According to Bloomberg newswire citing Il Sole/24 Ore, UniCredit and SocGen may announce a merger on 6 May, after president elections in France. Bloomberg cities Unicredit's representative confirming the bank was in talks with SocGen regarding “strategic growth options” on 20 April. Officially UniCredit as well as SocGen are denying rumours concerning merger.
Our view: No trading impact is expected on any of the banks' listed subsidiaries in the region, including
Pekao/BPH (Unicredit), Komercni Banka (SG), and BRD-GSG (SG). Interesting, the banks' CEE operations have a reasonably good fit, with Unicredit's strong position in Poland, and SG's stronger positions in Czech Republic and Romania.