FinecoBank Banca Fineco S.p.A.

FinecoBank said first-half 2026 adjusted net profit was around EUR 343 million, up 8% year on year, and revenues were EUR 713 million, up around 11% year on year. Banking revenues were up 8.5%, investing up 11%, and brokerage up 15%; adjusted operating costs were around EUR 193 million, up around 6%, and the cost/income ratio was 27%. The bank reported a CET1 ratio of 23.18% and a leverage ratio of 5.02%. It also said first-half net sales increased 35% year on year, July estimated net sales were EUR 1.7 billion, and July brokerage revenues were estimated at EUR 23 million, up around 20% year on year. For 2026, management expects all product areas to contribute to higher revenues, net financial income to keep growing, brokerage to deliver another record year, banking fees to be stable year on year, operating costs to grow around 6% plus EUR 15 million of growth-initiative costs and around EUR 5 million for pan-European platform setup, cost/income to remain comfortably below 30%, cost of risk to stay in a 5-10 bps range, payout ratio to be 70%-80%, and leverage to remain above 4.5%.

Alessandro Foti framed the quarter as evidence that Fineco’s growth engine is accelerating, driven by strong net sales, more active clients, and the bank’s broad product mix. He emphasized structural trends such as AI disruption, wealth transfer, and banking consolidation, arguing that Fineco is well positioned at the intersection of all three. His tone was upbeat and increasingly confident, especially on the medium-term outlook and the idea that AI and improving client engagement can support both revenues and future cost growth moderation.

Lorena Pelliciari highlighted the quality and stability of Fineco’s funding base, saying net financial income rose around 8% in the first half and that the deposit base is transactional, granular, and not rate-driven. She pointed to investing pretax margins of 57 bps on AUM and brokerage pretax margins of 51 bps on AUC in the first half, and she reiterated that liquidity, LCR, and NSFR remain well above regulatory requirements. She also explained that the EUR 3 million adjusted net profit line reflects nonrecurring expenses net of tax, or EUR 4.6 million gross, tied to a termination agreement related to bank reorganization, and she said the firm had issued EUR 500 million of senior preferred in May with another EUR 800 million coming back in October.

Analysts focused on the upgraded guidance, asking whether the improvement was mainly driven by net interest income, cost savings from AI, and the EUR 3 million one-off adjustment. Management said the upgrade reflects stronger net sales, resilient deposits, supportive rates, and an earlier-than-planned deceleration in cost growth, while noting its rate assumptions are about 30 bps below the forward curve. Questions also centered on CNP insurance economics, Germany, crypto authorization, securities lending, EPS growth, and debt funding; management said the CNP deal should improve margins, Germany is a long-term opportunity not driven by pension reform alone, crypto discussions with regulators are in final talks, securities lending is now live and ramping, EPS ambition has risen versus the Capital Markets Day, and the current senior preferred stack should be sufficient for the coming years.