Spanish bank BBVA is about to decide on approval for a take-over bid for Italian bank BNL, press reports here said on Monday, noting that an offer would raise pressure on Italian banking to open up. The board of BBVA, the second-biggest bank in Spain, was expected to meet later on Monday or on Tuesday to approve a bid, the reports said.
A spokesman for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), questioned by AFP, said he was unable to confirm the reports, but added that such a meeting was due to be held during the week in any case.
The newspaper El Pais said the BBVA board had planned to adopt on Monday its bid for BNL, which is Italy's sixth-biggest bank, despite reticence by the Italian central bank, the Bank of Italy.
The newspaper recalled that BBVA owned 14.72 percent of BNL and that on March 18 it had said it was prepared to pay 6.4 billion euros (8.25 billion dollars) for the remaining shares through a share swap on the basis of one BBVA share for five BNL shares.
The newspapers ABC, EL Mundo and Expansion reported that the BBVA board would meet on Monday or Tuesday.
Brussels has been pushing Italy to open up its financial markets and BBVA said that in the 10 days since its interest in a deal became known matters had "evolved in positive fashion", according to El Mundo daily, quoting sources close to BBVA.
The Spanish daily added that BBVA had received support from quarters as diffuse as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Spanish government and unions and Italian consumer organisations.
However, El Pais reported that BBVA chairman Francisco Gonzalez "does not want to sell the skin of the bear before he has actually slain the animal".
El Pais, seeing the proposed deal as the thin end of the wedge, said: "What he fears is that (Bank of Italy governor Antonio) Fazio manages to put together what he was unable to do during Easter Week - namely a political alliance between major Italian banks.
If BBVA goes ahead with its BNL bid Italy's central bank will have 30 days to decide whether to wave through the operation.