Antonveneta was in 2008 the 9th largest bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

ing group in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in terms of customer loan

Loan

A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....

s and the 8th largest in terms of total asset

Asset

In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...

s, with 1,000 branches, 10,800 employees and €50bn in assets.

The bank, based in Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

, only operates in the fragmented Italian market, where it has a market share

Market share

Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...

 of roughly 3%. It has a focus on the wealthy Northeast of the country with 6% market share and 600 branches.

Eighty-six percent of its clients are retail

Retail

Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

 clients, accounting for 58% of assets, most of which are owned by affluent and private clients, 12% corporate, accounting for 42% of assets, and 2% institutional.

History

Antonveneta was created by the merger in 1996 of two banks, Banca Antoniana and the credit union

Credit union

A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...

 (popolare) Banca Popolare Veneta. Banca Antoniana traced its origins back to its founding in Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

 in 1893 under the name, Banca Cattolica Padovana. Banca Popolare Veneta was also founded in Padua, in this case in 1866 under the name Banca Mutua di Credito Popolare; in 1883 it transformed itself into Banca Cooperativa Popolare. After World War II, it acquired several other credit unions (populare): Treviso

Treviso

Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

 in 1950, Polesine

Polesine

Polesine is a geographic and historic area in the north-east of Italy corresponding nowadays with the province of Rovigo; it is a strip of land about 100-km long and 18-km wide located between the lower courses of the Adige and the Po rivers.- Geography :...

 in 1980, Cavarzere

Cavarzere

Cavarzere is a comune in the Province of Venice in the Italian region Veneto, located about 35 km southwest of Venice....

 in 1982, and Valdagno

Valdagno

-History:Valdagno's town was founded in 861, the name deriving from the Latin amins, then amnius, meaning "river". It is first mentioned in a 1184 document when it was a fief given by the Vicenza bishop to the Trissino family....

 in 1987 In that same year the bank took the name, Banca Popolare Veneta.

In 1997, i.e., one year after the merger, the bank acquired a majority interest in Interbanca

Interbanca

Interbanca is an Italian merchant bank that specializes in lending and financing transactions for medium-sized firms. Its headquarters are in Milan and it has 10 branches in major cities throughout Italy...

, which gave Banca Antonveneta the capability to function as a universal bank, not just a retail bank. Then in 1999 it acquired Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura, which gave it a presence throughout Italy, especially in the south. Since then it has focused more on internally-financed growth and in 2002 it switched from being a cooperative bank to a publicly listed SpA.

In 2005, Dutch financial powerhouse ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...

 successfully overcame a scandal-ridden campaign by Italian banking regulators to become the first foreign bank to own an Italian bank. This move has been said to clear the way for other European banks to enter the lucrative Italian market. In early 2006, Antonveneta's shares were delisted from the Italian stock exchange as ABN AMRO acquired more than an 80% controlling stake in the banking group.

In October 2007, a consortium comprising Royal Bank of Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...

, Banco Santander and Fortis

Fortis (finance)

Fortis N.V./S.A. was a company active in insurance, banking and investment management. In 2007 it was the 20th largest business in the world by revenue but after encountering severe problems in the financial crisis of 2008, most of the company was sold in parts, with only insurance activities...

 acquired ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...

 in order to divide its assets between them. Banca Antonveneta was initially to be taken over by Santander, but on 8 November 2007 the Spanish bank announced that it would be selling Antonveneta on to Monte dei Paschi di Siena

Monte dei Paschi di Siena

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. is the oldest surviving bank in the world. Founded in 1472 by the Magistrate of the city state of Siena, Italy, as a mount of piety, it has been operating ever since. Today it consists of approximately 3,000 branches, 33,000 employees and 4.5 million...

.

In March 2008, Santander sold Interbanca

Interbanca

Interbanca is an Italian merchant bank that specializes in lending and financing transactions for medium-sized firms. Its headquarters are in Milan and it has 10 branches in major cities throughout Italy...

to GE Financial.