Banks in Italy

Italy's Banking System
There are approximately 580 banks in Italy including over 300 cooperative banks and 85 branches of foreign banks. The Top 5 banks hold over EUR 2 trillion in combined assets or about 55% of the Italian banking sector in 2017. UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo are the two largest banks in Italy.

Banca Carige was a Genoa-based bank and one of the top 20 banks in Italy. It offered corporate and retail banking services through branches primarily in Liguria (Genoa, Savona, Imperia, La Spezia) as well as through locations in Lombardy, Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Sicily, Apulia and Sardinia. It was acquired by BPER Banca, and the Carige and Banca del Monte di Lucca businesses were absorbed into BPER Banca; the Carige brand is no longer in use.

Banca d'Italia (Bank of Italy) – The central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It was established in 1893, from the fusion of the four major banks in Italy. Bank of Italy gold reserves are about 2,452 tonnes. The bank's Governor is Fabio Panetta, in office since November 1, 2023.

Banca Mediolanum – One of the 20 largest financial services providers in Italy with about 1.2 million customers and market capitalization of EUR 5.0 billion (May 10, 2018).

Banca Monte dei Paschi – The world's oldest bank still in operation, founded in 1472. It is the flagship of the MPS Group, which also includes Mediobanca. The group has launched voluntary public exchange offers for Banca Generali S.p.A. and Banco BPM S.p.A., and presented a 2026-2030 business plan on February 27, 2026.

Banca Monte Parma – The Bank was founded in 1488 by Bernardine of Feltre, in order to combat usury. This makes it one of the oldest banks in the world. In 1991, in order to comply with new Italian banking regulations, the company became a joint-stock company and a subsidiary of Fondazione Monte di Parma which still owns 68.74% of the company's shares.

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro – One of the ten largest Italian banking groups with over 950 service locations. It operates as a subsidiary of BNP Paribas.

Banca Passadore & C. – An independent private bank founded in 1888 and headquartered in Genoa, Liguria.

Banco BPM – One the largest banking groups in Italy with over 4 million customers. As of December 1, 2017, it had a market capitalization of approximately EUR 4.3 billion.

Banco Popolare was one of the leading Italian banking groups with more than 1,700 branches. It merged with Banca Popolare di Milano to form Banco BPM.

Banca Popolare di Bergamo – A Bergamo-based bank that was part of the UBI Banca group. UBI Banca was merged by incorporation into Intesa Sanpaolo on April 12, 2021, and the bank no longer operates under its own name.

Banca Popolare di Milano was a large cooperative bank in Italy. It worked basically in the northern and central regions with a strong presence in Lombardia and Lazio. It combined with Banco Popolare to form Banco BPM and no longer operates under its own name.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio was one of Italy's larger cooperative banks, based in Sondrio. Following BPER Banca's public offer it was merged into BPER Banca and no longer trades under its own name in Italy; its Swiss subsidiary Banca Popolare di Sondrio (SUISSE) SA continues to operate separately.

Banca Popolare di Verona was an Italian bank. Now it is part of Banco BPM Group.

Banca Sella – A bank, which has traditionally operated in the Biella Province, the wealthy northwestern Italian region of Piedmont, where it enjoys strong positions.

BCC Brescia – Banca Credito Cooperativo di Brescia.

BPER Banca (formerly Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna) – One of the largest Italian banking groups. It took over a substantial part of the former UBI Banca branch network, then Banca Carige and Banca del Monte di Lucca, and has integrated Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP) – The Italian investment bank with over EUR 400 billion in assets.

Crédit Agricole Italia (formerly Crédit Agricole Cariparma, and before that Cassa di Risparmio di Parma e Piacenza) – One of the largest banking groups in Italy. It operates as a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, a French financial institution, and also comprises Crédit Agricole FriulAdria and the former Credito Valtellinese network.

Credito Emiliano (Credem) – A multi-regional banking group based in Reggio Emilia and operating in all financial sectors. The Maramotti family is one of the major shareholders of Credem Holding.

Generali Group – One of the most significant participants in the global insurance and financial products market. The Group operates in more than 60 countries with 480 insurance, property and financial companies.

Citibank N.A., Italy

Iccrea Banca S.p.A. – The parent company and central institution of the Gruppo Bancario Cooperativo Iccrea, the cooperative banking group formed under the Italian mutual-banking reform. It is headquartered in Rome.

Intesa Sanpaolo – One of the leading banking groups in the euro zone. It is the second largest Italian bank with over 3,900 branches across the country, plus about 1,100 locations in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean basin. At May 11, 2018, the company had a market capitalization of approximately EUR 53 billion.

Mediolanum S.p.A. – A financial services company founded in 1982 by Ennio Doris. It was active in the banking, life insurance and mutual fund sectors.

Mediobanca – The leading Italian investment bank. It became part of the MPS Group following the public exchange offer by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and on March 10, 2026 a plan for its merger by incorporation into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was approved, at an exchange ratio of 2.450 BMPS shares per Mediobanca share.

UBI Banca (Unione di Banche Italiane) was one of the top 10 Italian banking groups, with more than 1,400 branches and 3.8 million customers, headquartered in Bergamo. Intesa Sanpaolo acquired control of it on August 5, 2020 and merged it by incorporation on April 12, 2021; a large part of the former UBI branch network was subsequently transferred to BPER Banca.

UniCredit Group – The largest Italian bank with total assets of about US$1 trillion. It has a presence in 18 countries with strategic positions in Western, Central and Eastern Europe.

Vatican Bank serves Catholic institutions, clerics and employees of Vatican City State as well as diplomats and 82 embassies accredited to the Holy See.

Veneto Banca was one of the 15 largest Italian banks, with total assets of about EUR 30 billion. By decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance No. 186 of June 25, 2017, issued on a proposal of the Bank of Italy, it was placed in compulsory administrative liquidation, in which it remains under three appointed commissioners.

Top Banks in Italy by total assets

Following are the largest Italian banks according to their assets, as reported at June 30, 2017. Several of the institutions listed have since been merged into other groups or wound up and no longer operate under the names shown.

Total assets (EUR billion)

(1) - Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas.
(2) - BPER Banca S.p.A. was formerly known as Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna.
(3) - No longer operating in Italy under the name shown. UBI Banca was merged by incorporation into Intesa Sanpaolo on April 12, 2021. Banca Popolare di Sondrio and Banca Carige were absorbed into BPER Banca. Veneto Banca was placed in compulsory administrative liquidation on June 25, 2017. Credito Valtellinese became part of Crédit Agricole Italia.