The constant profitability and capital solidity achieved by Banca Ifis in recent years allow it to seize growth opportunities also through acquisitions, while keeping its risk profile low and an important level of remuneration for its shareholders.
CONSOB approved the offer document for the public takeover bid promoted by Banca Ifis on illimity Bank, after obtaining ECB and Bank of Italy authorisations.
Share capital increase approved for the public takeover bid promoted by Banca Ifis on illimity Bank in exercise of the proxy conferred by the Shareholders’ Meeting on 17 April 2025.
- Profit exceeds expectations. The result, of 47,3 million Euro, is the highest quarter on record in the last five years.
- In Q1 2025, consolidated revenues amounted to 178,8 million Euro and reflect the positive performance of the commercial business, the Npl business and the proprietary finance unit.
- The Bank’s leadership in sustainability has been confirmed, also evidenced by the improvement in the major international ESG ratings, starting with MSCI, which assigned the highest ESG rating to the Bank, increasing to AAA from the AA rating obtained in 2024. This result reflects the numerous sustainability initiatives implemented in recent years, aimed at generating a positive impact for the country’s real economy.
- Solid capital base with a clearly increasing CET1 ratio compared to 31 December 2024, rising to 16,6%, excluding Q1 2025 profit. This figure is well above the capital requirements[1].
- Operating costs are down 4,5%, coming in at 97,5 million Euro, reflecting the Bank’s focus on operational efficiency and the completion of the digitisation projects envisaged in the 2022-2024 Business Plan.
- The solid capital position allows the Bank to distribute a total dividend of 111,5 million Euro for 2024 (2,12 Euro per share), of which 63,1 million Euro (1,20 Euro per share) distributed on 20 November 2024 and 48,4 million Euro (0,92 Euro per share) which will be distributed on 21 May 2025.
Q1 2025 consolidated results
Reclassified consolidated data[2] – Q1 2025
- The Banca Ifis Group’s consolidated net profit amounts to 47,3 million Euro, up from the Q1 2024 result. The stable growth of Banca Ifis has been made possible thanks to the positive commercial performance, the growth of the Npl business and the work of the proprietary finance segment, in a less favourable environment for banks characterised by decreasing interest rates and high volatility.
- Net banking income amounts to 178,8 million Euro, compared with the 185,2 million Euro in Q2 2024, benefits from the growth of the Commercial & Corporate Banking Sector (+0,7%, or 0,6 million Euro, compared to Q1 2024), the positive contribution of the Npl Sector (+8,4%, or 6,3 million Euro, compared to Q1 2024), as well as the increase in results from the Proprietary Finance segment (+4,0%, or 0,7 million Euro, compared to Q1 2024). These values were achieved despite the less favourable reference rate scenario.
- The credit cost is 8,2 million Euro, compared to 8,6 million Euro in the same period of 2024, confirming the prudent credit risk management in recent years.
- Operating costs of 97,5 million Euro (-4,5% compared to the 102,1 million Euro in Q1 2024) reflect the Bank’s focus on operational efficiency, lower other administrative expenses (57,3 million Euro compared to 61,9 million Euro in Q1 2024), benefits from the conclusion of the 2022-2024 Business Plan’s digitisation projects and positive seasonality.Liquidity position, at 31 March 2025, is equal to approximately 1,4 billion Euro in reserves and free assets that can be financed by the ECB (LCR above 700%).
Capital requirements[3]
- The CET1 is 16,55% (16,10% at 31 December 2024) and the TCR is 18,43% (18,11% at 31 December 2024). The coefficients, calculated excluding the profit generated in the first quarter of 2025, enable the Bank to meet its long-term growth challenges, including through acquisitions.
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Rome, 08 May 2025 – The Board of Directors of Banca Ifis met today under the chairmanship of Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio and approved the consolidated results for the first quarter of 2025.
“The results of the first three months of 2025 reflect the positive outcomes of the path of strengthening our positioning undertaken in recent years. It is a path that, also thanks to the quality of our people, has allowed us to consolidate our position in the specialty finance segment and, at the same time, to lay the foundations for our future growth. The net profit for the first quarter of 2025 grows to 47,3 million Euro and confirms the strength of the core components of the Bank’s business model, even in the face of a volatile financial market context and less generous for the banking sector due to lower interest rates. The result was achieved thanks to our ability to generate positive, recurring industrial performance, whilst maintaining a low risk profile and offering attractive remuneration to our shareholders. On top of that, we have a solid capital position, also represented by the CET1 regulatory capital level of 16,6%, above the regulatory limits of 9%. Banca Ifis can look forward optimistically to a future in which it will be able to benefit from the path set over the past few years: the digitisation, efficiency and risk containment projects completed in the 2022-2024 Business Plan are, in fact, bringing tangible advantages in terms of profitability”, says Frederik Geertman, CEO of Banca Ifis.
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The revenues of the Commercial & Corporate Banking Sector in the first quarter increase compared to the same period in 2024, despite the less favourable interest rates, reflecting the dynamism and quality of the work of the commercial network. The benefits of specialising in high value-added businesses, such as equity investments in the structured finance business unit, were particularly evident this quarter, with a revenue contribution of around 11,8 million Euro, up sharply from the 4,0 million Euro recorded in Q1 2024.
The Npl Segment’s revenues for the first quarter of 2025, up 8,4% compared to the same period of 2024, despite lower portfolio purchases, reflect the streamlining of in- and out-of-court recovery processes for the proprietary portfolio and the positive seasonality of the Npl business. Collections from recovery activities amounted to 101 million Euro and show no significant negative impact to date from inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty.
The average cost of funding as at 31 March 2025 stood at 3,5%, down from the average cost in Q1 2024 of 3,8%. The average spread, calculated as the differential between average customer interest and the average cost of funding, decreased slightly, from 2,3% in Q1 2024 to 1,9% in Q4 2024 and 1,8% in Q1 2025, with the trend taking hold mainly in the last quarter of 2024 as a result of the European Central Bank’s reduction in interest rates.
At around 3,1 billion Euro, the securities portfolio under proprietary finance is slightly higher than the 2,9 billion Euro recorded in December 2024. The duration of the portfolio was extended from 2,3 years in December 2023 to 3,8 years in December 2024 and 4,2 years in March 2025, confirming active management, in line with market conditions, while maintaining a limited risk profile.
Asset quality ratios, the Gross Npe Ratio and the Net Npe Ratio stand respectively at 6,1% and 3,3% (respectively 5,4% and 2,9% at 31 December 2024). The change from the previous quarter is a consequence of some specific positions whose impact in terms of provisions was however limited due to the presence of guarantees. The asset quality ratio at 31 March 2025 would come in respectively at 5,7% and 2,9% excluding reclassifications resulting from the application of the New Definition of Default regulations to receivables from the National Health System (NHS), which are characterised by limited credit risk and long payment terms. The average coverage of non-performing loans was continuously strengthened from 35% in 2022 to 48% at 31 March 2025.
Capital ratios confirm the Group’s great solidity. Both the main indicators remain well above the minimum required levels, with a consolidated CET1 Ratio of 16,55% (16,10% as at 31 December 2024) and a consolidated Total Capital Ratio of 18,43% (18,11% as at 31 December 2024), calculated excluding profits for the first quarter of 2025.
The solid capital position allows the Bank to face up to the challenges of long-term growth, including through acquisitions, and to distribute a total dividend of 111,5 million Euro for 2024 (2,12 Euro per share), of which 63,1 million Euro (1,20 Euro per share) distributed on 20 November 2024 and 48,4 million Euro (0,92 Euro per share) which will be distributed on 21 May 2025.
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Banca Ifis and its commitment to sustainability
The year 2024 saw the completion of Banca Ifis’ three-year ESG Plan, which covered three main areas of intervention: social, governance and environmental. Thanks to the initiatives undertaken during the three-year plan period in all areas of sustainability, Banca Ifis has significantly improved its ranking on the main international ESG ratings and indices: at the start of 2025, MSCI raised Banca Ifis’ rating from AA to AAA, thus positioning the Bank among the global leaders and entering a merit band in which only 2% of listed companies fall. In addition to MSCI, Banca Ifis received an ESG credit impact score (CIS) of 2 from Moody’s, confirming it as a virtuous example on the market, with particular reference to Governance; a rating of B, on a scale of F to A, from CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), a non-profit organisation that assesses the environmental impact of companies. In addition to its high ranking in the major international ratings, the bank was awarded the Best ESG Programme in Europe in the Small-Mid Cap segment in 2024 by the independent company Extel Institutional Investors.
In greater detail, on the social front, the Kaleidos Social Impact lab, inspired by Chairman Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio, implemented more than 40 initiatives for a total commitment of 7 million Euro, up from the 6 million Euro initially envisaged in the Plan. In order to quantify the social impact generated by these projects, Banca Ifis, in collaboration with Triadi – a spinoff of the Milan Polytechnic led by Mario Calderini – has developed an impact measurement model that allows the return generated by these initiatives to be quantified in economic terms. Applied to all Kaleidos projects already implemented, the impact measurement model showed that one euro invested by Banca Ifis in social initiatives generated, on average, 5,1 euro of social value. The most significant initiatives carried out during the period included those in the field of medical-scientific research, with support for the Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital Foundation in the research project aimed at assessing the safety and effectiveness of gene therapy with CAR-T cells on young patients with relapses or not responding to other currently available treatments for malignant tumours of the central nervous system. Another significant long-term collaboration is with the Advanced Biomedical Research Foundation in Padua, through the “Adopt-a-Researcher” projects and the support of studies in the area of neuromuscular and metabolic diseases. Again thanks to Kaleidos, Banca Ifis has intervened in support of projects aimed at the most vulnerable categories, such as the disbursement in favour of the Banco Alimentare Onlus Foundation, which has made it possible to distribute the equivalent of ten million meals to people in difficulty.
Banca Ifis has also been committed on the social front through ‘Ifis art’, the project desired and conceived by Chairman Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio for the enhancement of art, culture, contemporary creativity and their values, also through public-private initiatives. A symbol of Ifis art – representing one of the greatest examples of corporate collection – is the collection of the Villa Fürstenberg International Sculpture Park. The Park officially reopened to the public on 27 April with two new works that enrich the rich collection of over thirty works by some of the best known exponents of contemporary Italian and international art. In this context, the Banca Ifis Research Department measured the results produced by the International Sculpture Park from a social point of view, according to the impact measurement model developed by the Bank with the Polytechnic University of Milan. According to the responses of the 500 visitors interviewed, the Banca Ifis International Sculpture Park generates a multiplier of 3,9: translated into practical terms, every Euro invested by the Bank in the Park generates almost 4 Euro of social value for the area. This value even rises to 5,3 if we take into account the cluster of participants in the workshops that the Bank organised during 2024 in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Venice Biennale. Also as part of Ifis art, in May, Banca Ifis will be submitting the project to rescue and secure The Migrant Child, one of only two works by the artist Banksy on Italian soil. Accepting an appeal by the Ministry of Culture, the Bank took over the building on which the work is painted – Palazzo San Pantalon in Venice – and intends to turn it into an exhibition space for young artists as part of the Venice Biennale.
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Exercise of the proxy to increase the share capital to service the public takeover bid promoted by Banca Ifis on illimity Bank
Today, the Board of Directors of Banca Ifis resolved, in execution of the mandate conferred by the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of 17 April 2025, to increase the share capital for cash, in one or more tranches and in divisible form, with the exclusion of option rights pursuant to Article 2441, paragraph 4, first sentence, of the Italian Civil Code, to service the total voluntary tender offer promoted by Banca Ifis on all the ordinary shares of illimity pursuant to Articles 102 and 106, paragraph 4, of the TUF.
In the context of the capital increase resolution, the Board of Directors also provided the information required by Article 2343-quater, paragraph 3, letters a), b), c) and e) of the Italian Civil Code. Pursuant to applicable regulations, the following documentation is made available to the public today at the company’s registered office, on the authorised storage mechanism www.emarketstorage.com as well as on Banca Ifis’s website: (i) the explanatory report of the Board of Directors prepared in accordance with Article 2441, paragraph 6, of the Italian Civil Code and Article 70, paragraph 7, letter a) of Consob Regulation No. 11971/1999; and (ii) the opinion of the independent auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers S.p.A. on the fairness of the issue price of Banca Ifis shares to be offered in exchange in the context of the aforesaid bid, pursuant to Article 2441, paragraph 6, of the Italian Civil Code and Article 158 of Legislative Decree No. 58/98. The minutes of the Board of Directors’ meeting will be filed for registration with Venice, Rovigo Companies Register by the deadline established by current legislation.
[1]In January 2024, the Banca Ifis Group was notified of the new SREP requirements by the Bank of Italy. The new requirements provide for a CET1 of 9,0%, a Tier 1 Ratio of 10,90% and a Total Capital Ratio of 13,30% (including 1,0% P2G) and apply starting 31 March 2024.
[2] Reclassifications and aggregations of the consolidated income statement concern the following:
- net credit risk losses/reversals of the Npl Segment are reclassified to interest receivable and similar income (and therefore to “Net interest income”) to the extent to which they represent the operations of this business and are an integral part of the return on the investment;
- net allocations to provisions for risks and charges are excluded from the calculation of “Operating costs”;
- cost and revenue items deemed as “non-recurring” (e.g. because they are directly or indirectly related to business combination transactions, such as the “gain on a bargain purchase” in accordance with IFRS 3), are excluded from the calculation of “Operating costs”, and are therefore reversed from the respective items as per Circular 262 (e.g. “Other administrative expenses”, “Other operating income/costs”) and included in a specific item “Non-recurring income and costs”;
- the ordinary and extraordinary charges introduced against the Group’s banks (Banca Ifis and Banca Credifarma) under the Single and National Resolution Mechanisms (SRF and NRF) and the Deposit Protection Mechanism (DGS or FITD) are shown under a separate item called “Charges related to the banking system” (which is excluded from the calculation of “Operating costs”), instead of being shown under “Other administrative expenses” or “Net allocations to provisions for risks and charges”;
- the following is included under the single item “Net credit risk losses/reversals”:
- net credit risk losses/reversals relating to financial assets measured at amortised cost (with the exception of those relating to the Npl Segment mentioned above) and to financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income;
- net allocations to provisions for risks and charges for credit risk relating to commitments and guarantees granted;
- profits (losses) from the sale/repurchase of loans at amortised cost other than those of the Npl Segment.
[3] The CET1, Tier 1 and Total Capital at 31 March 2025 exclude the profits generated by the Banking Group in Q1 2025.
