europe after UBS. Slide 21.

The cost-income ratio was 35.9%, also thanks to our tech investments that are clearly paying off. Please turn to slide 22 for a look at costs. Operating costs were down 1% compared to last year. Slide 23. We have high flexibility to reduce costs further, thanks to our tech transformation that will enable a significant generational change at no social cost and with no impact on revenues. Let me highlight that taking into account the 6,800 new hires envisaged in the Monte dei Paschi transaction, we will hire more than 13,000 people with one of the most ambitious hiring programs ever seen in our country, focused on young people. Slide 24. We have a best-in-class cost-income ratio in Europe. Let’s now move to slide 25 for a look at our top-notch asset quality.

Annualized cost of risk was 20 basis points, with a strong increase in coverage and no overlays released. We see no signs of asset quality deterioration. Slide 26. We have a very low NPL stock with bad loans recede to near zero. NPL inflows were at historical lows, and we have a well-diversified loan portfolio. Let’s move to slide 27 for an update on capital. The common equity ratio is more than 13.8%, including the benefit from DTA absorption. Slide 28. We have best-in-class MREL ratios, and the liquidity ratios are well above our business plan targets. Let’s now move to slide 30 to see how well-equipped this is to succeed in any scenario. Our profitability and capital position remain strong, even under adverse conditions. We have a very resilient and efficient business model, with EUR 6 billion already invested in tech. Our asset quality is top-notch in Europe.

Last but not least, the management team is cohesive and has a strong track record in delivering results. Slide 31. Intesa Sanpaolo stands out across key metrics and is better positioned than our peers to face any future challenges. Slide 32. In this slide, you can appreciate our unique positioning, thanks to our efficient commissions-driven business model, supported by strong tech investment. Slide number 33. As previously said, our NPL stocks and ratio are among the best in Europe, and we are absolutely a Nordic bank looking at this profile. Slide 34. As you can see, we are also very well-positioned in terms of Stage 2, that further declined in Q2. Slide 35. Our NPL coverage is also among the best in Europe. Slide 36. Our Russia exposure is essentially zero. Please turn to the next slide for a few words on the macro picture.

The Italian economy remains resilient, and we expect Italian GDP to grow this year and next. Slide 38. Italian companies continue to be strong and are more resilient to external shocks than in the past. Let’s now move to next slide for a brief update on the Monte dei Paschi transaction. When we announced the offer for Monte dei Paschi, we explained the solid rationale underlying this combination, with clear benefits for all stakeholders who will enjoy the rewards of growth and increased value creation and distribution. We have strong potential on a standalone basis, but the transaction is also a big accelerator of the business plan, enabling us to achieve the targets three years in advance, reaching EUR 2 trillion in customer financial assets by 2029.

We will enlarge our client base by 6 million clients while strengthening our franchise in consumer finance and corporate investment banking, also leveraging Mediobanca’s international footprint. We will deliver EUR 2.9 billion in synergies by deploying ISP best-in-class delivery machine and IT platform. We can do all of this confident there is no integration risk, thanks to our proven expertise in managing integration. As a result, we will generate more than EUR 16 billion net income in 2029, with strong earning per share, dividend per share, capital distribution per share accretion. In the next slides, you have the details on the offer, for the sake of the time, let’s now move to slide 43. In this slide, you can see that we have filed the offer document as planned, and we have already published the documents for the September EGM, sorry.

We are fully on track to complete the offer by year-end. Let me conclude this section by saying that Monte dei Paschi shareholders can choose to join forces with the strongest player in Italy and one of the leading players in Europe, a group that always works to benefit its shareholders, clients, people, and the broader community, and with significant transparency in all what we do. We are determined to move forward, and we remain absolutely convinced that this is the best option for Monte dei Paschi, Mediobanca, and for Intesa Sanpaolo. Let’s now move to slide 45 for the final remarks. This slide offers a recap of our best-ever six months and the reasons why we are fully equipped to succeed in the future. Slide 46. For 2026, we have upgraded our net income guidance to more than EUR 10 billion, leaving room for further improvements.

We will continue to operate from a position of strength, combining high-quality revenues, efficiency, strong internal capital generation, and a low-risk profile, making us one of the most resilient and profitable banks in Europe. We are on a solid growth path and remain focused on delivering strong short-term results while continuing to invest for sustainable long-term value creation. That is why we continue to offer one of the highest dividend yields in European banking while maintaining a rock-solid capital position and continuing to lead on social impact. Let me finish by saying that the Monte dei Paschi transaction is fully in line with our strategy and will trigger additional growth while creating value for all Intesa Sanpaolo and Monte dei Paschi stakeholders and for the real economy with no integration risk. Thank you for your attention, and now we are happy to take your questions.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Dear participants, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw a question, please press star one and one again. You are kindly invited to ask no more than two questions so as to leave room for other participants. The question comes line of Sofie Peterzens from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Sofie Peterzens, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Hi, this is Sofie from Goldman Sachs. Thanks a lot for taking my question. My first question would be around loan growth. Your loan growth was very strong this quarter, up 2% quarter-on-quarter and 4% year-on-year. How should we think about the loan growth outlook for the second half of 2026, but also 2027? Related to that, you upgraded your NII guidance for 2026. How should we read the well above EUR 15 billion for 2026? Is it fair to assume that we will see 2% quarter-on-quarter NII growth maybe in the third quarter and the fourth quarter? How should we think about how that feeds into 2027? If you could also comment on NII outlook for 2027. Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you very much. We think that loan growth will continue to stay very positive. Our expectation is that we will continue to grow more or less at this level. This is the trend that we consider today, the run rate for the loan growth perspective of Intesa Sanpaolo. If we look at the trend of net interest income, probably we will have, for sure, a strong increase in the second part of the year in comparison with the first part of the year. Second half should be much higher than the first half, and also in a significant way. Our expectation is to have an increase in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter, but with a further significant acceleration in the fourth quarter. Third quarter should be an increase, but not so significant.

The fourth quarter, there should be a much higher acceleration, leading with a strong starting point for 2027. Also in 2027, we think that we will continue to grow in terms of loan growth. Our expectation, we are obviously working on budget to our 2027, we are still with some top-down figures, but should be much higher than 2%, within 2% and 5%. We will see at the end of the presentation in November, we will be in a position to give to the market our expectation on a bottom-up basis. That’s more or less all relating to your question.

Sofie Peterzens, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you so much. Now we’re going to take our next question. The next question comes line of Marco Nicolai from Jefferies. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Marco Nicolai, Analyst, Jefferies: Hello. A couple of questions from my end. The first one is on commercial banking fees. We saw a little bit of a pickup in terms of year-on-year growth trends in the first quarter. However, this quarter, the results was a bit different. Overall, the fees were very strong, but the commercial banking fees not so strong. Can you give us your idea on what’s going on there, and how is this going to trend over the next quarter? Second question on the costs. You upgraded the guidance, net income guidance driven by NII, but you didn’t change your wording around the costs. Costs were pretty solid in the first half, and they are declining compared to last year. What are your thoughts there? Perhaps this is a further area of upside for your net income guidance for this year. Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Related to the fees, we had a seasonality impact during this quarter. Our expectation is that we will start again to grow also in the commercial banking activity with a peak in the fourth quarter of this year. The trend should be in recovery also for the commercial banking activity. We had a lot of commission related to Corporate Investment Banking and to deal related to the activity of the Corporate Investment Banking divisions. On the cost side, you are right. We have a number of potential reserves. Also, let me elaborate just on the outlook and the change of this outlook. We maintain also with this new outlook, a number of contingency plans, and we can easily make results that can exceed, in a significant way, our outlook.

What we have still to consider in the next quarter, and at the end of the year, the potential need for further managerial action. That the reason why we decided not to push on this outlook. Also because, being under an M&A deal, we don’t want to create something that can be considered as manipulation of the market, as it is happen in other counterparties that are working in the banking sector today in Italy. We want to remain with a clear approach of transparency. We have the potential to exceed this because of revenues, but also on the cost side, because you are right, we have an amount of synergies and economy that we are generating that is in excess of what we have considered in our forecast. The potential on the cost base is really much higher.

As soon as we move from the mainframe into the cloud, the evidence is that we are in a position to gain a significant efficiency on the cost base, and the evidence is that we can accelerate also in the second part of the year.

: Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Now we’re going to take our next question, and it comes to line of Britta Schmidt from Autonomous Research. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Britta Schmidt, Analyst, Autonomous Research: Yeah, thank you for taking my questions. On the volume growth, maybe you can give us a little bit of color as to what has been driving that, and perhaps break down the year-on-year growth when it comes to mortgages, consumer lending, and corporates, and also between Italy and the international businesses. On the capital position, maybe you can give us an idea as to where you see that now developing until year-end. Maybe you can also remind us as to what drawdown you expect with the Monte Paschi offer, with and without the Danish Compromise. I know you said you want to remain well above 13% on day one, but maybe you can be a bit more specific regarding that. Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Looking the dynamic of the volume, we had a very good growth in the international banking divisions. We had a very good growth in the corporate investment banking divisions, both in international large corporate and Italian large corporate. In the Banca dei Territori divisions, we had a good growth in the SME sector and a slowdown in the growth in mortgages with households, because in our expectation, the potential further increase should be in the third and in the fourth quarter. That’s more or less the kind of dynamic on the loan book. On capital position, we remain with our indication that we will stay absolutely above 13%, 13.1% during 2026 and all the period of the plan. In the Monte Paschi Siena transaction, our expectation is that we can stay in the range of 14%, not considering the DTAs of Monte Paschi Siena and above 14.5%.

Looking at Danish Compromise, we have already Danish Compromise in the insurance business divisions, and we will move the Generali stake into the insurance division. The Danish Compromise should be starting from day one. This is our expectation, and we have checked with the Italian IVASS authorities that we can move the participation of Generali from the corporate investment banking sector. From the Mediobanca area into the insurance business area. We will see what can happen, and we will give clear figures in the market as soon as we have the real evidence of the transaction.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Now we’ll go and take our next question. The next question comes line of Andrea Lisi from Equita. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Andrea Lisi, Analyst, Equita: Good afternoon. A couple of questions from my side. The first one is just a curiosity. In today’s Il Sole 24 Ore, it was reported that there are different views within Monte dei Paschi board of directors regarding the process adopted to assess alternatives to the offer presented by Intesa, in particular with the four minority board members that have submitted, according to the article, a letter to the chairman. Just if you can share your views on the current situation, what you think about that. Any thought will be appreciated. The second one is on the NII indication that you have provided, in particular on the guidance. You have talked about volume growth. Just wondering to understand, which are the assumption on the Euribor that you are using for the second part of the year and for the update on the 2027? Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Starting from the first point, I have to tell you that the letter is a clear demonstration on what we said when we started with this transaction. One of the reason why we decided that we can create value for Intesa Sanpaolo shareholders, and that obvious through the synergies, but also for Monte dei Paschi di Siena shareholders, is that we can create a normal situation in the governance of the company. It is unbelievable that this company continue to be under this situation after what happened in the last month with the firing of the CEO because of the procura involvement and all the judicial problematic. Then the reappointment, then the board of directors that was with different positions.

This is the evidence of something that need to be assessed by a reputational counterparty that can create conditions for the Monte dei Paschi di Siena shareholders to be in a safe harbor. That’s my opinion. Looking at the net interest income, what I can tell you is that we think that the dynamic on what we expect is that we can have a clear trend of growth in the loan volume. Also, deposits can continue to increase as you had the clear evidence also in this quarter. Euribor has been considered in a conservative way, so just a little above 2%. We have also some potential in the financial activity. Financial activity is the area in which we have the uncertainty in terms of dynamic, because this will depend on the attitude of the different divisions to move from net interest income into trading income.

That the reason why for the third quarter we expect an increase, but not such a significant increase, and it is likely that we will have a significant increase in the fourth quarter. We will see in the next months, but we think, in any case, we have been conservative also looking at dynamic on net interest income.

Andrea Lisi, Analyst, Equita: Very clear. Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. We’ll go and take our next question, it comes line of Pablo de la Torre Cuevas from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Pablo de la Torre Cuevas, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Thank you for taking my question. My first one is a bit of a follow-up on NII. Last quarter, I think you provided some useful comments on what your expected NII would be in 2029 if you were to use forward rates at that time. I believe the figure you mentioned was around EUR 500 million higher than initially guided. I would just kindly invite you to update what your latest views were on that, and also the latest on the expected contribution from the hedge over the next few years. Then I had another question on the other charges and gains line. Obviously, asset quality trend remain very strong, but your bridges in slide 10 and 11 show that there has been a bit of a deterioration year-on-year on these other charges.

I was wondering if we should take this first half level as a new normalized level going forward, or if there is anything notable this half year that we should consider going forward. Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: On net interest income, I will leave the floor to Luca Bocca. Related to the other items, we think that we had very good performance in fee and commissions and also in trading income, but we decided to put some kind of reserves in provision. We started also in this quarter to create condition for the managerial actions to be realized, because we realized managerial actions in provisions. If you look, the increase in coverage of non-performing loans is the clear evidence that, as usual, we are creating conditions to make disposal on non-performing loans at the end of the year. At the same time, we decided to increase the coverage for provisions and other charges in order to have the real conservative approach on all the different items. For net interest income, I will leave the floor to Luca.

Luca Bocca, Chief Financial Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Yes. Thank you. Yes, we can confirm that at the moment, the forward rates are continuing to remain 50, 70 basis points above our hypothesis on the business plan, and this can give between EUR 500 and EUR 600 positive contribution in the NII of 2029. Also, taking consideration what you said, that we will have positive contribution by the replicating portfolio that is continuing to repricing, and it gives EUR 500 million positive contribution in 2027 and other EUR 300 million in 2029. The NII will continue to be a key driver of growth for our profitability.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you, Pablo. Now we are going to take our next question. The next question comes line of Andrea Filtri from Mediobanca. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Andrea Filtri, Analyst, Mediobanca: Thank you. Just a follow-up from Britta’s question on the Danish Compromise, please. Can you explain how the process works in practice in case of an acquisition of an insurance asset? As a financial conglomerate with Danish Compromise already approved many years ago, do you have to ask for Danish Compromise usage on a case-by-case basis to the European Central Bank, or is it an automatic adoption of the Danish Compromise squared version after the recent EBA clarification? Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Andrea, I think that you are under restricted situation, can you make a question during the presentation? In any case, obviously, I will answer. Looking at your report, you start unrestricted, you elaborate on all the items. It seems to be really difficult to understand. A number of items are difficult to understand in all the Monte Paschi Siena group. Looking at Danish Compromise, what we think can happen is that if Mediobanca, in the case of the acquisition of Monte Paschi Siena, that Mediobanca used to have the Danish Compromise, and having the Danish Compromise in our insurance business unit, it is likely that the transformation, what we need to have is the approval to move the participation from the governance center, from what we will have in the acquisition as the governance center into the insurance divisions.

We have already agreed this point with the unique authority that is in charge of this, that is IVASS. Having said that, our expectation is that should be automatic. Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Now we’re going to take our next question, the question comes line of Hugo Cruz from KBW. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Hugo Cruz, Analyst, KBW: Hi, thank you for the time. I have three questions. One is the loan growth that I think you’re guiding now that 2%-5%, I think is a bit better than what you assume in the business plan. Should we assume that there’s upside to the business plan targets also from volumes? And if you could talk a bit about how these front book rates on the new lending compare to Should we assume some margin compression or stable margins from the loan side? That’s the first question. Trading, it’s been very strong again, 2Q, you’ve talked about there could be some optionality between NII and trading on some business areas, I was just wondering if you could give some guidance on trading, at least for the second half, it would be very helpful.

If that’s kind of a representative run rate for the business. The third question, if for whatever reason, Monte Paschi manages to sell their Generali stake and distribute the cash to shareholders or spin off the stake to shareholders, how would you adjust your offer for Monte Paschi? Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: I will start from the third question. I think that the distribution of extraordinary dividends from Monte Paschi Siena is subject to the approval of the extraordinary shareholders meeting. They are under the passivity rule. I know that it is difficult to understand for the Monte Paschi Siena, they are under the passivity rule. This means that they need to have an approval from the shareholders meetings, but first of all, from the ECB. Having in mind this point, all these actions are to be considered. First of all, it is not easy to make disposal of the Generali stake, let me say, because it is a significant amount. Who could be the buyer? Who could be? Let me say, we are in a situation in which we are launching the offer. UniCredit can buy the Generali stake. We have full respect, friendship.

We consider UniCredit the other big player in the market. I don’t think that they are ready to buy the stake in Generali. Could be AXA, could be Allianz. I don’t know. In my opinion, if they make disposal in the market, this could be something like a 20%-30% reduction in the share price. I think that it is better to stop to make what if analysis that are not in the possibility to be realized. What they can consider is to make a distribution of a potential excess capital.

They need to have the approval of ECB, considering that the business model of Monte Paschi Siena today is quite different from the starting point of the acquisition of Mediobanca, in which they made an acquisition of the real strong part of the banking sector in Italy in the last decades in the country because Monte Paschi Siena made the acquisition of Mediobanca. We are all worried about the Monte Paschi Siena, but Mediobanca was a target of Monte Paschi Siena. They transformed the business model. Monte Paschi di Siena can stay at a lower level in terms of capital, if they continue to be a retail franchise. Having a significant corporate investment banking activity in their risk profile, not easy to say that they can give a significant dividend.

Having said that, if they can realize after an extraordinary shareholders meeting, after the approval of ECB, obviously, this will change the exchange rate, and our transaction will be to be reconsidered. That’s for sure. Looking at the trading income, obviously we will not continue this trend. We do not need to have further revenue from the trading activities. That’s a clear point for us. The trend should be in reduction in comparison to this quarter. The real dynamics will depend on the attitude of our people. We will continue to have a positive contribution, but for sure, we will not have the trend of the first quarters. Looking at the loan growth, we are not considering a reduction in terms of margins. We are considering a number of volumes in terms of loans.

I’m talking about 2027, that could be more or less in the range of 2%, because the real acceleration could be much higher than we have declared. The net what we see in the market today is that there is a clear approach on all the banking sector to be really in the attention on maintaining a good markup. There is no pressure competition on pricing. Markup is in good shape, I think for all the banking sectors. I think that we remain with further potential increase in net interest income also coming from margin. Thank you.

: Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you so much. Now we’re going to take our last question for today, and it comes from the line of Giovanni Razzoli from Deutsche Bank. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Giovanni Razzoli, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Good afternoon to everybody. I have two questions. One is on the volumes, and the other is on net interest income. You already commented that you expect the volumes to remain strong, in particular the CIB. I was wondering if you can comment about the competitive environment in Italy, because we’ve seen one of your largest competitor, that is UniCredit, which has posted a very significant 8% year-on-year growth in the second quarter in the loan book in Italy, with gain of market shares on the SMEs, almost a one percentage point. You seems to be focusing on a different trend. It seems to me that you are more focusing on pricing rather than on acquiring volumes. If you can share with us what are your thoughts about this decoupling trend between you and the rest of the market so far.

The second question is on net interest income. Again, just to understand the moving parts there. I’ve seen from your divisional database that the contribution from securities that amortize the cost in the second quarter have increased significantly in the second quarter when compared with the Q1. I think this reflects the increase in the sovereign bonds exposure. I was wondering whether this contribution can remain or further increase in the next couple of quarters. Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Looking at the loans dynamic in comparison with other peers, I want just refocus a point on business model. Let me do this. When we started with the outlook on 2026, we made a clear statement of a potential rebound in the loan book of Intesa Sanpaolo, so with the focus of growth, and we are realizing growth. The loan growth is not the priority for Intesa Sanpaolo. It’s something that we do. We are in a position to move. The demonstration is that we are increasing the loans. We will increase in the future. We have a business model that is completely different. I think that in Italy, we have two real champions. One is Intesa Sanpaolo, the other one is UniCredit. Intesa Sanpaolo is focused on wealth management and protection.

What we want is to have an increase in loans. By definition, because we are a key player, and if you want to make wealth management protection, we have to stay in a country in which you can be also a player in the loan side. What we want is to be sure to increase deposits, asset under management, the asset under administration. Increasing the loan book by 5% for a wealth management and protection company is in my view, a very good growth. If you look at UniCredit, they are for sure, a very good commercial bank with a strong focus on areas on a pan-European approach in the countries in which they operate, like Italy. They want to increase market share in the loan side.

It is absolutely in line with this business model, but it is another story in comparison with the one with Intesa Sanpaolo. We don’t want to increase by 10% the loan book, and we do not need to do this. What we want, if it is possible, is to increase deposit asset under management and asset administration by 10% per quarter. Obviously, not easy to do. That’s the completely different approach between us and the most important competitor that we have in the country. Looking at the net interest income, as I told in other previous answer, the real point is that we think that net interest income will increase, and will increase in a significant way during the second part of the year. The contribution from the security portfolio, that has been really important.

It is something that we declared by the beginning of the year that we could be in a position to have much higher contribution from loan book and from the financial activity through the increase of dimension of the portfolio, can be under some scrutiny for potential capital gain that we can realize during the third quarter. On the loan book, on the Euribor, on deposits, we will have clear driver for growth in the third quarter and especially in the fourth quarter. For security, this will depend from the dynamic of the trading income during the next quarter. I think that I answered to all the questions. Okay.

: Thank you.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you. Dear speakers, there are no further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Carlo Messina, for any closing remarks.

Carlo Messina, Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo: Thank you very much. We will continue to focus on execution of our results on a standalone basis, because also this transaction with Monte dei Paschi will not defocus From the delivery of the business plan. We think that the execution will bring us with a significant net income generation during also the second part of the year. Looking at the Monte dei Paschi di Siena transaction, there is zero possibility that we will increase our price for the Monte dei Paschi di Siena. That today is always in such evaluation to be comparable with price earning JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. I think that if Intesa and UniCredit stay at 11 and Monte dei Paschi is 15, there is no room to further increase. Thank you very much, and hope to see you in roadshow.

Nadia, Conference Coordinator, Intesa Sanpaolo: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day