As the reform of the cooperative sector in Italy progresses, 166 mutual banks (representing about 60% of the cooperative sector's assets) intend to group under Iccrea Banca SpA. Although the split of the Italian Banche di Credito Cooperativo (BCC) network negatively affects our view of the business profile of the new group, the financial metrics and fundamentals should not materially change. The cooperative reform, if properly implemented, should support a more resilient and cohesive group. We are affirming our long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on Iccrea Banca and its core subsidiary Iccrea BancaImpresa SpA at 'BB/B'. The stable outlook on the Iccrea entities reflects our view that the new group will be able to maintain a conservative funding and
