At the Banco BPM annual general meeting on 16 April, shareholders reappointed Giuseppe Castagna as chief executive and backed the outgoing board list, which won 58.87 per cent of the votes. The major event is Crédit Agricole's stronger entry onto the board of directors: the French bank's stake moved up from 20.1 per cent to 22.8 per cent and it secured four of the board's 15 seats. Its own list received 30.9 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Assogestioni (8 per cent).

Crédit Agricole's four representatives will be Frédéric de Courtois, former senior executive at AXA; former Italian Finance Minister Domenico Siniscalco; Rossella Leide; and Alessio Foletti. Castagna welcomed the outcome, pointing to the three-year market performance — the stock has "risen by more than 200 per cent, generating shareholder returns of more than 300 per cent." He also recalled that Crédit Agricole "has never hidden its intention to move above 20 per cent", noting the European Central Bank has authorised the French group to rise as high as 29.9 per cent. "They are now on the board and it will be a new experience. They are all independent directors," Castagna said.

A merger between Crédit Agricole's Italian subsidiary and Banco BPM "would have a solid industrial rationale", Fitch Ratings' analysts say, but remains unlikely in the near term: Fitch does not expect "developments on this potential deal in 2026". The political implications tied to Banco BPM's systemic importance in Italy complicate it, and the French group applies "very strict criteria", notably the wish "not to lose control over what it owns in Italy". Source: Les Echos, 17 April 2026, Olivier Tosseri.