BPER Banca and Gardant have finalized a a strategic partnership for the management of impaired loans currently owned by BPER Banca S.p.A. and Banco di Sardegna S.p.A..
The agreement envisages the creation of a servicing platform, 70% owned by Gardant Bridge S.p.A. and 30% by BPER, and the signing of two servicing agreements relating to the management and recovery of loans classified both as probable defaults (UTP – Unlikely to Pay) and as non-performing loans (NPL – Non-Performing Loans) owned by BPER and BdS.
The collaboration between the two institutions was initiated over a year ago when BPER Banca selected Gardant as the preferred provider for the management of its non-performing loans. The decision to proceed with outsourcing constitutes a change from the Emilian bank’s historical strategy, typically focused on internal management combined with the disposal of specific portfolios (also through securitization)
Gardant will hire around 120 BPER employees specialized in the recovery of impaired debts, providing them with training to use the new company’s technology. This approach follows some similar experiences with other Italian banks, such as Carige and Banco BPM, and is in addition to the work carried out in 2022, in cooperation with AMCO, (a credit management company part-owned by the Treasury) to purchase EUR 1.5 billion in problem loans from BPER.
In financial terms, the deal is expected to generate a capital gain of around EUR 150m pre-tax for BPER, a significant figure that reflects the importance of the deal for the bank. The capital gain will be recognized in the first quarter of 2024.
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