The FIAT group, through Internazionale Holding FIAT, and BSI SA, a Generali Group company, has reached an agreement for the acquisition of 100 per cent of the share capital of Lugano-based Banca Unione di Credito (BUC). The agreement is subject to the approval of the regulatory and competition authorities.

BUC has been part of the FIAT group since 1947 and has held a 26.55 per cent shareholding in Lombard Bank Malta since 2002.

For BSI, the oldest bank in the canton of Ticino, the acquisition is part of a growth programme in the asset management sector and follows the recent acquisition of Ifabanque in Paris.