Italians turn to Brussels over post office 'subsidy'
Italian banks have followed their French counterparts in petitioning the European Commission over the banking operations of their country’s state-owned post office. The ABI, the Italian banking association, wrote recently to Brussels in an effort to spur an inquiry into the possible provision of state subsidies, saying they were unfair to other banks and distort the market.
Poste Italiane’s financial services operations have grown rapidly. Poste now has 4.8m current accounts. That, says the ABI, is up from 400,000 in 1999.
Massimo Sarmi, Poste’s chief executive, told the FT: “The reason for our success is the quality of our service. It is not down to anything else.” The ABI’s complaints highlight the growing concerns of banks about the incursion by postal groups.
