Brussels, 27/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 26 April, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Intesa Sanpaolo Servizi Transazionali S.p.A. and Sanpaolo Bank S.A., two subsidiaries of the Italian Intesa Sanpaolo banking group, by the US-based State Street Corporation.
Intesa Sanpaolo Servizi Transazionali and Sanpaolo Bank are active, in Italy and Luxembourg respectively, in global custody services, fund administration services and selected ancillary services such as securities lending, foreign exchange, transition and collateral management and investment analytics. State Street is globally active in the field of financial services, and in particular in the provision of domestic and global securities services to support institutional and individual investors in developing and executing their global investment strategies.
The proposed transaction would result in an overlap in the parties' activities in the markets for global custody and fund administration. However, in the market for global custody the parties' combined market share remains limited, and in the market for fund administration the increment in the parties' market share is minimal while a number of significant competitors are active on this market. The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns. (L.C./transl.rt)