Mediobanca’s losses are lower than feared despite writedowns
ITALIAN investment bank Mediobanca ended its financial year posting a net loss on the back of heavy writedowns on equity investments but the market yesterday welcomed moves to clean up its balance sheet.
Mediobanca, which has for decades played a pivotal role in helping to forge Italian capitalism, announced in June a radical change of strategy that will see it curb or sell stakes in some of Italy’s biggest corporate names to focus squarely on banking.
The bank reported a net loss of €180m in the year, slightly below the €200m anticipated by management in June, after writedowns of €404m.
It also increased its provisions for possible loan losses to €507m, up eight per cent over the year but well below the average for Italy’s banks.