MADRID: Italy's two biggest banks - Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit - must reform their management structures and branches to become profitable, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said in an interview on Sunday.
"They are not very profitable ... They have to reform their management structure and branches. They have invested too heavily in branches," Visco told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's biggest retail bank, posted a 10.1 billion euro ($13.3 billion) fourth-quarter loss on Friday after writing down goodwill.
UniCredit, the country's largest bank by assets, was due to release quarterly results on March 27 after posting a 10.6 billion euro loss in the third quarter.
Visco also called for unified banking regulation in the euro zone as part of a wider push for deeper EU integration.
"I am very much in favour of having uniform institutions. In the banking sector, I think we need unified regulation."
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