Banking: More European consolidation
It's moving slowly, but the integration of European banking is happening, though fought tooth and nail. The latest deal that seems to on is the purchase of Italy's Banco Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) by Frances's BNP Paribas. More precisely, BNP (France's #1 bank) bought a 48% stake in the bank (for $10.8 billion) and plans to bid for the remainder. The deal is still subject to approval, but the newest head bank regulator in Italy is generally considered to be more pro-Europeanization than his predecessor.
Spanish rival Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has bowed out of the bidding for BNL, and will sell its 14% stake to BNP. Italian insurer Unipol Assicurazioni tendered a hostile bid for BNL that was turned down by Italian banking regulators who questioned its financials.
Recent cross-border deals like Spain's Banco Santander's purchase of the UK's Abbey National and Italian Unicredito's purchase of German HVB were said to have motivated the move, and it is expected that if the BNP-BNL deal passes regulators, other Italian banks (many of them financially troubled) would be targets. BNP Paribas has been agressive acquirer, having recently bought the #4 bank in Ukraine.
In related news, Austrian banking group Raiffeisen acquired Russian regional bank OAO Impexbank for around $550 million. Raiffeisen already had a substantial presence in Russia with 23 branches, while Impexbank has 190 branches. The move will make it the #7 bank in Russia, and the #1 foreign bank, albeit still with a tiny market share, less than 1/10th of the #1 Russian bank, Sberbank.
The acquisition follows expansion by the US's Citigroup, Italy's Unicredito (though its HVB subsidiary), and France's Société Générale SA. Russia is a tempting place for Western bank investment due to rapid economic growth with an eight-year expansion, but it a risky one, due to an unsure government role and serious crime.
Raiffeisen has made expansion in Eastern Europe a priority. Last October moved into Ukraine in a big way, with the $1 billion purchase of Bank Aval. In 2004, it acquired Albania's largest bank. In 2002, it bought the main bank in Kosovo; in 2004 the #3 bank In Belarus. It already was one of the first Western banks in countries like Poland, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Serbia.
Seeing minimal growth in their own nations, established European banks are looking abroad and building Both BNP and Raiffeisen have been acqusiting new businesses at a rapid clip.
7:50:08 PM 
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